论《人与鼠》的悲剧
摘要
约翰·斯坦贝克凭借其描写大萧条时期的长篇小说《愤怒的葡萄》荣获1962年诺贝尔文学奖,而其初步成功却源于一系列中篇小说。1937年出版的《人与鼠》即他的代表作。小说一经发表,立即成为畅销书,同名剧本也获得巨大成功,从而确立了斯坦贝克的文坛地位。
《人与鼠》讲述了梦想拥有一片土地的流浪工人—乔治与莱尼的故事。莱尼是弱智,需依靠乔治的指引与保护。然而最终,因莱尼误杀农场主儿子柯利的老婆,乔治不得不亲手杀死他以免他受酷刑折磨。
本文通过对西方悲剧理论,尤其是亚里士多德与任生名的思想的回顾与归纳,认为依据其原因,悲剧可分为命运悲剧、社会悲剧及性格悲剧。而在《人与鼠》中,三种原因共存。主人公乔治与莱尼的悲剧是命运悲剧,命运从开始就以偶然事件和不可避免性出现。他们的悲剧更是社会悲剧,社会不仅充当精神枷锁,使人孤独,而且冷酷无情,以粉碎他们的梦想来剥夺他们的尊严与价值。与此同时,乔治与莱尼的性格也应为他们的悲剧承担部分责任,乔治的摇摆不定和莱尼的先天智障与冲动是构成他们悲剧的个人原因。三方面的原因并非孤立存在,而是互相渗透,互相影响,其中社会与性格因素占主导地位。
本文认为,在这部貌似简单的小说中,斯坦贝克糅合了复杂的思想,表达了他对命运的无奈,对弱者的同情,对梦想者的尊敬,对人性的思考以及对社会的批判。
John Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962 for his masterpiece The Grapes of Wrath. However, his first success comes from a series of short novels, of which Of Mice and Men is the best. After its publication in 1937, the novella immediately became a bestseller, and the play based on the novella also swept the country, securing Steinbeck's position in American literature.
Of Mice and Men tells the story of two migrant workers—George and Lennie, who dream to own a piece of land. Lennie is retarded and needs George's guidance and protection. In the end, however, George has to kill Lennie with his own hands to save him from lynches because Lennie accidentally killes the ranch owner's son—Curley's wife.
Based on a review and summary of theories on Western tragedy, especially theories of Aristotle and Ren Shengming, this thesis holds that tragedy can be classified into three categories according to the causes of suffering:tragedy of fate, tragedy of society and tragedy of character. In Of Mice and Men, these three causes co-exist. The tragedy of George and Lennie is a tragedy of fate, in which fate shows itself from the beginning as chance events and inevitability. Their tragedy is a tragedy of society, in which society acts as spiritual bondages, isolates man and deprives him of his value and dignity coldly by crushing their dreams through harsh reality. Meanwhile, George and Lennie's character should also be partly responsible for their tragedy. George's ambivalence and Lennie's retardation and impulsiveness are also roots of their tragedy. These three factors are not isolated from each other but mutually interwoven and related to each other.
In this seemingly simple novella, Steinbeck integrates complicated thoughts and expresses his hopelessness towards fate, compassion for the weak, respect for those who have dreams, reflection on human nature and criticism of society.
《人与鼠》讲述了梦想拥有一片土地的流浪工人—乔治与莱尼的故事。莱尼是弱智,需依靠乔治的指引与保护。然而最终,因莱尼误杀农场主儿子柯利的老婆,乔治不得不亲手杀死他以免他受酷刑折磨。
本文通过对西方悲剧理论,尤其是亚里士多德与任生名的思想的回顾与归纳,认为依据其原因,悲剧可分为命运悲剧、社会悲剧及性格悲剧。而在《人与鼠》中,三种原因共存。主人公乔治与莱尼的悲剧是命运悲剧,命运从开始就以偶然事件和不可避免性出现。他们的悲剧更是社会悲剧,社会不仅充当精神枷锁,使人孤独,而且冷酷无情,以粉碎他们的梦想来剥夺他们的尊严与价值。与此同时,乔治与莱尼的性格也应为他们的悲剧承担部分责任,乔治的摇摆不定和莱尼的先天智障与冲动是构成他们悲剧的个人原因。三方面的原因并非孤立存在,而是互相渗透,互相影响,其中社会与性格因素占主导地位。
本文认为,在这部貌似简单的小说中,斯坦贝克糅合了复杂的思想,表达了他对命运的无奈,对弱者的同情,对梦想者的尊敬,对人性的思考以及对社会的批判。
John Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962 for his masterpiece The Grapes of Wrath. However, his first success comes from a series of short novels, of which Of Mice and Men is the best. After its publication in 1937, the novella immediately became a bestseller, and the play based on the novella also swept the country, securing Steinbeck's position in American literature.
