解读环境设置在小说中的艺术魅力------评萨基的短篇小说《闯入者》摘要：《闯入者》是英国著名短篇小说家萨基的代表作之一。
萨基的短篇小说结构严谨，构思巧妙，结尾经常出人意料，常常被人拿来与欧•亨利和多罗茜帕克作比较。
他擅长从英国上层社会和中产阶级生活中的简单无聊的日常琐事中取材，以机智、幽默、辛辣的笔调，以小见大，通过不落俗套的艺术构思，跌宕起伏的故事情节，出人意料的结局，和机智幽默的语言表现出不同凡响的艺术效果。
该小说中的环境设置具有明显的象征主义色彩。
本文通过对《闯入者》中具有浓厚象征色彩的背景设置，如故事发生的地理环境、历史时期，物理环境，背景转换及环境的讽刺意义等进行分析，揭示其背景设置在塑造人物形象及揭示小说深刻的哲理内涵和艺术韵味中所起的重要作用。
关键词：萨基《闯入者》环境设置象征讽刺Hector Hugh Munro， better known by the pen name Saki was known as one of British best short-story writer, whose extraordinarily compact, wicked and witty short stories satirized Edwardian society and culture. Actually, the name "Saki" was borrowed from the cupbearer in Omar Khayyam's The Rubaiyat. Munro used it for political sketches contributed to the Westminster Gazette as early as 1896, later collected as Alice in Westminster. The stories and novels were published between that time and the outbreak of World War I, when he enlisted as a soldier. He died of wounds from a sniper's bullet while in a shell hole near Beaumont-Hamel. His short story is very popular among English readers, while in China, there is little study papers about Saki and his works. Although his short-story The Open Windows is very familiar for Chinese readers, but the name of Saki seems didn’t earn its due reputation. Nevertheless, his position in the English literature is impregnable as long as the sun shines. His short story, characterized by ingenious conception, rigorous structure, acrimonious tone and pungent satire contribute to his reputation as the master of short story in Europe. On the other hand, he was more than often compared with two famous American short story writers O·Henry and Dorothy Parker because of their similarities in the unpredictable endings of their short stories. He was influenced by Oscar Wilde, Lewis Carroll, and Kipling, and himself influenced A. A. Milne, Noël Coward, and P.G. Wodehouse.The Interlopers, Written during WWI and published in 1969 after his death, is a short story based on two men, Georg Znaeym and Ulrich von Gradwitz, whose families have fought over a forest in the eastern Karpathian Mountains for three generations. Ulrich's family legally owns the land, but Georg – feeling it rightfully belongs to him –hunts there anyway. One windy and snowy winter night, both Georg Znaeym and Ulrich von Gradwitz Ulrich, harbored bitter hatred, are hunting on the woodland over which they have disputed for more than three generations. Actually, both of them expect to meet the enemy and kill each other like a “game”--”as boys they had thirsted for one another’s blood, as men each other prayed that misfortune might fall on the other”. In that very moment that they want to take action, as an "act of God", a beechtree branch suddenly falls on each of them, trapping them both under a log. Gradually, they realize the futility of their quarrel and become friends to end the family feud. They call out for their men’s assistance, and after a brief period, Ulrich makes out eight or nine figures approaching over a hill. The story ends with Ulrich’s realization that the "interlopers" on the hill are actually wolves.The novel intelligently employs a series of symbolic settings, including geographical location, historical period, and physical environment to convey the theme of the story and through intelligent and ingenious setting shift to depict the characteristics of the characters and to imply the development of the plot. Particularly, at the end of the story, the irony in settings unveils the profound philosophical implications, which makes the story more thought provoking.As we all know, the setting of a short story is not simply the time and place in which it occurs. Elements of setting may include physical environment, geographical locations, culture background, historical period, and situational environment. Along with the plot, character, theme, and style, setting is considered one of the fundamental components of fiction. Careful description of these aspects of setting helps the reader gain a greater sense of the story and can connect to the story's central theme and greatly enhance the author's purpose. In many stories that we read, settings are not stated directly. The writer expects us to find clues and make inferences about where and when the story takes place and to find the underlying relations with the theme of the short story. Saki ‘use of setting is arguably the most effective element in The Interlopers. 