《选民》中的犹太文化母题探究

从“父与子”、“受难”以及“宗教”三个层面对美国当代著名犹太裔作家哈依姆·波托克代表作《选民》中的犹太文化母题进行了探究。“父与子”母题主要体现在父子两代人对传统文化和异质文化的冲突性态度上;“受难”母题源于对上帝会派使者弥赛亚来拯救犹太人于苦难说法的笃信,但在新的历史情境下,对于犹太人经历的诸如大屠杀等种种磨难,“受难”一说也遭到了质疑甚至颠覆;作为高度宗教化的民族,犹太民族奉《圣经》为圭臬,坚信本民族是与上帝“契约”中的选民,甚至将这一信念贯穿到日常生活中。《选民》中犹太文化母题的探究拓宽并加深了对小说的解读,同时为如何应对异质文化提供了借鏊。

An Exploration of Jewish Cultural Motifs in The Chosen

Jewish culture motif is an important element in the work of Chaim Potok who is a distinguished contemporary Jewish writer in America. As his representative work,The Chosen has been endowed with the Jew- ish cult ure motif from three aspects ： ＂father and son＂, ＂suffering＂, and ＂religion＂. ＂Father and son＂ motif is mainly reflected by the opposing attitudes on the traditional culture and heterogeneous culture;＂suffering＂ motif stems form the belief that God will send Messiah to save the Jews from the sufferings,however,in the new historical situation,the Jews suffer from a series of hardship,like holocaust,so the ＂suffering＂ wording has been doubted and even negated. As a highly religious race, the Jewish people think highly of The Bible and the belief that they are the chosen according to their covenant with God, which is permitted into their daily life. The exploration of the Jewish culture motif in The Chosen is to widen and deepen the understanding of the novel, and helpful to deal with the heterogeneous culture.