雷蒙德卡佛短篇小说主题和艺术初探论文

第一篇：雷蒙德卡佛短篇小说主题和艺术初探论文

1引言

雷蒙德·卡佛(Raymond Carver 1938一1988)是美国当代著名的短篇小说家、诗人。他以简洁平实的叙述语言，客观冷静的叙述方式，被称为“极简主义之父”，曾为美国七八十年代短篇小说的复兴做出了巨大贡献。一直以来，学术界关于雷蒙德·卡佛的研究重点大多放在其写作风格的相关研究上，少有较为系统的小说主题研究和艺术特征研究。本论文以他的短篇小说为研究对象，结合他的传记、采访等相关文献，通过文本细读的方式、运用相关小说理论，将文本研究与理论探索相结合，展示出卡佛短篇小说所具有的独特文学特质及意义。

出生并常年生活在底层社会的卡佛，敢于直面现实的艰辛与无奈，他通过小说向读者展示出了真实的美国底层社会的生存现实。在他的笔下，物质的匮乏、经济的困顿使人们处于艰难的生存条件中，而两性关系的失衡则加剧了他们生存的困境;由此直接或间接导致人们感到精神的苦痛，使他们感受到威胁的同时，产生了焦虑的情绪，从而陷入了精神的困境当中。

另一方面，当代社会中人类处于被“物化”的危机之中，人与人之间缺乏必要的交流，也难以建立长久而有效的正常沟通。无论是爱人间、家人间或是在其他人际关系中，人们都逐渐丧失自我表达和彼此交流的能力，使得人际关系逐渐恶化，由此走入了交流的困境。但卡佛的小说不仅仅是直面和指出现实的残酷及无奈，也不只是深刻展现人际交流间的异化状况，他还对这种绝望而疏离的现实生活进行了深入思考，给当下生活以积极的启示作用。卡佛短篇小说创作的风格以“极简主义”而闻名，然而他所运用的种种“极简”手法，表现出来的却是更加丰富充实的艺术内涵。

空缺和省略，以及重复叙述的使用，使小说呈现出多义性，留给读者更多的思考空间;限制型叙事视角的使用，尤其是卡佛小说中常用的摄影机式视角和第三人称人物有限视角，使得小说形成了一个可供阅读者自行解读和阐释的空间，为文本带来更为深刻的真实感的同时，还能深入作品揭示作品的主题;卡佛小说的对话，对故事的发展和人物的塑造都有很大作用，那些看似简洁直白或日常平淡的对话，实际都蕴含着丰富而深刻的意义。

2卡佛短篇小说的主题

一部文学作品的主题是它的中心观念或支配性观念，它既是作家谋篇布局的根本依据，也是作品的灵魂所在。对于卡佛的作品来说，“极简”并不意味着要消泯意义，尽管卡佛的创作风格极其简约，但其小说主题却深具现实性，尽显当代美国社会中的人生百态。20世纪六七十年代，“后现代主义”盛行于美国文坛，但这类小说通常脱离现实生活，注重表现技巧，创作风格趋于繁复和怪诞。在这样的背景下，以贴近现实生活的“极简主义”为创作风格的新一代作家逐渐展露锋芒，他们常描绘一些生活在中下层阶级的，时常陷入某种困境当中的人物。如出生于偏远小镇的女作家鲍比·安·梅森，就时常描写生活在乡村或小镇中的人物;来自中层阶级的女作家安·贝蒂，则擅长表现城郊人民和中层阶级美国人的现实生活。被称为“极简主义之父”的卡佛，通读他的作品后，我们会发现他用文字向人们展示了一幅生动的美国底层社会生存现实的画卷。

在他的笔下，权贵、商人和上流社会都难觅踪影，而经历着失业、酗酒、离婚等麻烦状况的贫穷蓝领一族才是主人公。卡佛之所以会将关注点聚焦在这类人身上，与他的个人经历有着密不可分的关系。自幼出生在贫穷的蓝领之家，几十年的底层生活经历，让作家对蓝领工人们的生存状态有着最深的了解和最真的感受。“工人阶级，或说是中低下产阶级。

