马克·吐温从幽默到讽刺
第27卷第2期 玉林师范学院学报(哲学社会科学) V01.27No.2
2006年 JOuRNAL0FYULINTEACHERSCOLLEGE(Philosophy&SocialScience)
马克·吐温:从幽默到讽刺
覃承华
(南宁师范高等专科学校外语系助教,广西龙州532400)
【摘要】美国的幽默大师和现实主义作家马克·土温,被认为是一个世界文学巨匠。他的幽默对
其后辈文人产生了巨大的影响。批评家对此亦高度重视并就此提出了不同的阐释。然而,幽默在马克·
土温后期的作品里非但消失殆尽反而被辛辣讽刺所取代。马克...
第27卷第2期 玉林师范学院学报(哲学社会科学) V01.27No.2
2006年 JOuRNAL0FYULINTEACHERSCOLLEGE(Philosophy&SocialScience)
马克·吐温:从幽默到讽刺
覃承华
(南宁师范高等专科学校外语系助教,广西龙州532400)
【摘要】美国的幽默大师和现实主义作家马克·土温,被认为是一个世界文学巨匠。他的幽默对
其后辈文人产生了巨大的影响。批评家对此亦高度重视并就此提出了不同的阐释。然而,幽默在马克·
土温后期的作品里非但消失殆尽反而被辛辣讽刺所取代。马克·土温为何改变了他的写作风格和人生
态度?什么原因导致了他的这种巨变?紧紧围绕上述问题,文章从社会影响和个人遭遇两个方面分别分
析了引起马克·吐温写作风格和人生态度改变的原因。旨在就他的这些改变提出理性
,从而使其作
品更加通俗易懂。
【关键词】马克·土温;幽默;讽刺
【中图分类号】1206【文献标识码】A【文章编号】1004—4671(2006)02一004卜05
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I.Introduction
田
Americanliterature”.”thetme白therofournational
arkTwain,thepseud。nym。fSamuel
1iterature”,”MarkTwain一一Mirr。r。fAmerica”are
Lan曲。meclemens,istheforerunnerandusedt。highli曲thispinnacles
in1iterature·His白ithful
reputedrealistinthearenaofAmerican1it— disciple,EmestHerllingway,moreoVer,onceput
it,
erature.Becauseofhisremarkablecontributiontothe
”a11modem1iteraturecomes在omonebookbyMark
nati。n,1iterarycriticssp。kehi曲1y。fhisachievements.Twain,called月删叼7局埘⋯”
Forinstance.thesevenerabletitles”theLinc01nof
As矗rasaliterary舀antisconcemed,Twainwas
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万方数据
remen】beredbvlnenof1etcers6rstLvasamaste删nd
ofhumorandthenasabittersadricwIiter.Inother
wor出, TwaininhhwritiIlgcareere冲erienceda
cha“ge丘ombelngchee血11andopdmisdccodespair-
ingandpessirnjstic.ButwhatcausehisshiR丘omhu—
mortosadre?PersonaUv.bothsocialinnuenceand
personalencou呲ersP12ycridcalrolesinchan百r培his
wridn立丘omhumortosa石reandhisacdtudetoward
】i癌aswell.
II.Socialin丑uences
BodltheAmericancivilwar(h3ppenedin1861
andlastedtill1865)andthere—coIlstrucdonaRerthe
wargreat】ya舵ctedTwain’swfitingstyle.Mark
TwainwasbominF10rida,Missouri,on30“Novem—
berinl835,intoalawyer矗m订y.Wim山eadventof
theciv丑war,youngTwainin1856bec枷easteam—
boatpnot,3pro任ssionaboutwhichhe、Ⅳrotethir七y
yeaIslaterinthebook三妊叩如此铷出勃耐Gener—
allyspeabog,theAmericanpeoplee埘oyregardi”g
ware。pedenceastheircherisheda11dvaluableforcLlne,
姐dTwainw勰alsonoexcepdon.As3pilotheac—
dvelyparcicipatedintheciv丑war抽1857.Thecastof
characterssetbeforehimillhispr0忙ssionwas—cha11d
V撕ed一一acosmos.Hetookabundamnyparcinthis
l洫, listeni“gtop订oth。usetalkoffeuds,piracies,
1ynchin昏,medicinesho、Ⅳs,a11dsavlgewate商deslurm.
