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从文字与影片两个层面一起探寻海明威真实的内心世界——热烈的初恋。实在抱歉,此篇影评其实是一份作业。部分观点借鉴假期时阅读的《许子东现代文学课》、《长日将尽》,也算是这个寒假读书小小的汇报吧!分享给各位豆友,如有高见,欢迎批评指正。:)
A Very Short Story
One hot evening in Paduathey carried him up onto the roof and he could look out over the top of the town. There were chimney swiftsin the sky. After a while it got dark and the searchlights came out. The others went down and took the bottles with them. He and Luz could hear them below on the balcony. Luz sat on the bed. She was cool and fresh in the hot night.
Luz stayed on night duty for three months. They were glad to let her. When they operated on him she prepared him for the operating table; and they had a joke about friend or enema. He went under the anestheticholding tight on to himself sohe would not blab about anything during the silly, talky time. After he got on crutcheshe used to take the temperatures so Luz would not have to get up from the bed. There were only a few patients and they all knew about it. They all liked Luz. As he walked back along the halls he thought of Luz in his bed.
Before he went back to the front they went into the Duomoand prayed. It was dim and quiet, and there were other people praying. They wanted to get married, but there was not enough time for the banns, and neither of them had birth certificates.
They felt as though they were married, but they wanted everyone to know about it, and to make it so they could not lose it.
Luz wrote him many letters that he never got until after the armistice. Fifteen came in a bunch to the front and he sorted them by the dates and read them all straight through. They were all about the hospital, and how much she loved him, and how it was impossible to get along without him, and how terrible it was missing him at night.
After the armistice they agreed he should go home to get a job so they might be married. Luz would not come home until he had a good job and could come to New York to meet her. It was understood he would not drink, and he did not want to see his friends or anyone in the States. Only to get a job and be married. On the train from Padua to Milan they quarreled about her not being willing to come home at once. When they had to say goodbye, in the station at Milan, they kissed goodbye, but were not finished with the quarrel. He felt sick about saying goodbye like that.