后来变成己经不再是‘中低下’级，而成了美国生活里最绝望也最庞大的下层土壤。这些人无法完成他们经济与道德上的义务和职责。就在他们中间，我生活了很长一段时间。”如同当时美国蓝领一族的“代言人”般，卡佛用他简约而有张力的文字，客观而持有冷静的态度，描绘出了这些迷失生活方向，丧失自我与信念，空虚而平庸，麻木而冷酷的人们真实的生存现状。但也正是因为卡佛将关注点放在底层民众的现实生活，不少人物及故事在现实生活中都能找到原型，因此，当时不少评论家将他的小说视为“现实主义”，甚至有的还认为他的小说过于反应社会阴暗面，包含了某些政治因素，有丑化美国的嫌疑，这种将艺术表现形式与政治因素相联系的说法，遭到了卡佛的强烈否认，他曾多次表示他的小说描写的是一种“生存状态”，没有任何既定的其他意图。

3结论

1981年卡佛的“极简主义”代表作《当我们谈论爱情时我们在谈论什么》出版后，迅速引起了文坛的关注，也引发了评论家和读者们的纷纷议论。一些评论都认为这种文风过于“贫乏”和“吝音”，甚至批评卡佛的“极简主义”空洞刻板，千篇一律，没有个性。他们赋予“极简”以贬义，认为这类作品形式简单而缺乏内涵。但事实并非如此。卡佛的“极简主义”手法极富个性，而他的作品在“极简”的表面下也蕴含着深刻的主题和丰富的内涵。受契诃夫创作理念的影响，卡佛擅长观察日常生活中的琐碎事物，并对其作出准确的描述，因此他被称为“寻常事物的鉴赏家”。卡佛从平民的日常生活出发，最大限度地还原了生活的本貌。他塑造出一个个贫穷困顿，迷茫麻木的小人物，并通过对这些人物形象揭示出平民生活的真实样态，挖掘出蕴含在日常生活中的生存本质。

这些小人物，在残酷的现实生活面前，因为失业、酗酒、外遇、离婚等状况，陷入了生存和精神的双重困境当中，想要努力做出改变却无能为力，只能焦虑而绝望地挣扎。他们渴望与人真心交流以改变现状，却悲哀地发现，在现实社会中人们无论关系亲疏都难以建立长久而有效的正常沟通。人们逐渐丧失了自我表达和彼此交流的能力，只能自我封闭，更加孤独。但作家并没有只停留在反映社会的消极阴暗面上。他笔下的小人物们虽然经历着现实的残酷与社会的冷漠，但仍然积极地寻找出路，尝试真诚的交流。作家和他笔下的人物都有直面生活的勇气，并坚信活着就有希望。可以说，他的小说渗透着作家对人性的关怀和对生存意义的探讨。

在《论写作》中卡佛曾说:“作家不需要靠耍花招和卖弄技巧……作家要有面对简单的事物，惊讶的张口结舌的资质。” “极简”的写作风格和不喜欢在写作中“耍花招”的创作想法，不但没有使卡佛的短篇小说黯淡失色，反而使他的作品呈现出丰富的内涵和独特的艺术特质。

第二篇：英文文学评论,雷蒙德卡佛《大教堂》

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Jing C*** Professor Stephanie Denny English 1102 26 September 2015

Isolation and Reunion The novel “Cathedral” was written by American Minimalistwriter and poet Raymond Carver in 1982.After a thorough analysis of “Cathedral”, one can understand the fictional construction of its charactersandcomprehend the purpose of the theme presentedin this novel.Throughout the conflict between the narrator “I”, his wife and the blind man, Carver shows the significance of “Cathedral”, which symbolizes love, hope and redemption.In the opening of the story, Carver highlights the main characters common bond of solitude.Although they share that similarity, they are all very different.Initially, Narrator “I” hadan active relationship with his wife, but as time passed he became more and more isolated, apatheticand lonesome.Carver usesunreliable first person characterthe “I” totalkabout his wife’s past in regards toher mental activity.Itmeans they had always maintained a great line of communication with each other;his wifealways opened up to him about herself.Carver never explains how the couple began to separate and become indifferent with one another.It may have been the stress of his job, or the dullness of his life altogether, butthe “I” began to isolate himself from his wife and everyone else.He was did not have a social life or friends for that matter;something that was discovered during a conversation between he and his wife.Instead, the“I” would comfort himself by indulging in alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana and TV shows.The culture of television is also an important part of Carver’s works “Simmons argues that television's presence in Carver's stories signals two things:

