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Rip Van Winkle
作者Author  /  Washington  Irving  華盛頓.厄文

Study Guide

 
Washington Irving
 
Washington Irving's "Rip Van Winkle" (1819) opens with a description of the "Kaatskill" (today commonly "Catskill") mountains above the Hudson River, a landscape memorialized by Cole and other painters identified with the Hudson River School. "Every change of season, every change of weather, indeed, every hour of the day, produces some change in the magical hues and shapes of these mountains," Irving writes. On a journey into the mountains to escape the "terrors" of his wife, Rip contemplates a scene that reflects the contrast between the sublime and the beautiful that structured the Romantic landscape tradition:

華盛頓•歐文華盛頓•歐文的《李伯大夢》一書中以對哈得遜河上的"凱茲吉爾"山(現今通稱的「愷茲吉爾」 山)的描繪開場。這個景致因柯爾與其他哈得遜河流派的畫家而不朽。歐文寫道:『每個季節的變化,每個天候的改變,甚至一天裡的每一小時,都會使這些山巒魔幻的色澤與外貌產生變化。』在李伯逃離他夫人的「雌威」而隱遁入山的旅途中,他凝望著一個反映出浪漫主義地景傳統的莊嚴美與優美的景致:
From an opening between the trees, he could overlook all the lower country for many a mile of rich woodland. He saw at a distance the lordly Hudson, far, far below him, moving on its silent but majestic course, the reflection of a purple cloud, or the sail of a lagging bark, here and there sleeping on its glassy bosom, and at last losing itself in the blue highlands. (940)
 


Here Burke's idea of beauty is predominant: the landscape is agreeable, sociable ("lagging bark" registers a human presence), pastel-colored ("purple cloud"), soft and feminized ("sleeping on its glassy bosom"). However, the opposite prospect sends a different message:

此段文選明顯表現出柏克的美學觀點:那風景是怡人,和善(「緩慢的舟帆」顯示人的存在),
色彩柔和(「紫色的雲」),溫和而陰柔的(「在它平靜如鏡的懷抱裡沈睡」)。然而,
另一邊的景色卻傳達了不同的訊息:

On the other side he looked down into a deep mountain glen, wild, lonely and shagged, the bottom filled with fragments from the impending cliffs, and scarcely lighted by the reflected rays of the setting sun. For some time Rip lay musing on this scene, evening was gradually advancing, the mountains began to throw their long blue shadows over the valleys, he saw that it would be dark long before he could reach the village, and he heaved a heavy sigh when he thought of encountering the terrors of Dame Van Winkle. (Norton 1: 941)

"[D]eep," "wild," "lonely," "shagged," and "scarcely lighted," followed quickly by the "terrors of Dame Van Winkle," are code words for the Burkean sublime, which connotes harsh, antisocial, threatening, and obscure feelings. In fact, the scene forms a sublime picture for Rip as well as the reader, insofar as it follows Burke's rule that only representation, not reality, can be sublime. At a comfortable remove, Rip can enjoy "musing on this scene," without facing directly the domestic terrors that appear to be its underlying association.

「深沈」、「狂野」、「孤寂」、「崎嶇」、「略被照亮的」,以及後來很快出現的「李伯夫人的雌威」等詞語 ,
都是柏克派的莊嚴美的關鍵詞彙,暗示的是一種嚴厲,與社會格格不入,威迫,意圖不明的感覺。
其實,這景致不止為李伯也為讀者營造出一幅具莊嚴美的圖畫,而且它遵循柏克的只有呈現出的景象,
而非真實世界的景象,才能算是莊嚴美的法則。因為有所距離,李伯得以安然"領略這景致",而不必
直接面對這景色所暗示的家裡恐怖河東獅吼的聯想。
 
 
   
American Literature Survey I
American Literature and Visual Art :
Joseph C. Murphy
   
 
   
     

 

 

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