当代英国作家伊恩•麦克尤恩对儿童或青少年问题的关注由来已久。在他的早期作品中,那些违背伦常、没有道德感的青少年让读者感到不安和震惊。本文以短篇故事《家庭制造》和第一部长篇小说《水泥花园》为研究对象,结合西方社会对儿童这一群体的认知与理解,借鉴米歇尔•福柯关于性“话语事实”的相关论述,分析这些另类少年在观念上、行为上走入误区的原因。对《家庭制造》中的叙述者而言,粗俗的性话语和扭曲的社会力量塑造了他的性观念;对《水泥花园》中的朱莉和杰克而言,闭环式的家庭环境决定了他们对待性的态度。与传统观念中儿童/青少年被视为无性人群不同,这两个故事中的主人公不仅有着活跃的性意识,而且因为没有得到恰当的引导和教育,走上了背离社会规范的歧途。在一定程度上,麦克尤恩的早期作品击碎了成人对于儿童或青少年的美好想象,以一种陌生化的方式开启对未成年人道德问题的思考。
Contemporary British writer Ian McEwan has long been concerned with the children or teenager problems and his early works have disturbed and shocked readers with the descriptions of those transgressive and immoral teenagers. With the short story “Homemade” and his first novel The Cement Garden as the target texts, and in light of Western society’s illustration and understanding of children, as well as Michel Foucault’s “discursive facts” about sexuality, this paper explains why these perverse teenagers go astray in their conceptions and behaviors. For the narrator of “Homemade”, vulgar sexual discourse and disorientating social forces shape his view; for Julie and Jack in The Cement Garden, the enclosed upbringing environment determines the way they understand sexuality. Different from the traditional constructions of children/teenagers as asexual, the protagonists in these two stories are presented as sexually active, and their deviation from social norms can be attributed to a lack of proper guidance and education. To some extent, McEwan's early works have smashed the beautiful picture that adults have drawn for children or teenagers, and initiate the thinking about minors’ moral problems in a defamiliarizing way.
伊恩•麦克尤恩,另类少年,《家庭制造》,《水泥花园》,性观念, Ian McEwan Perverse Teenagers Homemade The Cement Garden Sexuality摘要
Contemporary British writer Ian McEwan has long been concerned with the children or teenager problems and his early works have disturbed and shocked readers with the descriptions of those transgressive and immoral teenagers. With the short story “Homemade” and his first novel The Cement Garden as the target texts, and in light of Western society’s illustration and understanding of children, as well as Michel Foucault’s “discursive facts” about sexuality, this paper explains why these perverse teenagers go astray in their conceptions and behaviors. For the narrator of “Homemade”, vulgar sexual discourse and disorientating social forces shape his view; for Julie and Jack in The Cement Garden, the enclosed upbringing environment determines the way they understand sexuality. Different from the traditional constructions of children/teenagers as asexual, the protagonists in these two stories are presented as sexually active, and their deviation from social norms can be attributed to a lack of proper guidance and education. To some extent, McEwan's early works have smashed the beautiful picture that adults have drawn for children or teenagers, and initiate the thinking about minors’ moral problems in a defamiliarizing way.
Keywords:Ian McEwan, Perverse Teenagers, Homemade, The Cement Garden, Sexuality
因为社会、文化和政治环境的不同,对于儿童(child)这个概念的解释也处于不断的变化之中。对于多大算是儿童,各个国家也有不同的说法。1989年通过的联合国《儿童权利公约》(Convention on the Rights of the Child)把儿童认定为18岁以下的任何人 [2]。也就是说,按照实际年龄来定义的话,儿童是一个宽泛的概念,包含了18岁之前的各个不同年龄段,比如我们通常所说的青少年。在中国,12岁以上的孩子一般被称为少年。
近二十年来,儿童研究在西方学术界逐渐受到重视,相关的研究成果也越发丰硕。用《儿童研究导论》一书的主编玛丽·简·凯西里(Mary Jane Kehily)的话来说,“越来越多的文献说明了儿童作为一个概念范畴和一种社会占位的重要性,这些研究指向了一个以前一直被忽视、被边缘化的群体——儿童。” [3] 作为一个概念,儿童与其说是一种真实的存在状态,还不如说是成人的想象和建构之物。和西方话语体系中的诸多二元对立结构如自然天成与后天教养、野蛮与文明、情感与理智一样,儿童与成人也有类似的优劣之分。如学者列斯科所总结的那样,“把儿童与原始状态、儿童与被殖民的蛮族等同起来,不仅在公开的殖民话语中盛行,也在育儿手册、儿童文学、旅行写作、大众文化和涉及种族的科学论断中发挥着作用。” [4] 在坚持这一思维定式的人看来,儿童代表着成人的对立面:论知书明理,儿童还在起步阶段,需要接受教育;论生活技能,儿童能力欠缺,只能依赖成人。但奇怪的是,儿童又承载着成人对美好世界的期许,代表着成人世界中难觅踪迹的清纯,代表着远离城嚣的一方干净时空。
吴兰香. 伊恩•麦克尤恩早期作品中的另类少年Perverse Teenagers in Ian McEwan’s Early Works[J]. 世界文学研究, 2021, 09(03): 113-119. https://doi.org/10.12677/WLS.2021.93018
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