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a moral vacuity and historical superficiality in the lives of characters attributable in part to television's evisceration of historical “depth” in their lives”(Mullen 52).It was during this time thata poor blind man chosethe “perfect” time to visit an old friend, the “I’s” wife.During the blind man’s visit, the narrator andhost“I” become defensive and display resentment against the friendship between his wife and the blind man because the blind touched his wife 10 years ago, “She told me he touched his fingers to every part of her face, her nose---even her neck!She never forgot it”(104).Although the blind man has never occupy her, the “I” still feels very mind of this old friend of her because “the sense of touch is more intrinsic than vision”(Armour 145), furthermore, they kept touch in the past ten years.So when the blind man arrives at his house, all readers can smells narrator’s antipathy, “This blind man, feature this, he was wearing a full beard!A beard on a blind man!Too much, I say”(106).Start from here, the conflict is set at the beginning of the story.The second character in this story is the narrator’s wife.She considered suicide in her first marriage and now she’s suffering another lonely marriage due to lack communications with her husband.Carver showcases her current badmarriage through contrast it with her friendship with blind man.“Over the years, she put all kinds of stuff on tapes and sent the tapes off lickety-split…She and I began going out, and of course she told her blind man about it.She told him everything”(105).Carver doesn’t give any clear and direct reasoningto explain why this couple’s relationship is crumbling, buthe writes, “Once she asked me if I’d like to hear the latest tape from the blind man…I said okay… We were interrupted, a knock at the door, and we didn’t ever get back to the tape.I’d heard all I wanted to”(105).From here, readers should know the answer, the “I” doesn’t care about her and her tapes and he doesn’t care for the blind man as well.Therefore, the blind’s visit sharpens the conflictsof the story.Chuai 3

The third character, as well as the key character of “Cathedral” is the blind man.He isalso isolated, but dissimilar from the narrator who is self-isolating and his wife who is isolated by her husband.The Blind man is isolated by the social discrimination and biases.“He was no one I knew…My idea of blind man came from the movies.In the movies, the blind moved slowly and never laughed…A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to”(104);“…Beulah and the blind man had themselves a church wedding…just the two of them, plus the minister and the minister’s wife”(106).Unfortunately, this blind man visits this inhospitable host, and without a doubt, the narrator is very impolite to him.In response to the “I’s” hostility, theblindman demonstrates his tolerance as well as intelligence.When the “I” sneers at him with the sites of the Hudson River sight viewing boat, he changes the topic tactfully to his “distinguishedbeard(107)”.When the “I” talks about the changing the TV channel, the blind replies, “Whatever you want to watch is okay…Learning never ends… I got ears”(110).The blind man also doesn’t refusemarijuana when offered a smoke from the “I”.He simply replies, “There’s a first time for everything”(109).Thus it can be understood that all responses from the blind man are very friendly and open-minded.No matter how cruel his life, and no matter how poorly people have treated him, the blind man always remains positive and optimistic.Carver gives blind man a character that is completely accepting of reality, which is the opposite ofthe “I”.The conflict is sharpened by the contrast between the two different characters---the insightful blind man and isolated normal vision the “I”.Finally, when the story reachesthe climax, Carver shows the readers his finalredemption---Cathedral.What is the cathedral symbolize in this story?First it represents the life, “If somebody says cathedral to you, do you have any notion what they’re talking about”, “I know they took hundreds of workers fifty to hundred years to build…they never lived to see the completion of