Namely,hemade11imselfveryInuch矗nliharwidla11
Ⅵ,aIksafli南aIldeachcomerofchesocietv.Twain.at
theVerybe百nni“舀Ⅵ郴actuaⅡyopdmisdcaboutⅥ士at
hesawandwhathedid.HoweveLhehadtoleave
therivercountrvindlewakeoftheendoftllec砌
waraRerfourandaholfvearsintheste枷b。at.In
ocherwords,cheendofci啊1wa‘putanendtohish岳
as3p丑ot.Thenhetdedsoldieri“g。nceagainfoftwo
weeks、Ⅳithmodeybandofconfederateguerr司1as,who
diIigentlyaVoidedcontactwicll出eenemy.Twai“quit
a&erdecidi“g,“Ik11ewmoreaboutrc七read“gthan
chemanthatinventedretreatj“g”A丘erthat,hemade
llism抽dtoestablishhis矗mebywfi石ng.Icw弧
proVed山athi5penwasreallymi出derthallhi3pick—
ax In1861hebecomea joumalistandad。pted
“MarkTwaill”ashispenn蛐e. Fouryears1ater,
码ec&6瑚据d,廿蹲哦宇Rqg《c幽P黜c。“n咎
waspubhshed.“coklmnwithhisjumpi“g疗og一岫e‘
st“Lng#r$50一一stra“gerhadno丘og,andCgothiln
one一一inthemeandme,stra”gef衄edC’sfrogfuu
ofshotandhecouldn’tjump.Thestr柚ger’s曲g
won.”Thhsuccess削story丘m_yestab】ishedhjsrep—
utadonas3humoristandstoⅣtelkr.
In自ct,checivilwarwasa t11mi“g—pointin
Twain’s1icerarycareer,a11dit、抛s越soawate耐1edbe—
tweenhishumorandsatire.Thus,tlleware’币erience
forhimwasan。poch—maki“geventandit had
最r.reachingin丑uence“pon墙wrid“g.Weknow,
Twainfullyanddil螗endyeInbracedint0thesteamboat
piloton山eeVeoftheciⅧwar.Presumablyhisorig—
inalpursuitwas丘ghtfo‘peace,在eedom,andreuni右一
cation“thenationandh叩pinessofAJnerica“people.
Atthatdme,Tw血’s。yes、vere6Uedwithhopesand
oPpornlnidesaswelIascon丑ictsand6曲ts.He6肌ly
uphddth武hecouldbeself.nladeandmadeafbr吣ne
byjlIlme商“ginthewaT.Hawever,onlytheopposite
Ⅵ礓sin6cttn】e.Itmmedout幻be出athetookev一
。ry血i“gfo‘grantedat6璐t.shordya丘erthewarcame
toanend,itleRnotllingbutcherislledremembrances,
whichmade11imex仕emelyupsetanddisheanened⋯
F。rnlmtely,hisfourandahalfyea巧intheste删boat
madehimselfeducatedandacquaimedwi出everypos—
siblecypeofhumannaturc,柚dmostofwhichⅡ1ade
himulti呦telyrecogIlizedthathi8pen、vouldm培hder
t11anhiswe3pom.Withouthedtadonanymore,he
b。昏mdig画“ghiswaytorc垂onalfameasa corre一
5pondentandhumoristwitllrichwar8Xperience.Due
tohisphon。g‘aphicmemoriesanddescriptiv。genius
hemadea11h3ppenedindlew盯vividlyresurfaced.
scoresofsucces血1work8graduaⅡysethimapart疗0m
t王lecommonmenofJettersandiceVenmaIhrmadehim
a reputedspok。spersonforthere“ismanda
wo订d—widerem盯kablehumoristinpanicular.
Asawitnessofdledvilwar,Twainsawckady
th。greatchangesinnadon’seconomicdevelopITlent
andpolitical1ife.Whhthe矗nalvictorvovertheSouth
theNorthonce39ainenjoyeditswieldi“gpowerin
thenadon’sadminis七ra石on.Nowtheacutecon丑ictat
homewasundenninedandt11eAmerica“peopleagaln
万方数据
覃承华 马克·吐温:从幽默到讽刺
fbcusedtheir{bⅡatten石ononre—cons衄lcdona丘er山e
、var Becausel"ostmajori‘yoftheslaVeswefe锄an—
cipated,theskLve—basedeconoIny。fdlede南ated
Sou出haditsprosperitybecameroocless.Indliscase,
clustersofgroundlesssou出empoorwhitesandthe
newly在eeddavesheadeddirectlyorindirecclyfor山e
new一1iberacedcitiestoseek。ppor【11ni6es.Itm3ybe
calledthe”G01dRush”rejuvenated,orra出er,itwas
so—caⅡedche’’AmericanDream”bvsomecridcs.