Of Mice and Men tells the story of two migrant workers—George and Lennie, who dream to own a piece of land. Lennie is retarded and needs George's guidance and protection. In the end, however, George has to kill Lennie with his own hands to save him from lynches because Lennie accidentally killes the ranch owner's son—Curley's wife.
Based on a review and summary of theories on Western tragedy, especially theories of Aristotle and Ren Shengming, this thesis holds that tragedy can be classified into three categories according to the causes of suffering:tragedy of fate, tragedy of society and tragedy of character. In Of Mice and Men, these three causes co-exist. The tragedy of George and Lennie is a tragedy of fate, in which fate shows itself from the beginning as chance events and inevitability. Their tragedy is a tragedy of society, in which society acts as spiritual bondages, isolates man and deprives him of his value and dignity coldly by crushing their dreams through harsh reality. Meanwhile, George and Lennie's character should also be partly responsible for their tragedy. George's ambivalence and Lennie's retardation and impulsiveness are also roots of their tragedy. These three factors are not isolated from each other but mutually interwoven and related to each other.
In this seemingly simple novella, Steinbeck integrates complicated thoughts and expresses his hopelessness towards fate, compassion for the weak, respect for those who have dreams, reflection on human nature and criticism of society.
引文
1 There are two Chinese versions,《人鼠之间》and《人与鼠》but the latter one is the only version I got.
2 The lines are from John Steinbeck's Nobel Prize Speech when he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962.
3 This view is proposed in the following book:John Ditsky, Steinbeck and the Critics. (New York:Camden House,2000) 1.
4 This sentence is translated from the following book:任生名,《西方现代悲剧论稿》。(上海： 上海外语教育出版社,1998)93页。原文如下：一个是诸世界,一个是历史的政治世界,这就是希腊悲剧世界与莎士比亚悲剧世界的实质区别。
5 Jeanette King, "From Tragic Drama to the Tragic Novel", cited in R.P. Draper ed. Tragedy:Developments in Criticism (Hong Kong: Macmillan Education Ltd.,1980) 194.
6 This sentence is translated from the following book:任生名, 《西方现代悲剧论稿》。(上海：上海外语教育出版社,1998)104页。原文如下：从易卜生,还有斯特林堡开始,西方悲剧进入了现代悲剧时期。
7 This sentence is translated from the following book:任生名,《西方现代悲剧论稿》。(上海：上海外语教育出版社,1998)109页。原文如下：现代社会悲剧的中心主题是人在现代资本主义社会中的异化,异化是现代人的危机生存困境。
8 This view is summarized from the following book:任生名,《西方现代悲剧论稿》。(上海：上海外语教育出版社,1998)137页。
9 The term "tragic flaw" appears not in the translation but in Cooper's commentary as an offhand synonym for the terms he used to translate harmatia.
10 Steinbeck was quoted in the following book:Joseph Eddy Fontenrose, John Steinbeck:An Introduction and Interpretation. (New York:Barns and Noble,1963) 57.
11 This view is summarized from Mark Spilka's "Of George and Lennie and Curley's wife:Sweet Violence", which is included in the following book:Jackson J. Benson, ed. The Short Novels of John Steinbeck. (Durham:Duke University Press,1990) 62-63.
Aristotle. Poetics. Trans. Seth Benardete and Michael Davis. Indiana:St. Augustine's Press,2002.
Astro, Richard. John Steinbeck and Edward F. Ricketts:The Shaping of a Novelist. Minneapolis:University of Minnesota Press, 1973.
Benson, Jackson J. The Short Novels of John Steinbeck:Critical Essays with a Checklist to Steinbeck Criticism. Durham:Duke UP,1990.
Bradley, A. C. Shakespearean Tragedy. London:Macmillan Publisher Ltd.,1985.
Burns, Robert. The Complete Works of Robert Burns. London: Routlege/Thoemmes Press,1993.
Chu, Kwang Tsien. The Psychology of Tragedy. Hong Kong:Joint Publishing Co.,1987.
Daniel, Cletus E. Bitter Harvest:A History of California Farmworkers,1870-1941. New York:Cornel UP,1981.