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their work.In that wise, bub, they’re no different from the rest of us, right?”(111).Secondly, the cathedral represents faith, which was once heldby people but is now lost.“In those olden days, when they built cathedrals, men wanted to be close to God…God was an important part of life…I don’t believe in it, in any thing”(111).Lastly, the cathedral also represents the hope and love in blind man’s faith.Church is mentioned twice in this story, once at blind man’s wedding, and again during the TV show.Although the blind man can’t see the building of cathedral, he already knows the meaning of it.The cathedralrepresents the most essential regression of human interaction.The blind man wants to enticethe narrator with it, showing the“I” how amazing the cathedral looks like in his mind: as happiness, love and hope.At the close of the story, “I” finds his perfect cathedral in his mind with his eyes closed.“His concerns are the relationship between sight and insight, the mind’s eye and the theme of blindness, the disjunction between the eye of the artist and the production of the artist’s hand.The works, all of which appear in the text, are of several varieties: depiction of blindness, relation of blindindividuals to their environment, blindness cured, blindness that brings insight, the self-portrait and self-portrait series and its diachronic relationship to landscape portraiture.”(Forman)Carver’s story represents a minimalistic-style novel.Carver hopes this story can help every confused and isolated personfind hope, love and begin to reestablish healthy forms of communication.He realizesmany peopleisolate themselves from crowds, such as the narrator.Carver gives the solution of how to return each isolated individualback to the world: hope,while finding the homeland of the soul, which is the cathedral.Works Cited

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Raymond, Carver.“Cathedral.” Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama and Writing.Ed.X.J Kennedy and Dana Gioia.8th Compact Ed.New York: Pearson, 2016.415-16.Print.Mullen, Bill.“A Subtle Spectacle: Televisual Culture inthe Short Stories of Raymond Carver.” Critique 39.2(1998): 99.Academic Search Complete.Web.21 Sept.2015.Armour, Leslie.“Paper Machine/On Touching--Jean-Luc Nancy.” Library Journal 130.14(2005): 145-146.Literary Reference Center.Web.21 Sept.2015.Forman, Robert J.“Memoirs ofthe Blind.” Magill’S Literary Annual 1995(1995): 1-3.Literary Reference Center.Web.21 Sept.2015.

第三篇：雷蒙德卡佛短篇小说研究论文

1引言

雷蒙德·卡佛是美国二十世纪八十年代短篇小说复兴的主将，他擅以简约文风描绘后工业时代美国中下层阶级的凡庸生活，被誉为“美国中产阶级的契诃夫”。卡佛擅于从小人物的日常琐事中透视人性的悖谬、命运的无常和“存在”的冷峻。他是一位以“他者镜像”写自我迷失，以失败人生对比美好理想，以沉默和含混暗示情感之绵延及“存在”之无限的作家。

本文在探索雷蒙德.卡佛短篇小说人物精神特质的基础上，辨析其短篇小说的独特艺术魅力。卡佛笔下“自我迷失者”的形象，分析卡佛短篇小说中主体与他者之间的镜像关系，并揭示其文本内部的欲望机制;第二章侧重分析卡佛笔下的“梦想失落者”的精神质地，解读卡佛笔下小人物们面对生存困境时的自我救赎之道;

透视美国后现代社会的人际冷漠和交流障碍的内在原因，并在此基础上解析卡佛小说中的作者-读者的合作关系。本文注重在文本细读的基础上使卡佛与其他短篇大师的艺术特质构成比较关系，将其小说艺术的美学辨析建立在美国文学传统和世界短篇小说传统的基础上;在探索小说主题的同时贯穿叙事技巧的分析，避免形式与内容的二元割裂;立足于现实语境谈论卡佛短篇研究的意义。

