虚拟交易和消费文化——评德莱塞《欲望三部曲》的主题

中国学界对美国现代著名作家德莱塞的《美国悲剧》和《嘉莉妹妹》评介甚丰,但对他在长达半个世纪创作的、代表他一生创作思想和哲学思考转变的《欲望三部曲》———《金融家》、《巨人》和《禁欲者》却着墨不多。本文探讨三部曲中表现出来的消费主义主题,剖析作者在这个问题上的矛盾态度,指出他这种态度背后与主流意识形态间的协调和颠覆关系。

Fictional Deals and Consumerism——on the Theme of Dreiser′s Trilogy of Desire

Dreiser's masterpiece An American Tragedy and his first novel Sister Carrie have been reviewed quite abundantly in China,but his Trilogy of Desire which consists of The Financier,The Titan and The Storic,and which was written in half a centu ry and can represent Dreiser's ideas of guiding his literary creation and changes of his philosophical thinki ng is,however,seldom dis-cussed.The present paper dwells on t he thematic term:consumerism in thi s trilogy,revealing Dreiser's ambivalence of attitude t owards consumerism as well as his con flict and coordination with the mainstream ideology.