黑白之间:《琼斯皇》的创伤叙事与族裔想象

在《琼斯皇》中,显在的黑人叙事主体与隐在的白人作家主体之间,存在着某种创伤主体的转换机制。基于黑人的个体创伤经历及苦难的奴隶历史,奥尼尔将琼斯塑造成一个表现种族创伤的经典形象。在此基础上,奥尼尔以仪式作为建构创伤之文化媒介,揭示了族裔融合过程中的结构性暴力。究其根本,奥尼尔的创伤书写是与爱尔兰裔白人的创伤情结相关联的,反映出少数族裔群体在种族主义阴影下的生存焦虑。在美国社会的主体框架下,奥尼尔以非裔黑人的种族创伤为叙事起点,而以少数族裔的合理诉求为最终归宿,彰显出族裔作家对于社会现实问题的关切与忧虑。

Between Black and White: The Trauma Narrative and Ethnic Imagination in The Emperor Jones

In The Emperor Jones, there is a certain transformation mechanism of trauma subject between the external Black narrator and the hidden White player. Based on the personal traumatic experience and the slavery past, O''Neill portrays Jones as a model of the racial trauma. In addition, O''Neill reveals the structural violence in the process of ethnic integration by using ritual as a cultural medium to trauma construction. O''Neill'' s trauma writing which rooted the collective psychological trauma of Irish has mirrored the survival anxiety of ethnic minority under the shadow of racism. In the framework of American society, O''Neill takes the racial trauma of the black people as the narrative strategy and conveys the reasonable demands of ethnic minorities for the destination, which reflects the public concern and anxiety about the ethnic issues.