2自我的迷失

“追寻自我”一直是美国文学的重要母题。从杰克·伦敦笔下的马丁·伊登到海明威笔下的尼克，从马克。吐温笔下的汤姆和哈克贝利到凯鲁亚克笔下的迪安和萨姆，硬汉和牛仔们延续着美国民族精神中自我意志的神话。然而，这仅仅是美国文学关于“主体性”的一种正面书写，其反面是菲茨杰拉德、安德森.舍伍德等人有关“自我迷失”文学主题的创作。进入二十世纪后半叶，当全球化的进程逐步展开，处于动荡不安后现代转型期的美国资本主义社会，个体自我身份的迷失以及因此引发的焦虑成为新型的时代精神症候，“主体与他者”的关系问题也得到了重新审视和梳理。

这一时期的主客体关系己经不再聚焦于一味高扮主体性的笛卡尔式的“我思”之上了。尼采的“上帝已死”在后现代思想家那里演变为“主体已死”的“去/无中心化”哲学，“他者”问题被提到了前所未有的重要位置:福柯以知识考古学揭露了主体和理性的虚构性，通过对疯癫的分析为“沉默的他者”平反昭雪;拉康的镜像理论揭示了大/小他者对主体的篡位;德里达拆毁了结构主义者的同一性幻想，在解构思维中确立他者的绝对差异性。

有关“自我迷失”的文学母题在这一时期也发生了擅变。作家笔下主体与他者的关系裹挟在上述思潮之中，呈现出新的面貌。作为美国后工业社会底层生活的见证人，卡佛的短篇小说创作也不免受到时代思潮和精神氛围的影响。

卡佛笔下的自我迷失者不再是菲茨杰拉德笔下盖茨比式的人物，在爱情的梦想中彻底丧失了自我;也不是舍伍德·安德森笔下的小镇畸人，执拗地封闭着为精神创伤所扭曲的自我。卡佛笔下的小人物是一群挣扎在充满不确定性生活中的底层大众，他们的主体性或迷失于他者镜像的欲望迷宫之中，或为“强势他者”所篡夺。

失落的梦想与世俗化慰藉第一节卡佛短篇小说中的梦想失落者约翰·史密斯(Captain John Smith)在1616年出版的《新英格兰概述》中将美国描写成一块物产富饶的新大陆，那里没有欧洲日大陆的历史重负，也没有其复杂的阶级关系:“人人，或者大部分人，在很短的时间里，都可以成为自己的劳动和土地的主人与所有者。这种对美国天然优越性的看法后来逐渐演变成有关“美国梦”的国家神话:这片“应许之地”充满了各种可能性，每个人只要通过不懈的奋斗和经营，就可能获得自由、平等、独立和富足的幸福生活。

“美国梦”是一种有关民族国家乌托邦的自我想象，它根植在美国人的意识深处，也是美国文学几百年来不变的主题之一。但是，作家们有关“美国梦”的书写却不纯粹是正面称颂式的。事实上，对“美国梦”的虚幻性与腐蚀性，美国式盲目乐观主义的揭露、反思和批判一直以来也都是美国作家们的重要使命。如果说马克·吐温笔下的哈克贝利·费恩以及海明威笔下的桑提亚哥代表了美国精神外拓式的、征服性的阳性力量;那么菲茨杰拉德笔下爵士时代红男绿女们浮华而空虚的人生，契佛笔下绿茵山镇死水微澜的中产阶级家庭生活，则反映出“梦想”与“现实”之间的差距，代表了美国文学内向式的、反思性的阴性力量。20世纪，在经历了资本主义世界经济危机、大萧条时代以及两次世界大战之后，美国传统中乐观自信的精神逐渐消散。

3沉默的言说

第一节卡佛短篇小说中的沉默者阿瑟M.萨尔茨曼在《理解雷蒙德·卡佛》一书中援引威廉·卡洛儿·威廉斯《裴特森》中的话语来阐释卡佛笔下小人物们无可名状的痛苦:“他们的言语消失在被囚禁的交流欲望之中，”确乎如此。卡佛笔下挣扎在破碎生活边缘的小人物们均有程度不等的沟通障碍症。当他们的内心世界受到来自生活灾难性变化的冲击时，支离破碎的情感和思绪不断地积聚，却无法找到恰当的出口。于是，暴力或沉默便成了他们内心状态的外在呈现方式。在卡佛的短篇小说中，无论是“沉默”还是“暴力气都代表了人物内在自我的异化和言说能力的缺席。从某种意义上说，“暴力”亦是另一种形态的“沉默”。它是一种扭曲、外化了的“沉默”，它以物理性的攻击行为取代了符号性的言说行为。事实上，在卡佛的短篇小说中，直露的暴力宣泄并不多见。