Disky, John. John Steinbeck and the Critics. New York:Camden House,2000.
---. "Ritual Murder in Steinbeck's Dramas". Ed. Tetsumaro Hayashi. Steinbeck Quarterly Ⅱ,2 (1978):73.
Draper, R. P., ed. Tragedy, Developments in Criticism. Hong Kong: Macmillan Ltd.,1980.
Fontenrose, Joseph Eddy. John Steinbeck:An Introduction and Interpretation. New York:Barns and Noble,1963.
Goldburst, William. "Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck's Parable of the Curse of Cain". The Short Novels of John Steinbeck: Critical Essays with a Checklist to Steinbeck Criticism. Ed. Jackson J. Benson. Durham:Duke UP,1990:48-59.
Hadella, Charlotte. "Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men". A New Study Guide to Steinbeck's Major Works, with Critical Explications. Ed. Tetsumaro Hayashi. New Jersey:Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1993.
Hayashi, Tetsumaro, ed. A New Study Guide to Steinbeck's Major Works, with Critical Explications. New Jersey:Scarecrow Press, Inc.,1993.
Hayashi, Tetsumaro, and Beverly K. Simpson, eds. John Steinbeck Dissertation Abstracts and Research Opportunities. New Jersey: Scarecrow Press, Inc.,1994.
Jeffrey, Schultz and Luchen Li. Critical Companion to John Steinbeck: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work. New York:Facts on File,2005.
Johnson, Claudia D. Understanding Of Mice and Men, The Red Pony, and The Pearl:A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents. West Point, CT:Greenwood Press,1997.
Joseph R. McElrath, Jr., Jesse S. Crisler, and Susan Shillinglaw, eds. John Steinbeck:The Contemporary Reviews.New York: Cambridge UP,1996.
Leech, Clifford. Tragedy:The Critical Idiom. London:Methuen & Co. Ltd.,1969.
Levant, Howard. The Novels of John Steinbeck:A Critical Study. Missouri:University of Missouri Press,1974.
Lisca, Peter. John Steinbeck, Nature and Myth. New York:Crowell, 1978.
Loftis, Anne. "A Historical Introduction to Of Mice and Men". The Short Novels of John Steinbeck:Critical Essays with a Checklist to Steinbeck Criticism. Ed. Jackson J. Benson. Durham:Duke UP,1990:39-47.
Owens, Louis. John Steinbeck's Revision of America. Georgia:The University of Georgia Press,1985.
Palmer, Richard H. Tragedy and Tragic Theory:An Analytic Guide. West Point, CT:Greenwood Press,1992.
Pizer, Donald. "John Steinbeck and American Naturalism". Ed. Tetsumaro Hayashi. Steinbeck Quarterly,9 (1976):13.
United States. President's Committee on Retardation. Mental Retardation:Past and Present. Washington D.C.,1977.
Shillinglaw, Susan. Introduction. Of Mice and Men. By John Steinbeck. London:Penguin Books Ltd.,1937.
Shurgot, Michael W. "A Game of Cards in Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men". Ed. Tetsumaro Hayashi. Steinbeck Quarterly,15 (1982): 38-43.
Spilka, Mark. "Of George and Lennie and Curley's Wife:Sweet Violence in Steinbeck's Eden". The Short Novels of John Steinbeck:Critical Essays with a Checklist to Steinbeck Criticism. Ed. Jackson J. Benson. Durham:Duke UP,1990: 59-70.
Steele, Joan. "A Century of Idiots:Barnaby Rudy and Of Mice and Men". Ed. Tetsumaro Hayashi. Steinbeck Quarterly,5 (1972): 16.
Steinbeck, John. Steinbeck:A Life in Letters. Eds. Elaine Steinbeck and Robert Wallsten. New York:The Viking Press, Inc.,1975.
Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men. London:Penguin Books Ltd., 1937.
Tredgold, A. F. Mental Deficiency. New York:William Wood and Co., 1922.
Wright, Terry R. The Genesis of Fiction:Modern Novelists as Biblical Interpreters. Hampshire and Burlington:Ashgate Publishing Company,2007.
