莎菲拉与女奴.docx

The Escape Motif In Sapphira And The Slave GirlAbstract: Willa Cather(1873-1947) is one of the most important American writers in the early twentieth century, who has enjoyed great fame in American literary history. She was regarded as “The greatest female writers since the establishment of America”. It is generally accepted that she is a writer of prairies of the American West, for her most notable novels are about the Midwestern frontiers. However, most of her works are about history or religion in her later stages. Yet, because of her remote stories dealing with the old time, Willa Cather is often related to as an escapist writer who is alien from reality and only concerned about what has been lost.Although, Willa Cather was grown up in Nebraska, she was born in Virginia and spent 9 years on there. The South is not only her hometown, but the hearts home of her. Hence, everything in south has great influence on her. In her later stages, she wrote a novel about the south finally. Cather set the background of the book which named Sapphira And The Slave Girl (1940) in her birthplace, Virginia, for the first time and also the last time. The novel has said about that A white woman helped a black slave girl escaped from the south to Canada and they succeeded finally before the American civil war. Although the slave girl acquired the freedom in the end, the book has showed us that how poor the slaves’ lives were at that time.Key words: Willa Cather, Sapphira And The Slave Girl, Escapist writer, South. 《莎乐美与女奴》中的逃避主义摘要: 薇拉.凯瑟（Willa Cather, 1873-1947）是二十世纪美国最杰出的作家之一,在美国文学领域占有很重要的地位，并被称之为“美国立国以来最伟大的一名女性作家”。薇拉.凯瑟最具有代表性的作品大多以西部大草原为背景，因而长久以来她被看作是一位以描写美国西部边疆的拓荒史见长的作家。但在后期创作中，薇拉.凯瑟的文学兴趣转向缅怀历史和宗教。因为她的作品的怀旧主题看似与他的生活脱节，她因此又被视作逃避主义作家。薇拉.凯瑟虽然是在西部的内布拉斯加州长大，但她的出生地是南方的弗吉尼亚州，并在那里度过了人生最初的九年。作为凯瑟的出生地，“南方”情节一直隐藏在作家记忆的最深处，那是她心灵的故乡，始终在潜移默化中影响着她的创作。她在垂暮之年终于实现了她新来的回归，那就是她最后一部也是唯一一部描写“南方”的作品---《莎菲拉与女奴》。这部小说讲的是在南北战争前，南方的一个白人妇女帮助一名女奴逃亡加拿大并获得自由的事。虽然最后获得了自由，但书里的字里行间都透漏出了在那个时期，奴隶没有任何权利。关键词：薇拉.凯瑟，《莎