对于卡佛笔下那些饱受生活磨难的底层人来说，“沉默”才是他们面对各种困境时的常态。“沉默”在卡佛短篇小说人物的对话中扮演了至关重要角色。它或者暗示了人物的自我封闭状态，或者暗示了人物的语言表达障碍。卡佛小说对话中的“沉默”不同于海明威的“俭省”。

海明威短篇小说的人物对话过程尽管出现了大量空白，但对话双方却能够互相理解，反而是读者被置于理解的盲点中而不得不自行串联意义的断片。卡佛短篇小说人物的对话方式实现了对“海明威式对话”的反转:读者能够根据作者的提示，理解文本中人物的处境及其无法言表的内心痛苦。但是，小说中的人物却陷入了错愕迷惘之中，既无法理解自身的处境也无法使自己的痛苦为他人所理解。

第四篇：Cathedral Raymond Carver(《大教堂》雷蒙德.卡佛)

Cathedral Raymond Carver

大教堂

雷蒙德．卡佛 文章中英文分析

《大教堂》是他最著名的短篇之一。主人公的妻子多年来与一位盲人朋友保持联系。一次，盲人朋友终于要来拜访这对夫妇，妻子兴致勃勃，主人公却非但不激动，反而竭力克制自己毫无理由的敌意和鄙夷。和其他一些故事一样，主人公对生活这种无所谓和厌弃相混合的态度，始终是个没有提示的谜题。除了从卡佛自己的生活经历入手，恐怕很难找到别的解释。《大教堂》结尾，主人公在闭着眼睛和盲人一起画画的过程中，绷紧的神经终于放松下来。不是四两拨千斤，而是花大量篇幅在天平一端放了过多郁闷之后，在另一端放一茶匙淡淡的欢欣意思意思。然而，这便是雷蒙德·卡佛。