TwainalsocouldnochelPrudli“gtot11ewesttowill
hisAmericandrcam.Heoncebehevedmeideaofde—
veloprnentandindustrializationsinceitwouldmod—
emizedl。you“gcoun在yandencouragetheent。rpris—
i“g5piritoftheAmericanwhohad10ngbeen6mou5
forit.Hewas6m_llyenthIaⅡedbysuchfher,soonce
againheheldanopdmiscicactjc【Ide亡owardsche
posc—wescwarde。pansi。nHedrewmuchi11spirad。“
丘omthe“nparalleledandma口洫centeVent3工1dspoke
lligh】yofi如deci虹on—makefsanditspeople.
Soc试consciomnessroobjnsocialbei“g.Asa
kindofsocialconscioumess.1iteracllreshouldrenect
thethensocidrealityinwhichit在m[1】yro。ts.Bei“ga
realisdcIitenti,Tw撕“graduaUynoticedthedarkness
andhe血laUvfoundthedi自睡rencebetweenwhathe
saw5upemciallymdwhatcheyreallywerein—dep出;
healsofoundthedi位rencebe附eenwhatpe。ple
chimcdtobe越dwhatth。yreallywere.Herealized
山atpeopkbecameamora:Iandt11enlhngclassbecame
impotentint}lccourse。fmaterialprosperity.,U—
thou曲b。ththeciv丑warandthere—coIls七rtlctionaf-
terthewar(正ennachofthewestwarde坤amion)en—
abledhimtobe‰iliarwithpeople丘oma11walks0f
1ifc,tobedchinwIid”gmaterialsⅥrhich1edhimto
becomeAmericana埘bassadoratlarge,andt0acquire
an intemadona1 reputadonas
humo^stcum一矗ontier—philosopher;。n cheother
hand,1t“socaIkedhimintoobseⅣi“gdeIibentely血e
side—e饪jctofindustrializationand山edarknessofthe
sode母.Namely,山ematerialful右l】menconlybmught
about8piritvacan。y.Becausehisde。pso‘ryandin—
creasingdissatisfacdontowardthesephenomena,Twain
coI】ldnotbellumorousandoptimistica“ym。re.on
thecontnrv.Twaininhjs1aterworksshi在ed丘oman
。pcimisttoamisanthrope,行omhumortos撕re.For
instaflce,inbslacerworks,刀缸日磁一4尹柚d
只d扬旅2一形岱豌卫heintemelyaIld丘crcelys撕ri2ed
山eranlpanteVnsanddarknessofches。ciety.Unlike
thee砷eriencesofwafandthewescwarde)中an矗on
chacmadellimbecam。quiteoptilllistic,theco肌pdon
andinjusticemadehimbecamee]【七remelypessimi难c.
He缸1edto6ndw棚c0eradicatetheexacerbatedso—
cialdis髓se;heheldahelplessanddusiveatcimdcto—
wafdsb麾. Thus.Twainbecamedoub血1aboutthe
ideaofdeVdopmentand出epticalofmegoodneSsof
humannacLlre.历尼肠M奶矿幽点舭and乃咖砌蚴由矗越嘲heseverelycondemeddle
nadon.simperiaandaggressivcbehaviort0other
countries,especi柚1y山eSpanish—American可旷ar.Since
出。P“blica60nof乃口^参硝∞扫螂冱船留可i111916
un石lhisdeachinl910.hem血妇inedabittersadreand
skepddsmtoala‘gedeg弦e.乃f以I幺日,五甜(妇瑙p船矿
占k跨而比秽and职协矗咖4知are。印resent撕ves0f
出jssort.
