_相悖的伦理诉求及两难伦理选择——《日落》的文学伦理学解读.pdfVIP

相悖的伦理诉求与两难伦理选择 —— 《日落》的文学伦理学解读 邹惠玲 陈晓曦 内容摘要：美国印第安裔作家约翰 ·约瑟夫 ·马修斯在其代表作《日落》中一方面表达了 对印第安传统伦理的向往，另一方面又塑造出一个挣扎于印第安传统伦理与白人伦理之间、 最终以白人伦理定位人生的印第安主人公。本文从文学伦理学批评视角出发，把《日落》 置于马修斯创作的历史环境中，分析马修斯在小说中对以“全是我的亲属”为内核的印第 安传统伦理的彰显，透视小说家所表现的白人伦理对印第安传统生存方式的侵蚀，并进而 探究马修斯对白人伦理既否定又肯定的矛盾态度，解读小说主人公逐渐割舍与部族土地以 及土地上万物生灵亲缘关系的伦理转向过程，藉以揭示马修斯动摇于两种相悖的伦理诉求 之间的伦理困境以及他那个时代印第安人所面临的两难伦理选择。 关键词：马修斯；《日落》；文学伦理学批评；伦理两难 作者简介：邹惠玲，文学博士，江苏师范大学印第安文学与文化研究中心主任、外国语 学院教授，主要从事美国文学研究；陈晓曦，江苏师范大学外国语学院研究生，主要从 事美国文学研究。本文系国家社科基金项目“当代美国印第安文学研究”【项目批号： 11BWW054】和江苏省普通高校研究生科研创新计划项目【项目批号：KYZZ_0391 】的阶 段性成果。 Title: Conflicting Ethical Appeals and a Dilemmatic Ethical Choice: An Ethical Literary Analysis of Sundown Abstract: In Sundown, representative work of John Joseph Mathews, an American Indian writer, the author voices his nostalgia for traditional American Indian ethics, and yet in the meantime portrays a protagonist that struggles between traditional American Indian ethics and white ethics, and finally orients his life to the latter. Proceeding from the perspective of ethical literary criticism, this article interprets Sundown within the framework of the historical circumstances under which Mathews produces this novel, analyzing Mathews’ highlighting of traditional American Indian ethics that is focused on the concept of “All My Relations” and examining his presentation of how white ethics erode the traditional lifestyle of American Indians. Furthermore, it explores Mathews’ contradictory narrative that both approves and criticizes white ethics, and interprets the protagonist’s ethical shifting process during which he gradually severs his relations with the tribal land and all the creatures that exist on the tribal land, thereby revealing Mathews’ ethical predicament of being caught between conflicting ethical appeals as well as the dilemmatic ethical choice confronted by the American Indians of his time. Key words: John Joseph Mathews; Sundown; ethical literary criticism; ethical dilemma