Cathedral Summary “Cathedral” opens with the narrator telling the reader in a conversational tone that a blind friend of his wife's is coming to visit them.The narrator is clearly unhappy about the upcoming visit.He then flashes back to the story of how his wife met the blind man when she worked for him as a reader.At the time, she was engaged to marry an officer in the Air Force.When she tells the blind man goodbye, he asks if he can touch her face.The touch of his fingers on her face is a pivotal moment in her life, something the narrator does not understand.Although his wife has maintained contact with the blind man for ten years, this will be the first time she has seen him since her marriage, subsequent divorce, and remarriage.Robert, the blind man, has just lost his wife and will be traveling to Connecticut to visit with her family.Along the way he will spend the night at the home of the narrator and his wife.His wife tells the narrator that Robert and his wife, Beulah, were inseparable.Themes Alienation and Loneliness Like the characters in many of Carver's works, the main characters experience, or have experienced, alienation and loneliness.The narrator is unhappy in his work, jealous of his wife, and unconnected to other human beings.In addition to not being connected to others himself, he seems to resent his wife's connections to other people as well.When he speaks of the impending visit by the blind man he states, ''I wasn' t enthusiastic about his visit...A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to.’’ Further, once Robert arrives...The narrator is not an articulate man;consequently, the narration is filled with gaps that the reader must fill in.“Cathedral” Plot Summary The story’s narrator informs the readers that a friend of his wife’s, a man who happens to be blind, is on his way to visit.The narrator is not enthusiastic about the visit because blind people make the narrator uncomfortable, mainly because the narrator has no real experience with the blind.In addition to his uneasiness with the blind, the narrator is uncomfortable with his wife’s relationship with the blind man.The wife and Robert, the blind man, have maintained a close relationship via tape recordings mailed back and forth, and the narrator finds this unsettling.Despite the narrator’s feelings about the visit, Robert shows up, and the three of them dine together, and Robert and the narrator get to know each other.Characters Robert: Robert, the blind man, is a long-time friend of the narrator’s wife.Robert has maintained a close relationship with the narrator’s wife since she worked for him years ago.Since then, they have stayed in touch.Robert works hard to get to know that narrator, too, while he is visiting them, pushing the narrator to talk and interact with him, bringing the narrator out of his shell of closed-off ignorance.The narrator’s wife also seems to have some internal struggle, mainly due to what is divulged about her past.She was married before and suffered from loneliness.She has attempted suicide in the past, and now she is in a difficult marriage once again.Surely, had the story been told from her perspective, the depths of her internal struggle would be brought further to light.At the end of “Cathedral,” the narrator has a life-changing moment, or an epiphany, while trying to tell Robert what a cathedral looks like.The narrator, when first trying to explain what the cathedral looks like, struggles for the words.However, upon Robert’s encouragement, loosens up, and draws the cathedral with Robert, guiding his hand with a pencil onto paper.This is a close personal connection and intimate moment of communication for the narrator, and it impacts him greatly.The narrator is able to connect with Robert, and this is the moment where the narrator can put aside his insecurities and actually interact with someone else.It changes the narrator;he says, “It was like nothing else in my life up to now”(Carver 108).Throughout Cathedral, the boundaries the narrator has placed on his interaction and communication with others are eroded by Robert’s patient persistence in getting to know him.As a result, the narrator confronts his own insecurities and misconceptions, not just about Robert and the blind, but also about his own ability to interact with others.

第五篇：小说语言艺术论文

一、语言的直观艺术

海明威在创作|过程中，非常善于通过语言文字的直观性使读者能够感受到当时真实的场景。在读者阅读任何一篇文章的过程中，最开始映入眼帘的是文字，文字的直观性很强，记载了作品的全部内容，因此，文字给读者的震撼力可想而知。直观的文字不管是心理感受还是视觉感染，表达出来的内涵会更加贴切，更加丰富。比如想要表达一个人非常伤心，不仅可以利用“sad”，而且可以采用“unhap-py”，虽然这两个词语的含义相同，但是“unhappy”相对于“sad”而言，不仅可以使人们感染到悲伤的情绪，而且可以使读者的印象更加深刻，给读者预留一定的思想空间。比如在《老人与海》中，描写老人桑提亚哥和年轻黑人掰手腕的情境，海明威主要采用了没有加任何标点的长句来描写，中间没有任何停顿，因此每一位读者读后都会产生一种刺激、紧张、恐惧等心理，甚至能体会到掰手腕后的疲惫。这种直观语言可以更加引起读者的切身体验和思考。当然，语言的直观化并不在于句子的长短，比如在《老人与海》中，海明威利用短句也同样达到了很好的视觉化效果。在小说中描述到，老人和大马林鱼之间虽然进行了一天一夜的搏斗已经精疲力竭，但老人仍然一次又一次拉它回来，在整个坚持的过程中描写的简短精练的句子一方面呈现了老人非常疲惫的状态，另一方面也为读者呈现了一种坚持不懈、努力拼搏的情境，增强了读者的心理、视觉感受。又比如在《白象似的群山》中，为了阻止男青年再说话，姑娘居然连用7个“求求你”，这种语言表达相比任何修饰都更加能够体现姑娘此时厌烦、忐忑的心理。