III.Personalencounters
AsIme埘onedforegoing,socialin丑1lenceasserc—
edpredorninant五铲语c蛆ceoVerTwain’sconVe巧i。n
丘Dmhumorc0s撕re.Icisno“3嚣ention出atsodd
i11丑uenceofhkday, do皿nandya&ccedllisa晒mde
cowardsb南, hisoutlookofsocie坼hwridng5叫e
andsoonandsofbr七h.I{owever.tllereisaIlomerel—
ement,hispersonal虹agedieswllichakocanItbeig—
Iloredwhenwe岫escoanalyzehiswfi石“gstyle.
Regardedasa百aIltinbo出Americanhteratllre
aIld、voddHccrature.Tw缸nencounteredcoundess
personalhardships柚dsu伍:rill昏.Itislikelyt11atTwain
ismorc丘moIlsforhispersonaltragediesthan船ahu—
morista11darepresenbdveofrealism.Itisnowander
thathehadtochan辨hishumorintosatire抵erex—
perienci“gunexpectedpersonalsu跽rin昏and
仃agediesInthe矗rstplace,llisfatherdiedwhenhe
、vasonlytwelveandw}lichdirecdybro“ghcab。ucche
endofhlsfoundeduc撕on.However.Twaillwe
knowwasbomin3pedodthacchetwosideswere
矗gh矗“gatthroatandwhentheconnictendeddlewest
Ⅵ阻ss皿wideo臼en.Thenationwidea丘e瑚a山of
万方数据
wescwardmovementoncea铲in缸Ⅱofchances扭d
oppo枷desandhe山e雎forewasuttedydeHghtcd
wi出出c丘cshhndmdiIlvi学。糟cedby出epioncefing
sD砸t.Chanc舒aredlathis丘tbe,bdeathdidnotnlake
di睡rence“ponhisemo矗on.Lifewasb—ghtforhim,
棚edwi出i乜mysteries,ala帆edbyitsteⅡors,anda—
musedbvi皓contrasc.Thushewasableto1aughwi山
h曲messasth。greathumoristin山;Paci丘cslope.
However,whentheagedTwainuldIllatelyrealized
【hatthematerialwealdlonlvresulted缸corrupdonand
injusdceinsteadofman’smoraHtyimproVement,his
humormdhu咖、耽托rePhcedbybi啦rs11eerand
sadre.Indlesecondplace,whenhebec锄esophisd—
catcdhewasonceal:ainhauntedin山econ出tent
dea山sofhislovedones:hisbrodlerHenrvwaskilled
byaste枷b03texplosion;血edea出ofhissonLar培一
domat19months;hisddestdau曲cersusydiedof
sPinalmenin峁s;Mnclemenssucc哪bedtoahem
attadkinFlorence;andyoungestdaughterJeaIlan
印丑ep∞drownedinaIlupstairsbachmb.suchtra西c
encounccrsTwainexperierlcedis reaⅡy1ikcthede—
scfi口donin』j锄}乃耽功1能i冠矿∥o脚日呃:oz”Bit_。
tcmesSfbdonthemanwhohadmadedlewodd
1augh.Themorahzingof磕eadierwrid“ghadbeen
weⅡpaddedwi血hum饼.Now(hegIoVesc嬲K砸‘
州thbitcerSa6re.”Thelastbutnotmeleastre4son
whvTwailltIlmedhumorintosatire加llishterwoiks
isdntd”total矗ilufeofllis可pe一一setd“gandpub—
lishingcomp4nyin1894.The蜘ufembusinessalld
dledeadlsofhis10vedonesmadeTwainmajn“neda
bitterskepddsmin11ishtcrp舡t硷.Twain是ltsode—
Spairedand在us啦tedtllathewasde印1yinVolvedin
skepdcismandpredesdnadon.Just如heputin11is
ownautobio铲aphy:”⋯ 出eyvanishhDmawofld
where血eywereofnocons。qucnce;wherethey
achievednothing;wheretheywereaⅡ血takeanda
锄ureandf001ishnesS;wheremeyhave1e庇nosi辨
出atthevhavee)dsted一一awoddwhichwiⅡlament
出emad3yandfo。getchemforever.”
Inaword,MarkTwain飞hteryearSwas甜lof
cotal缸1ureinfkquent6nanc瑚specul撕on—thespec—
uladonbothintyP。一sec七i“gandpubhshillgcompallies
andhispersonalbereavement—thebeIovedonesdied
onea&ranonler.UIlIikeStlal=espearesdlIcouIdwrite
outsonlecomediesa盘er his four铲eaceSc
world—known锄gedies,Twamchangedhiswfiting
s州eintobjt亡er强drea丘ermaki“gthewoddlaughby
hishumor.HislastyearsⅥ陀rc丘Uedwidlacutepes—
siIllism,stro“gskepticism姐dbi仕er钳tire.Twaindied
onApril21,1910,atthe39eofseVenty一丘Ve.
