麦卡锡《上帝之子》中的暴力和伦理选择

当代美国小说家科马克·麦卡锡的《上帝之子》用令人颤栗的笔触,讲述了巴拉德暴力、凶残、怪诞的一生。童年时期父母的缺位、混乱的生活环境,以及暴力的合谋,致使他未能完成伦理选择,进而认同了动物伦理,通过暴力建立了骇人听闻的"地下王国"。最后,经过乔伊斯式的"顿悟",他认识到自己一丝尚存的人性,通过走向死亡,完成了伦理选择。在人类伦理失序的语境下,借用"上帝之子"之名,小说深刻揭示了巴拉德面临的种种伦理困境,并通过其作出的正确伦理选择最终完成了对社会的回归,巧妙地表达了作者对人性的深切关照。

Violence and Ethical Selection in McCarthy's Child of God

Contemporary American novelist Cormac McCarthy''s Child of God tells, in a thrilling style, the story of a violent, cruel, necrophilia serial killer Lester Ballard. The absence of his parents in childhood, the chaotic living environment, and the collusion of violence lead him to fail to complete his ethical choice, and then to identify himself with animal ethics, thus establishing the appalling underground kingdom through violence. Finally, through Joycean epiphany, he realizes his remaining human nature and completes his ethical choice by choosing death. Under the background of human ethical disorder, the novel reveals, in the name of "son of God", the ethical dilemma faced by the protagonist Ballard, and through his correct ethical choice, returning to society, subtly expresses McCarthy''s concern for human nature.