二、语言的口语艺术

根据语言发展层面分析，口语在书面语发展之前便已经存在，书面语相比口语而言更加具有规范性、规律性、统一性，很多读者读完之后，思想容易被禁锢，慢慢地也会失去阅读兴趣。但是口语的最大特点是直觉性、生动性、活跃性，能够真实、准确地表达出人们的社会生活感受和内心思想情感，生命力较强，更加能够刺激人们的大脑语言神经，提高读者的兴奋性。海明威在文学创作过程中非常喜欢运用一些日常用语、街头俚语、民间俗语等，这些口语化的语言结构更加单纯，句子简短，节奏也非常鲜明，和美国中西部人民口头语言比较接近，更加能够引起读者的共鸣。比如在《残杀》中，“says，”hesaid，“whatthehell？“”Tohellwiththeclock,”thefirstmansaid，that’sabellofareason.海明威利用了很多俚语、俗语。同时，海明威也喜欢采用一些常用的粗话，在《弗朗西斯麦康伯短暂的幸福生活》中描写了麦康伯知道妻子偷情后的一段问话，其中麦康伯脱口而出：“你干的好事，真该死。”这句口语非常准确地描述了男主人公的性格，读者也能够体会此时男主人公非常暴躁、愤怒的心情，感觉非常贴切。这是书面语不可比拟的独特优势。

三、语言的可视化艺术

海明威不是艺术家，也不是哲学家，通过拜读海明威的作品，并不会感到艺术家们对于艺术生活的无限向往和不切实际的抽象表达，也不会体会到哲学家那样思考生活，而是通过客观描写事物外观来表达情感的一种艺术体现，不仅可以把读者和作家的距离拉近，而且可以引起情感的共鸣，产生真实的视觉感受。海明威常常会利用一些可视化语言仔细描写事物外形，并且提出并不能通过抽象的思辨以及理智客观描摹事物外观，只可以凭借自己的直觉，根据自己的感性思考和体会对事物的声音、颜色、形状进行描摹，然后将其呈现给读者，让读者自己去探索、感悟、思考。比如《乞力马扎罗的雪》中，作者以主人公的视角对于自己所观察到的平原、树木、大鸟、含羞草、影子等一些事物进行直观描摹，让读者能够感受到广袤无垠的草原，展翅翱翔的大鸟，在阳光下投射的影子，使读者感觉非常真切、直观。又比如《雨中的猫》中，描写一段下雨的场景，其中描写了海水、雨水、棕榈树、纪念碑、积水等事物，雨水、海水的动静结合，各种事物形成了一幅极为丰富、色彩鲜明、生动形象的图画。物象的清晰度高，语言可视化程度高，因此在简朴的语言环境中才蕴含着丰富的物象，令人回味无穷。

四、语言的含蓄艺术

海明威在进行文学创作的过程中，常常会采用可视化、直观、朴实的语言完整表达出描写的内容，至于深层次的情感需要读者自己深入思考、体会，这也是海明威语言艺术魅力独特之处。海明威可以使有限的文字承载丰富的内涵，通过一些简约的物象来传达出自己深厚炽热的情感，将一些复杂的情感通过更加含蓄婉约的语言形式表达出来。海明威在这些可视化语言中含蓄地融合了自己多年来的生活感悟，读者在阅读的时候不仅能体会到作者的心境，而且可以为自己预留一个思考、想象的空间，感受新的体会。比如《第十个印第安人》中，有一个场景描写了男主人公在知道自己女友已经爱上别人的情况下的伤心情境，文中写了夜间树林里的风声、湖面水声，进而写到早上起了更大的风，湖滨已经被涨潮的湖水无情漫过。最后主人公发现自己心碎了。这个场景的描写后来在电影中得到广泛应用，主要是为了表达一个失恋者伤心、支离破碎的心情。这个场景没有正面描写主人公的伤心、难过，而是非常含蓄地通过风声、水声等来描写主人公心情的起伏跌宕，悲恸欲绝，表达了作者无尽的语言，使这种伤心欲绝的情绪达到高潮。海明威是现代新文体风格、新语言的创造者，其独树一帜的语言艺术风格令其他作家纷纷折服，对当时美国文学乃至整个世界的文学都造成了极其重要的影响。海明威的语言朴实无华、直观性强、口语化、可视化较强、含蓄精练，是世界语言宝库的一笔重要财富。我国文学家应进一步深入探究海明威小说的语言艺术，推动我国文学的进一步发展。