He went to America on a boat from Genoa. Luz went back to Pordenoneto open a hospital. It was lonely and rainy there, and there was a battalionof arditi quartered in the town. Living in the muddy, rainy town in the winter, the major of the battalion made love to Luz, and she had never known Italians before, and finally wrote to the States that theirs had been only a boy and girl affair. She was sorry, and she knew he would probably not be able to understand, but might someday forgive her, and be grateful to her, and she expected, absolutely unexpectedly, to be married in the spring. She loved him as always, but she realized now it was only a boy and girl love. She hoped he would have a great career and believed in him absolutely. She knew it was for the best.
The major did not marry her in the spring, or any other time. Luz never got an answer to the letter to Chicago about it. A short time after he contracted gonorrheafrom a salesgirl in a loop department store while riding in a taxicab through Lincoln Park.
Questions
1. When and where did the story take place? What was the background of the story?
2. What or who do you think is responsible for the failure of the love between the protagonist and Luz? What kind of person is the protagonist? And Luz?
3. Who is the narrator? What is the relation between the narrator and the protagonist? Is the story's point of view objective or subjective?
前言:
欧内斯特•米勒尔•海明威的《小小说》一如其名是一篇名副其实的超级短篇小说,小说全文不过六百三十三个单词,但是用冷静简洁的笔触讲述了一段令人意难平的爱情故事。1996年英国理查·艾登堡以此为蓝本,参考亨利·维拉与唐姆斯·纳格所著的《海明威的战火恋情:爱格妮·考斯基日记》改编成独具风格的电影《爱情与战争》,并获得了第四十七届国际电影节金熊奖最佳影片的提名。小说与电影之间相辅相成,各具其特点。本文就小说与电影之间的异同点进行比较分析,从中探索出隐藏在文本与荧幕后更深层的蕴意。
小说介绍:故事的背景设于第一次世界大战期间,在意大利的帕多瓦,一个受伤的美国士兵与医院的护士卢兹坠入爱河,他们在战争时期相知相爱,然而战争结束之后却因种种因素而失之交臂,没有终成眷属。卢兹后来移情别恋却没能和新欢结成婚,士兵则最后因与一个女售货员在出租车上发生关系,而后染上了性病。
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电影剧情简介:故事发生在1918年的意大利,海明威怀揣着满腔的热血来到了前线,投身到了残酷而又激烈的战争中去。在一场意外中,海明威遭到了炮弹的袭击,身受重伤被送往了战地医院。在那里,海明威邂逅了名为艾格尼的美丽护士,艾格尼的精明强干和温柔善良很快就令海明威坠入了爱河,向前者发起了火热的攻势。一次偶然中,海明威展现出的文学天赋终于让艾格尼动了心,可是没过多久,艾格尼便和卡拉奇奥一起被调往了前线医疗站,而海明威则被派遣回国。
海明威以其独特的写作手法强调写作的客观性与主题思想的隐晦含蓄,他总是用最简练质朴的语言进行白描,有限的形式引出人们的思考,从而使其人物形象跃然纸上,复杂的情感得以展示,真挚的热情得以宣泄,迷茫的伤痛得以慰藉。一如既往,《小小说》看似是作者以同样含蓄的文字只言片语、不带感情色彩地便将女主卢兹与男主“他”两人在战争期间的爱情故事脉络呈现给读者。然而仔细深究,此小说并非表面上以第三人称视角客观地描述了这段战地爱情:
在逻辑中心主义的西方哲学思想影响下,二元对立论的批判占据了一个重要席位。在此篇小说中,“他”与卢兹两性间的二元对立通过差异将故事呈现。无名男主“他”是海明威笔下极具男子气概的经典硬汉(tough guy)形象:他寡言少语,整篇小说未曾听见他的只言片语;他意志力强,在承受重伤手术时也咬牙坚持。但在面对心爱之人时,他温柔体贴,半夜拄拐替卢兹帮伤员们测体温;他含蓄内敛,在车站不欢而散后只是独自悲伤;他自暴自弃,面对远方的背叛无能为力,终以别样“复仇”染上性病。此番描述给男主贴上了受害者的标签,相对比之下对女主卢兹的描写与海明威“言多必失”(If you talk about it, you lost it.)的准则背道而驰:叙述里,卢兹最开始给“他”的信件里充斥着天荒地老的誓言以及令人肝肠寸断的想念,这些都与最后她言而无信、移情别恋形成鲜明对比,卢兹所代表的女性显得虚伪、势利、无情。