雷蒙·威廉斯著,丁尔苏译,《现代悲剧》。南京：译林出版社2007。
任生名,《西方现代悲剧论稿》。上海：上海外语教育出版社,1998。
斯坦贝克著,张澍智等译,《人与鼠》。上海：上海译文出版社2004。
田俊武,《约翰·斯坦贝克的小说诗学追求》。北京：中国社会科学出版社,2006。
王艳,永远的伊甸园—《人鼠之间》中人物背后的寓意解析,《语文学刊》第7期(2005)：7-9页。
温洁霞,白痴巨人的隐喻—试论斯坦贝克的小说《人鼠之间》,《外国文学研究》第2期(2001)：8-14页。
亚里士多德,贺拉斯著,郝久新译,《诗学·诗艺》。北京：九州出版社,2007。
曾令富,《人鼠之间》的另一种解读,《外国文学评论》第2期(2003)：74-79页。
曾庆元,《悲剧论》。西安：华岳文艺出版社,1987。
郑燕虹,论《人鼠之间》之间的象征意义,《外国文学》第3期(2004)：88-91页。
朱光潜,《悲剧心理学》。合肥：安徽教育出版社,2006。
2 The lines are from John Steinbeck's Nobel Prize Speech when he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962.
3 This view is proposed in the following book:John Ditsky, Steinbeck and the Critics. (New York:Camden House,2000) 1.
4 This sentence is translated from the following book:任生名,《西方现代悲剧论稿》。(上海： 上海外语教育出版社,1998)93页。原文如下：一个是诸世界,一个是历史的政治世界,这就是希腊悲剧世界与莎士比亚悲剧世界的实质区别。
5 Jeanette King, "From Tragic Drama to the Tragic Novel", cited in R.P. Draper ed. Tragedy:Developments in Criticism (Hong Kong: Macmillan Education Ltd.,1980) 194.
6 This sentence is translated from the following book:任生名, 《西方现代悲剧论稿》。(上海：上海外语教育出版社,1998)104页。原文如下：从易卜生,还有斯特林堡开始,西方悲剧进入了现代悲剧时期。
7 This sentence is translated from the following book:任生名,《西方现代悲剧论稿》。(上海：上海外语教育出版社,1998)109页。原文如下：现代社会悲剧的中心主题是人在现代资本主义社会中的异化,异化是现代人的危机生存困境。
8 This view is summarized from the following book:任生名,《西方现代悲剧论稿》。(上海：上海外语教育出版社,1998)137页。
9 The term "tragic flaw" appears not in the translation but in Cooper's commentary as an offhand synonym for the terms he used to translate harmatia.
10 Steinbeck was quoted in the following book:Joseph Eddy Fontenrose, John Steinbeck:An Introduction and Interpretation. (New York:Barns and Noble,1963) 57.
11 This view is summarized from Mark Spilka's "Of George and Lennie and Curley's wife:Sweet Violence", which is included in the following book:Jackson J. Benson, ed. The Short Novels of John Steinbeck. (Durham:Duke University Press,1990) 62-63.
Aristotle. Poetics. Trans. Seth Benardete and Michael Davis. Indiana:St. Augustine's Press,2002.
Astro, Richard. John Steinbeck and Edward F. Ricketts:The Shaping of a Novelist. Minneapolis:University of Minnesota Press, 1973.
Benson, Jackson J. The Short Novels of John Steinbeck:Critical Essays with a Checklist to Steinbeck Criticism. Durham:Duke UP,1990.
Bradley, A. C. Shakespearean Tragedy. London:Macmillan Publisher Ltd.,1985.
Burns, Robert. The Complete Works of Robert Burns. London: Routlege/Thoemmes Press,1993.
Chu, Kwang Tsien. The Psychology of Tragedy. Hong Kong:Joint Publishing Co.,1987.
Daniel, Cletus E. Bitter Harvest:A History of California Farmworkers,1870-1941. New York:Cornel UP,1981.
Disky, John. John Steinbeck and the Critics. New York:Camden House,2000.
---. "Ritual Murder in Steinbeck's Dramas". Ed. Tetsumaro Hayashi. Steinbeck Quarterly Ⅱ,2 (1978):73.
Draper, R. P., ed. Tragedy, Developments in Criticism. Hong Kong: Macmillan Ltd.,1980.
Fontenrose, Joseph Eddy. John Steinbeck:An Introduction and Interpretation. New York:Barns and Noble,1963.
Goldburst, William. "Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck's Parable of the Curse of Cain". The Short Novels of John Steinbeck: Critical Essays with a Checklist to Steinbeck Criticism. Ed. Jackson J. Benson. Durham:Duke UP,1990:48-59.
