读原著_赏_胡话_爱丽丝_之胡话论

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原作的特色之一——“胡话”进行介绍和分析,希望能引起读者的兴趣和关注,促进对作家作品的进一步研究。

2. 荒谬绝伦却又妙趣横生、哲理丰富的“胡话”由于《爱丽丝》系列独特的体裁特点,它们在语言风格上也与众不同。

一方面,它们的叙述语言浅白流畅,以日常核心词汇为主。

另一方面,书中“人物”的那些酷似日常对话的语言却往往莫名其妙、违背人类常识、逻辑怪异混乱,令人困惑而又忍俊不禁。

在故事里,爱丽丝始终无法理解她遇到的形形色色的怪人,也无法做到真正意义上的交流。

在我们看来,这些怪人常常不遵守“会话原则”,要么答非所问,要么自说自话,完全不顺应爱丽丝的意图和逻辑,甚而强词夺理、盛气凌人。

这是他们的本性使然。

一方面,他们有着不同于现实中人的思维方式和逻辑,比如《爱丽丝漫游奇境》里那只自以为是的老鼠,因为它认为历史课本中的语言是“the driest thing”,所以就可以念出来把落水的爱丽丝和其它动物的身体弄干。

另一方面,虽然它们在爱丽丝和读者看来既荒谬又愚蠢,却反而将闯入它们世界、不懂它们规则的爱丽丝视为异己,好斗爱辩,拼命证明它们的正确和合理。

所以,爱丽丝经常无奈而又痛苦:“It's really dreadful theway all the creatures argue. It's enough to driveone crazy.”(Alice's Adventures in Wonderland,Chapter VI)下面从原文中摘取几个小片段为例,管窥一下怪人胡话的“魅力”。

在Alice's Adventures in Wonderland的第七章“A Mad Tea-Party”中,爱丽丝遇到了三月兔和帽匠,他们实际上都是疯子1。

帽匠的思维和话语确如疯子一样,是跳跃式的,不连贯的,常常没头没脑地蹦出一句话。

它对爱丽丝说的第一句话就很唐突:“Your hair wants cutting.”爱丽丝对他的无礼表示不满,他虽睁大眼睛听着,回应的话却是:“Why is a raven like a writing-desk?”而这根本就是个没有答案的谜语。

他的思维和逻辑也很怪,请看以下两段引文 :"What a funny watch!" she remarked. "It tellsthe day of the month, and doesn't tell what o'clockitis!""Why should it?" muttered the Hatter. "Doesyour watch tell you what year it is?""Of course not," Alice replied very readily: "butthat's because it stays the same year for such along time together.""Which is just the case with mine,"said theHatter."Take some more tea," the March Hare said toAlice, very earnestly."I've had nothing yet," Alice replied in anoffended tone: "so I can't take more.""You mean you can't take less," said the Hatter:"it's very easy to take more than nothing."(Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter VII)读者的第一感觉跟爱丽丝一样 :“The Hatter'sremark seemed to her to have no sort of meaningin it, and yet it was certainly English.”而且,他的话也好像逻辑不通。

可细细想来,帽匠的话似乎不疯而很有道理:因为一年时间太长,指针好长时间无法换年,所以他的表只好显示日期了;而任何东西的量只能比“无”多,不能比“无”少,也确乎是真理。

《爱丽丝镜中奇遇记》的象棋白王后也有一些非常著名的“胡话”。

她性情温和,但智力低下(如果有足够的时间,她会做加法,但任何情况下都不会减法;她只会认一个字母的字),邋里邋遢,连头发和披肩都收拾不利索。

她想让爱丽丝做她的女仆,并许诺“two pence a week and jam everyother day”。

爱丽丝当然不想做她的女仆,也不稀罕她的果酱,却不料即使她成了女仆,也永远不可能吃上果酱:"It's very good jam,' said the Queen."Well, I don't want any to-day, at any rate.'"You couldn't have it if you did want it," theQueen said. "The rule is, jam tomorrow and jamyesterday—but never jam to-day.""It must come sometimes to 'jam to-day',"Alice objected."No, it can't," said the Queen. "It's jam everyother day: to-day isn't any other day, you know.""I don't understand you," said Alice. "It's1据Martin Gardner的注释,“mad as a March hare”和“mad as a hatter”是卡罗尔时代的普通习语,大致起源于雄兔在三月份发情期间行为癫狂,而当时的帽匠常因用水银处理毛毡而中毒,得上震颤症,进而语言混乱,产生幻觉。

(Gardner, The Annotated Alice, 66)Now tell me the reason, I pray.""In the days of my youth," father William replied,"I remember'd that youth would fly fast,And abus'd not my health and my vigor at first,That I never might need them at last."(Southey)"You are old, father William," the young mansaid,"And your hair has become very white;And yet you incessantly stand on your head—Do you think, at your age, it is right?""In my youth," Father William replied to hisson,"I feared it might injure the brain;But, now that I'm perfectly sure I have none,Why, I do it again and again." (Carroll)卡罗尔的戏仿保留了原作的结构和节律,却填充了可笑的语句,将原诗的严肃和教益一扫而光,使得它对知道原诗的读者来说更加幽默有趣。

此外,按照加拿大文论家琳达・哈琴的说法,戏仿是“有差异的重复”,戏仿文本和被戏仿文本暗含着一段“批判性距离”,“一段通常以反讽为标志的距离”。

(Hutcheon, 2001)所以,卡罗尔的诗因对原诗的“降级”模仿而充满了嘲弄和讽刺的意味,使得原作更不容易被接受,因为新作欢快的、颠覆的、充满活力的声音大大强于原作一本正经的说教。

《爱丽丝镜中奇遇记》中的胡话诗在创作手法上不同于第一本书,除了白骑士唱给爱丽丝的那首歌The Aged, Aged Man外(对华兹华斯的Resolution and Independence的戏仿),其余的基本是卡罗尔的独创。

它们与前作一样荒诞而幽默,但更狂放怪异,内容更荒诞,也更突出了卡罗尔高超的语言能力。

The Walrus and the Carpenter讲述了海象和木匠诱骗一群小牡蛎去散步,然后把它们吃掉的故事,是这部书中最易懂的一首长诗,但它仍有不少荒谬和违反逻辑的内容,比如:The sun was shining on the sea,Shining with all his might:He did his very best to makeThe billows smooth and bright—And this was odd, because it wasThe middle of the night. (Chapter I)"The time has come," the Walrus said,"To talk of many things:Of shoes—and ships—and sealing-wax—Of cabbages—and kings—And why the sea is boiling hot—And whether pigs have wings." (Chapter XI)第一节的荒谬之处在于太阳居然在半夜里眩目地照耀着,而且试图平息海里的巨浪;第十一节根本就是胡说八道,既违背现实和常识,事物的并置也无逻辑可言,是全诗最著名、也是最常被引用的部分。