IV.Conclusion
Tos啪up'血ndamentaⅡy,Twain拓a乒eathu—
morist.Heoncesaid.”thertareseveralkindsofsto—
ries,butonlyonedi伍cuh一一thehumorous.”Sotobe
hum。rousin王lisw^ti“gIvemureto5ayish虹1ifelo“g
pursuit.Icisak。und朗iable出acTwainistheordy百一
姐twhohdbroughtbothlocalc010rismandhumor
towoddnmeMeanwhneheonceclaimedthathe
wasaseriouswritera舯dⅥmsacdvelvconceⅡ】edwidl
moralideasinⅡlanyw3ys.ontllispoint,Twainwas
bynomeallsshan。wor角volousandwecan’t正mply
caⅡhimahumoristoranironicwriter.Infact,most
“Twain’swofksare山ecombinationofbochhumor
aIldsadrea11d刀殆爿函珊m蝌口/’酗r£阮6e口y砌
w越ansein口oint.ontheoneh卸d,itishismascer—
pieceasahumori5twh丑ethenovdahocanbeeyed3s
a sa6reonsen6mencahtvandRom甜西cismonthe
0ther.RoughlysPeaki“g,Twain’shumordeeplyroot—
edinsoc试ch血gesalldllispersonalsu位血乎.Whcn
hemou曲th危wasbrightforbimand如nofchances
andifeverythingwentsmoothly,hewasquiteopd—
misdcandhumorous.However.whenhefbundthe
darkness,cornlption,injusticeand出epersonaIna百c
encouncershehadtowiths亡andinparticu】a‘hebe—
c拗e丘rSdvse—ousand出enbic七erironic.Itf0110ws
出ereforethatweshouldtaketheseelemen拓intocon~
dderadonwhenaIlalyzi“gTwain'swridngcharacceris—
dcsasweⅡashimse堆Inshort,bothdlech柚gillgso—
cialreahty卸dtheu’lpredictabl。persona1trlgediesdi—
rect坤andevenmallyresultedinhischang。f曲mhu~
mort0sa臼re
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万方数据
覃承华 马克-吐温:从幽默到讽刺
[2]wuwehen崩抛少耐^埘觚移’∥z拙咖“豳船P
(Vol眦e2)[M].BeUjng:ForeignL孤guagcTeachiIlg越d
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Rese“hP”女.1995
[4]李套昭.二十世纪美国文学导论[M].西安:西安变通大
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【收稿日期2005-09—19】
【责任编辑谢文海】
(上接第40页)
提到,但是雅各(J∞ob)和比尔哈(B丑hah)所生的
儿子,希伯来人的族长。《牛津当代百科大词典》对
“D∞”这一名字的解释是“神的审判”瑚(““’从但
(Dan)的一生中,很难找出他有什么优点。在位期
问,他没有干出什么成就来;在他父亲的眼里,他是
叛逆的毒蛇。作者在小说中给老太太的儿子取这么
个姓名,是为了突出蒂勒老太太的儿子但(D”)是
个有着叛逆精神的人。与喜欢一辈子呆在林中过宁
静生活的西尔维亚不一样,他不愿意一辈子都呆在
深山老林中,他要到外面去闯荡,去奋斗。他有着一
切游子的共性,那就是不爱写信回家。他既让家人
感到骄傲和自豪。又让家人时刻为他牵肠挂肚。他
的所作所为,普通人,包括他的母亲,是无法作出正
确的评价的,那就只好让神去评判了。
采用具有象征意蕴的暗示命名法,是欧蓑小说
一种富有生命力的传统,很多作家都在他们的作品
中反复运用。在《白苍鹭》中,作者朱厄特分别给文
本中出现的部分人和物取了名字,并且巧妙地通过
特定的语境赋予了这些普通的姓名丰富的象征意
义,从而大大增强了小说的表现力和感染力,使它
读起来义蕴深长,耐人寻味,深受读者喜爱。 ■
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出版社.2002
【收稿日期
【责任编辑
2005—11—30】
吴庆丰】
万方数据
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