历史并置、改写与选择性漠视:论翁达杰在《英国病人》中的历史再现

Juxtaposition, Re-Inscription and Selective Inattention: Michael Ondaatje’s Representation of History in The English Patient

亚裔加拿大作家迈克尔?翁达杰的《英国病人》讲述了二战时期四位普通参战人员的个人历史,以及各自如何走出传统历史误区的故事。翁达杰在创作中充分利用了叙述视角转换、历史穿插和并置、历史改写等形式解构了传统历史,并建构了作者想象中的真实历史。笔者从新历史主义视角出发,以历史并置、历史改写、历史选择性漠视为线索分析翁达杰在《英国病人》中呈现的历史面貌。

The English Patient, a novel written by Sri Lankan Canadian novelist Michael Ondaatje, relates the private histories of four marginalized characters involved in the WWII, and presents their confrontation with and challenge of the fallacy of conventional history. In this novel, Ondaatje employs multiple viewpoints, intersection and juxtaposition of historical episodes, historical re-in- scription, which serve to deconstruct the conventional history and construct the imagined history of Ondaatje. From the perspective of New Historicism, this paper examines Ondaatje’s viewpoint on history as revealed in The English Patient in the following three aspects: historical juxtaposition, historical re-inscription, selective inattention to conventional history.