1. Geographical LocationThe geographical location of The Interlopers is “the eastern spurs of the Karpathian Mountains”. Actually, Saki purposely trumps up "Karpathian” according to "Carpathian" as the place in which the story occurs for two reasons. Primarily, he intends to satirize the First World War .The Carpathian Mountains are a range of mountains forming an arc roughly 1,500 km long across Central and Eastern Europe, making them the second-longest mountain range in Europe .They provide the habitat for the largest European populations of brown bears, wolves, chamois and lynxes, with the highest concentration in Romania. As well as over one third of all European plant species. It is the epitome of the dark days when imperialists barbarously and ferociously carve up the world through violence. The story is written when Saki was serving on a warship in France. Therefore, the two main characters of the story -- Ulrich von Gradwitz and Georg Znaeym -- symbolizes the imperialists in the First World War mercilessly plundering the colonies and fighting because they did not split up the profit from obey equally. And the Karpathian is a symbol of the marauded colonies. As a result, Saki ingeniously employs the variation of Carpathian to satirize the First World War. Secondly, the author chooses Karpathian as the settings to fuzzify and globalize the story. If the time and space of the story is certain and specific, it is rather difficultfor the readers to connect the plot of the story with their own life and the sense of value. Therefore, Saki purposely use Karpathian rather than Carpathian specific place in the real world, as the setting the story taken place, because he wants to remind the readers that the story of The Interloper may occur around us at any time. In the sense, the readers can find the Karpathian around them which makes the plot of the story globalized and universalized.2. Historical PeriodAccording to the story and our knowledge about the author, we can imply that the history period of the story is during The Edwardian era which is a period of time covering the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910, and is sometimes extended beyond Edward's death to include years leading up to World War I. The era was marked by significant shifts in economy and politics of the society that had been largely excluded from wielding power in the past, such changes included rising interest in socialism, attention to the plight of the poor, and the status of women, including the issue of women's suffrage, together with increased economic opportunities as a result of rapid industrialization. However, the poor were still frowned upon and segregated and the government in this era was very strict with their laws. Many people believed that if they owned something, for example, land, that no one else should use that land without the owner's permission. In this way, it is not difficult for us to understand the basic conflict between the characters in the story.Also, the woodland can be seen as the source of conflict. In The Interlopers, for three generations, the family of Ulrich von Gradwitz and Georg Znaeym, driven by the frenzied hatred, have been disputed over a useless woodland .while just as Ulrich acknowledged that “it was not remarkable for the game it harbored or shooting it afforded, but it was the most jealously guarded of all its owner’s territorial possessions”, both of them regard each other as the “interlopers”. It indicates that any forms of conflict and hatred itself is pointless and even stupid, and it makes no difference to the matter when the reconciliation is only reached the day before the disaster indeed come down. In a sense, it also can be seen as the conflict origins of the First Word War. As we all know, the spark of the First World War is the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. Ferdinand's death at the hands of the Black Hand, a Serbian nationalist secret society, set in train a mindlessly mechanical series of events that culminated in the world's first global war. If the youth can express his political opinion by other means, the First World War wouldn’t break out in an instant, and numerous innocent people wouldn’t have been involved in the dreadful and brutal war. Saki intends to tell us that the origin of any conflict itself may of no pragmatically significance to both party involved, instead, it is the inconsequential sparkle, flamed by vanity, absurdness, selfishness and jealousy, that eventually leads to the loss of millions of lives..3.Physical EnvironmentThe author presents a vivid picture of the physical environment of story through his meticulous and detailed description. The Interlopers takes place in a "dark forest," a "narrow strip of precipitous woodland that lay on its outskirt" which, ironically, is a waste land that of no real uses to both of them but is the source of their dispute and continuing feud. As with many short stories, no specific time is mentioned, but we do know that the author lived from 1870 to 1916 and that in the story night --- “awind-scourged winter night”---"the whistling and skirling of the wind and the restless beating of the branches for sight and sound of the marauders"--“little snow had fallen as yet”--is approaching. The bad weather and desolated environment adds additional mood and complications for the characters