“在叙述者是“可靠的”情况下,叙述者的情感倾向和价值判断与作者或者说体现在作品中的整体倾向是一致的,读者可以大体上将叙述者的声音等同于作者的声音。”[ 石黑一雄《长日将尽》,冯涛译]那这篇《小小说》的叙述是否可靠呢?海明威刻意将卢兹的言思举动毫无保留地暴露并非无心之过,实则是有意为之。从文章的措辞来看,主语“他”举止其实是作者自身“我”的言行轨迹。例如“在炎热夏夜里,卢兹坐在床上看起来清新凉爽”是从“他”的视角观察所得。美国文学批评家韦恩·布斯(Wayne Booth)在其叙事学名著《小说修辞学》(The Rhetoric of Fiction)首次对“不可靠的描述”进行了命名和论述:“当叙述者的言行与作品的范式(即隐含作者的范式)保持一致时,叙述者就是可靠的,否则就是不可靠的。”因此,海明威自身有意回避对“他”的描写揭示了这篇小说是基于第三人称视角的主观性描写(即第一人称视角)是不可靠的。
反观1996年电影《爱情与战争》临近“谢幕”时,女主以叙述性的口吻道:“瓦伦湖一别后,我再也没有见过厄尼了。”看似是以《小小说》里的“卢兹”视角阐述故事,以对海明威单方面的说辞有力地回击,然而电影中导演并未偏袒任何一方,只是将故事娓娓道来、不偏不倚。电影在参考爱格妮·考斯基日记后,向我们展现了女方内心的挣扎:她爱他,只是两者七岁年龄差所造成三观的不同让女主苦恼:“我可不想做他的母亲。”事实上,她更需要一个成熟的丈夫,而不是一个淘气的男孩。
由此,电影成片更加客观。小说里背叛爱情的“拜金女”其实只是没有那么勇敢放弃物质生活去追寻爱情的普通战地护士。
叔本华的三个悲剧理论中,前两种是骇人的恶毒与可怕的命运,第三种不幸也可以仅仅是由于剧中人彼此的地位不同,由于他们的关系造成的;这就无需乎(布置)可怕的错误或闻所未闻的意外事故,也不用恶毒已到可能的极限的人物;而只需要在道德上平平常常的人们,把他们安排在经常发生的情况之下,使他们处于相互对立的地位,他们为这种地位所迫明明知道,明明看到却互为对方制造灾祸,同时还不能说单是那一方面不对。[ 叔本华《作为意志和表象的世界》,石冲白译]叔本华在三种悲剧理论中,更青睐于第三种悲剧的诞生,因为对于前两种悲剧人们可以躲避这些力量而不必以自我克制,可是后者却缠绕于人们身边,悄无声息地便酿成悲剧。《小小说》中卢兹充当了“负心汉”的角色,而电影所展现出来的更多是第三种悲剧:双方皆不是恶人,仅仅是从自己所在立场出发思考问题——十九岁的男主把爱情当作生活,二十六岁的女主明白生活不仅仅是爱情。这场战争是他们俩爱情的开始,也是悲剧的再一次重演。
《小小说》中,海明威以看似客观的口吻叙述故事,实则已将女性推向舆论的风口浪尖。卢兹给“他”的分手信里反复强调他们之间的爱情仅仅是童言无忌(a boy and a girl love),并用夸张的言辞表达了内心对与意大利籍未婚夫婚姻的向往。收到信后,在“他”试图报复卢兹而与一名女售货员发生性关系却染上了淋病。此时,“他”的身心皆受到摧毁,而这一切均是红颜所祸。作者笔下的男主最终自暴自弃与“一个人可以被摧毁,但不能被打败。”的硬汉形成强烈对比。虽然海明威没有明显写出对女性的苛责,冰山下留给读者的空间难免已给女性定下“红颜祸水”罪。
海明威所持对女性的偏见——花心、虚伪、无情、势利,在文中成了制造悲剧的根本原因,而在“痛定思痛”后观看电影《爱情与战争》不难发现这仅仅是海明威的片面之词。尽管在他的众多作品中表达了对女性在两性冲突间无奈与痛苦的同情,如《雨中猫》。但就此片小说而言,海明威仍然站在男权社会的制高点来处理女性角色——男性为主题,女性被客体成为边缘人,看似小说里的女性掌握着主导权制约着“他”的精神与身体状态,其实这仅仅是作者的自我欺骗。我们从《爱情与战争》里看到了男主在尚未与女方确定恋爱关系时碍于面子向朋友撒谎他与女主发生了性关系,与小说中将这份爱情藏于心底,不愿向他人说三道四的“他”再次产生了对比。小说与电影里的男主都爱而不得,尽管如此,表面上拥有主动权的女性仍然不能逃离作者笔下的男性凝视。
在很长一段长期内,女性被看作是男性的附属品(在《圣经》里,夏娃是亚当身上的一颗肋骨)。男性是理性的,女性是感性的;男性是智慧的,女性是愚昧的;男性是勇敢的,女性是懦弱的……无疑,在这些刻板印象里,男性总是以英雄的形象扮演着威严的君王、丈夫去救赎仍处于危难之间的公主、妻子。然而在《小小说》与《战争与爱情》里,女性则承担着不同的角色。
电影里女性作为红十字成员志愿到前线尽护士之责救死扶伤,正如影片开头趴在长辈背上的小孩以为这些护士是来自天堂的天使,此时女性俨然已经打破了对于女性固有的刻板印象,她们是勇敢的救赎者。于浅层次,女主跟医生据理力争方才保住海明威本要被锯掉的腿,而对于视残疾为死亡的海明威,女主成功救赎了他的身体;于深层次,在生死由命、血腥残酷的战争期间,女主给了海明威生命的希望,生活的向往,女主再一次救赎了他。
易卜生《玩偶之家》中不甘做花瓶的娜拉选择出走,这在文学史上无疑是女性意识崛起的一次象征,但娜拉出走后的生活却鲜少有人关注。事实上,大部分女性仍将婚姻视作实现人生价值的载体:英国作家简·奥斯丁《傲慢与偏见》里,庄园里的小姐们集聚舞会,期望找到一个显赫的贵族;中国作家凌叔华《绣枕》里,一位大小姐绣了精美的枕头只为送到有钱人家,若能被挑中方才了却婚姻大事;严歌苓《扶桑》里对于婚嫁有了别样的定义:“我的时代和你的时代不同了,你看,这么多的女人暗暗为自己定了价格,车子,房产,多少万年收入。好哩,成交。这种出卖的概念被成功偷换了,变为婚嫁。”在现实的牢笼里,《小小说》里的卢兹也仍处于被婚姻束缚的困境,毕竟没有人会为她“娜拉”式勇敢而埋单。与其靠他人救赎,不如自救。
在寻找与寄托之间,在渴望与失望之际,这份爱而不得的悲痛点燃了海明威,他“变成了一个愤怒的男人,一个聪明而倔强的冒险者,他成为那个时代最著名的作家。”在相互交错的人生轨道上,爱格妮·考斯基助海明威走向作家的起跑线,这也是一种救赎。
结语:《小小说》在海明威的感情与创作中都是不可或缺的一部分,它以“无情”之言表达了海明威在创作时内心汹涌的暗潮。《爱情与战争》在人类情感世界里算是别离的悲剧,但在一定程度上也是救赎。爱情与战争,看似是悲剧中不可调停的矛盾体,但期间的美好是生命的赞歌,之后的伤痛也是成长之必修课,两者相辅相成。正如这篇小说与此部电影均为经典让后人深究其中,回味无穷。