Hadella, Charlotte. "Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men". A New Study Guide to Steinbeck's Major Works, with Critical Explications. Ed. Tetsumaro Hayashi. New Jersey:Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1993.
Hayashi, Tetsumaro, ed. A New Study Guide to Steinbeck's Major Works, with Critical Explications. New Jersey:Scarecrow Press, Inc.,1993.
Hayashi, Tetsumaro, and Beverly K. Simpson, eds. John Steinbeck Dissertation Abstracts and Research Opportunities. New Jersey: Scarecrow Press, Inc.,1994.
Jeffrey, Schultz and Luchen Li. Critical Companion to John Steinbeck: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work. New York:Facts on File,2005.
Johnson, Claudia D. Understanding Of Mice and Men, The Red Pony, and The Pearl:A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents. West Point, CT:Greenwood Press,1997.
Joseph R. McElrath, Jr., Jesse S. Crisler, and Susan Shillinglaw, eds. John Steinbeck:The Contemporary Reviews.New York: Cambridge UP,1996.
Leech, Clifford. Tragedy:The Critical Idiom. London:Methuen & Co. Ltd.,1969.
Levant, Howard. The Novels of John Steinbeck:A Critical Study. Missouri:University of Missouri Press,1974.
Lisca, Peter. John Steinbeck, Nature and Myth. New York:Crowell, 1978.
Loftis, Anne. "A Historical Introduction to Of Mice and Men". The Short Novels of John Steinbeck:Critical Essays with a Checklist to Steinbeck Criticism. Ed. Jackson J. Benson. Durham:Duke UP,1990:39-47.
Owens, Louis. John Steinbeck's Revision of America. Georgia:The University of Georgia Press,1985.
Palmer, Richard H. Tragedy and Tragic Theory:An Analytic Guide. West Point, CT:Greenwood Press,1992.
Pizer, Donald. "John Steinbeck and American Naturalism". Ed. Tetsumaro Hayashi. Steinbeck Quarterly,9 (1976):13.
United States. President's Committee on Retardation. Mental Retardation:Past and Present. Washington D.C.,1977.
Shillinglaw, Susan. Introduction. Of Mice and Men. By John Steinbeck. London:Penguin Books Ltd.,1937.
Shurgot, Michael W. "A Game of Cards in Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men". Ed. Tetsumaro Hayashi. Steinbeck Quarterly,15 (1982): 38-43.
Spilka, Mark. "Of George and Lennie and Curley's Wife:Sweet Violence in Steinbeck's Eden". The Short Novels of John Steinbeck:Critical Essays with a Checklist to Steinbeck Criticism. Ed. Jackson J. Benson. Durham:Duke UP,1990: 59-70.
Steele, Joan. "A Century of Idiots:Barnaby Rudy and Of Mice and Men". Ed. Tetsumaro Hayashi. Steinbeck Quarterly,5 (1972): 16.
Steinbeck, John. Steinbeck:A Life in Letters. Eds. Elaine Steinbeck and Robert Wallsten. New York:The Viking Press, Inc.,1975.
Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men. London:Penguin Books Ltd., 1937.
Tredgold, A. F. Mental Deficiency. New York:William Wood and Co., 1922.
Wright, Terry R. The Genesis of Fiction:Modern Novelists as Biblical Interpreters. Hampshire and Burlington:Ashgate Publishing Company,2007.
雷蒙·威廉斯著,丁尔苏译,《现代悲剧》。南京：译林出版社2007。
任生名,《西方现代悲剧论稿》。上海：上海外语教育出版社,1998。
斯坦贝克著,张澍智等译,《人与鼠》。上海：上海译文出版社2004。
田俊武,《约翰·斯坦贝克的小说诗学追求》。北京：中国社会科学出版社,2006。
王艳,永远的伊甸园—《人鼠之间》中人物背后的寓意解析,《语文学刊》第7期(2005)：7-9页。
温洁霞,白痴巨人的隐喻—试论斯坦贝克的小说《人鼠之间》,《外国文学研究》第2期(2001)：8-14页。
亚里士多德,贺拉斯著,郝久新译,《诗学·诗艺》。北京：九州出版社,2007。
曾令富,《人鼠之间》的另一种解读,《外国文学评论》第2期(2003)：74-79页。
曾庆元,《悲剧论》。西安：华岳文艺出版社,1987。
郑燕虹,论《人鼠之间》之间的象征意义,《外国文学》第3期(2004)：88-91页。
朱光潜,《悲剧心理学》。合肥：安徽教育出版社,2006。