in The Interlopers. It also arouses the curiosity of the readers’ speculation to the destiny of the characters in the novel. The author uses plenty of subtle touches depicted a vivid picture of the physical environment, which is ingeniously in line with the development of the plot. In the story, it is a "wind-scourged winter night" that causes "unrest among the creatures that were wont to sleep through the dark hours." The "disturbing element in the forest" pushes Ulrich to wish "if only on this wild night, in this dark, lone spot, he might come across Georg Znaeym, man to man, with none to witness." The wildness of the winter wind accentuates the wildness felt by the character. Therefore, the characteristics of the protagonists in the story gradually emerge and become more obvious and distinct."Relief at being alive and exasperation at his captive plight brought a strange medley of pious thank-offerings and sharp curses to Ulrich’s lips."Are they your men?’he repeated impatiently as Ulrich did not answer.""Each had a rifle in his hand; each had hate in his heart, and murder uppermost in his mind.""’I don’t drink wine with an enemy.’"“So you’re not killed as you ought to be, but you’re caught, anyway,” he cried; “caught fast.”“Let's shout for help,” he said; “in this lull our voices may carry a little way.” “They won't carry far through the trees and undergrowth,” said Georg, “but we can try. Together then.”From these sentences we can see that Ulrich von Gradwitz is a stubborn, selfish man at first, but with further development in the story he becomes more open-minded. He is the one who is willing to becoming friends with Georg, his worst enemy. On the other hand, Georg Znaeym is hardheaded and self-centered like Ulrich. He is jealousof Ulrich because he has abundant land and hunting grounds. Eventually he becomes open to being friends with Ulrich.4. Setting ShiftAlthough the overall setting for The Interlopers remains the same, it shifts in the sense that it becomes more narrowed and focused. "A deed of Nature's own violence overwhelmed them both. A fierce shriek of the storm had been answered by a splitting crash over their heads, and ere they could leap aside a mass of falling beech tree had thundered down on them, “pinning both characters to the ground. The setting then reflects the characters' own relationship: "All around them lay a thick-strewn wreckage of splintered branches and broken twigs." The characters' immobility illustrates a more immediate setting as they lay side by side, nearly able to touch each other.5. Irony in SettingThe final use of setting in The Interlopers occurs shortly after Znaeym and Gradwitz become pinned by the fallen tree. After hailing curses down on each other, the two eventually realize that their feud over a useless bit of wild land is pointless. The cold, desolate, unfriendly, isolated winter weather has actually brought the two men closer together. The final irony is that in this wild setting, there are naturally wild creatures, and after finally ending their feud, Znaeym and Gradwitz were about to finally end this long quarrel between the two families and become friends instead, they got confronted by wolves, signifying that their lives ended on the night they decided to make peace with each other. This reminds me of the many times that I have had to work together with other people only at a moment when our fate hangs in the balance like they are going through right now. However, at that time, it cannot make any difference to rewrite our destiny. However, there is also another kind of irony at the end of the story, because it was revealed to us that the two men’s fate were determined not by their men as they thought would be, but instead on a bunch of interlopers, the wolves. This is an ironic event since there were two mentions of “no interlopers” in the dialogue between the two men, once when they were still enemies and once when they became friends, but in the end it was “the interlopers” who came first and supposedly ended their lives. At the beginning, Znaeym and Gradwitz are confident about their capability to control nature, for them, nature is only a plaything. However, it is exactly nature that overwhelms and destroys them.Reference：1.Saki, a life of Hector Hugh Munro: with six short stories never before collected. Hamish Hamilton, 19812. Saki, the Best of Saki, Penguin Books Limited (UK), 19943. H. P. Abbott, the Cambridge Introduction to Narrative. Beijing: Peking University Press, 2007.4. Yuan Xianjun, Approaching Fiction, Peking University Press, 2004.5. Yu jianhua, Short Story in English: A reading Course. Beijing Higher Education, 2010.6. Sandie Byrne. The unbearable Saki: the work of H.H Munro: Oxford: O xford University Press, 2007.7. James Joll, Gordon Martel, the Origins of the First World War, Pearson Longman, 2007.。
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