美国当代元小说理论与实践概述

[摘要]自美国后现代派作家威廉加斯提出“元小说”一词以来，欧美作家对此颇有剖析，虽然他们的说法各有侧重点，但都认可了元小说贯穿小说历史，也是后现代主义小说的一种主要形式。在实践创作中，美国当代元小说更是着重于语言任意性、小说虚构性、作者矛盾地位，以及互文性等主要观点，充分体现了元小说的特色。

[关键词]元小说语言任意性小说虚构性作者矛盾地位互文性

“元小说”一词是由美国后现代派作家威廉加斯首次提出的。在他的《小说和生活的人物》一书中，加斯给予“元小说”的定义是，“（其）小说的形式只是更多形式的原材料”。“(其)小说中没有描述，只有建构。” 在加斯看来，小说不是反映现实，而是现实的一个附加物而已，很多小说家只会一味地注重情节，却忽视了形式。加斯认为哲学表现的是宏大而复杂的概念体系，和现实世界无关，因此，他建议在小说创作中应该使用哲学观点，也就是说，用一种自我意识和批判的形式进行小说创作。也正是因为如此，加斯把那些有自我意识地摒弃任何现实模仿，视文本本身为纯粹的语言产物的小说称为“元小说”。本文拟梳理欧美作家和批评家在理论和时间上对元小说的阐释，来展示元小说的独具特色。

一、元小说的理论阐释

对于加斯的定义，欧美作家和批评家或表示赞同或提出异议。事实上，许多与加斯同时代的作家如罗伯特斯格尔思,约翰巴思等也都试图对“元小说”进行阐释。约翰巴思在1968年宣称“文学枯竭”后，认为元小说是小说家唯一可以应对当前困境的方法。在元小说中，小说家成为批评家，在小说中表述小说形式的“枯竭”，或创作模仿小说德而非模仿现实世界的小说。元小说对其作为小说的存在是有强烈的自我意识的。罗伯特斯格尔思认为小说的四个要素，即形式，概念，存在和本质，对应了小说的四个批评角度，即形式，结构，行为和哲学，并构成了相互之间的回应，这就使得元小说成为可能，因为“元小说”吸取批评的所有要素，并将其融入小说创作本身。斯格耳思对元小说的热衷，使得“元小说”一词作为总括当时兴起的脱离现实主义，强调作者和读者在创作和接受小说时作用的小说术语而被大众接受。

美国批评家拉里麦克卡弗雷在评述元小说艺术时，认为加斯指出“许多所谓的反小说都是元小说”时，实际上是说二十世纪六十年代的大多数批评家都过于急切，把所有不同于过往的小说都称为“反小说。”在麦克卡弗雷看来，元小说源自发展于七十年代其他学科领域的“元定理”, 它寻求反术语的术语。麦克卡弗雷用元小说来指两种相关的小说形式：一种是直接在小说创作中审视创作本身的小说或对已有的小说形式和语言进行评述和思考的小说，另一种是检视小说体系的运作，方法，源泉动机以及武断危险的文本。

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美国文学考试资料整理

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美国文学题_答案

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