An Analysis of The Old Chief Mshlanga from the Perspective of Deconstruction

An Analysis of The Old Chief Mshlanga from the Perspective of Deconstruction

解构主义视角下《木施朗加老酋长》分析

Zhang Xinyue

张欣悦

Abstract: Doris Lessing (1919-2013) was a celebrated contemporary British writer, regarded as the greatest female writer since Virginia Woolf and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2007, whose work is known for its prolificacy and thematic variety. This Was the Old Chief's Country is a collection of short stories about Africa published early in Lessing's career, of which The Old Chief Mshlanga is the first in the collection. The story is told from the point of view of a young white girl about the living situation of black people on white farms which depicts the contradictions between the oppressor and the oppressed in Lessing's eyes, and reveals the importance of establishing harmonious relationships between people, and between people and nature in this pluralistic world. Previous scholars have interpreted the protagonist's thoughts from ecological discourse, initiation theme, and narrative perspective; this thesis takes Jacques Derrida's idea of deconstruction as a theoretical basis, and through analyzing the relationship between “Self” and “the Other” in The Old Chief Mshlanga, it subverts the traditional hierarchical order, breaks the original center, dissolves the binary opposition, and establishes a new kind of harmony. According to the above research objectives, this thesis is divided into three chapters. Chapter One is the introduction, which introduces the basic information of the writer and the work, and briefly summarizes the research on the story as well as Derrida's deconstructionist, including the key concepts of “anti-logocentrism,” which shows the feasibility of deconstructionism in this study. Chapter Two is the main part of the thesis, in which the three aspects of race, parenthood, and species are taken as the starting point, attempting to dissolve the unequal relationship between “Self” and “the Other” and reconstruct the harmonious relationship that exists within the text. The last chapter is the conclusion, which briefly points out the significance and results of this research.

摘要：多丽丝·莱辛（1919—2013）是当代英国著名作家，被誉为继弗吉尼亚·伍尔芙之后最伟大女性作家，并在2007年获得诺贝尔文学奖。她的作品以多产以及主题多变而著称。《这原是老酋长的国度》是莱辛创作早期发表一部描述非洲故事短篇小说集，其中《木施朗加老酋长》是小说集当中第一篇，以一个白人小女孩视角讲述了白人农场中黑人生存境况故事。小说描绘了莱辛眼中压迫者与被压迫者矛盾与冲突，揭示了在这个多元世界中，建立人与人，人与自然和谐关系重要性。前辈学者们曾经从生态话语，成长主题，叙述视角等角度解读了主人公心路历程；而本论文以雅克·德里达解构思想作为理论指导，通过分析小说《木施朗加老酋长》中“自我”与“他者”关系进而颠覆传统等级秩序，打破原有中心，消解二元对立，建立一种新和谐。根据以上研究目标，本文共分为三章。第一章为绪论，主要介绍了作家和作品基本情况，并简要概括了《木施朗加老酋长》国内外研究现状以及德里达解构主义思想，并对“反逻各斯中心主义”等关键概念进行阐述，表明了解构主义在本研究中可行性。第二章是本论文主体部分，以种族，亲子，物种三方面为切入点，试图消解“自我”与“他者”对立中不平等关系，重新建构存在于文本内部和谐关系。最后一章为结论，简要指出了本研究意义和成果。

Key words: Doris Lessing; The Old Chief Mshlanga; binary opposition; deconstructionism

关键词：多丽丝·莱辛；《木施朗加老酋长》；二元对立；解构主义

中图分类号：I561.074

文献标识码：A

文章编号：2832-9317（2023）04-0015-7

DOI：10.12424/HA.2023.059

本文链接：https://www.oc-press.com/HA-202304-015.html