《永別了，武器》的悲劇色彩Ｔｒａｇｉｃ Ｆｌａｖｏｕｒ ｉｎ Ａ Ｆａｒｅｗｅｌｌ ｔｏ Ａｒｍｓ

摘要：長篇小說《永別了，武器》是二十世紀美國著名小說家歐內斯特·海明威的一部重要悲劇作品，反映了罪惡的戰爭給人類帶來的不幸和災難。本文通過對戰爭機器的殘酷殺戮、小說主人公的不幸遭遇和象征主義手法的運用三個方面的分析，論證了小說所具有的濃重的悲劇色彩。

關鍵詞：死亡競技場 隔絕 象征主義

Introduction

The Prestige Ernest Hemingway and A Farewell to Arms Enjoy.

Ernest Hemingway is famous for his novels and short stories written in his spare， laconic， yet intense prose with short sentences and very specific details. In 1954， he was awarded a Nobel Prize for his mastery of the art of modern narration. He has been generally regarded as one of the most representative spokesmen of the lost generation—a generation remarkable chiefly for its cynicism， its godlessness and its complete lack of faith.

Hemingway’ s stature as a writer was confirmed with the publication of the novel A Farewell to Arms in 1929. As Mr Carlos Baker says， “The position occupied by the novel among Hemingway’ s tragic writings may be suggested by the fact that he once referred to the story of Lieutenant Frederic Henry and Catherine Barkley as his Romeo and Juliet.”①

Demonstration

1.Tragic Flavour Revealed by the Futile Butchery of the Warfare.

The story of the novel takes the World War I as its setting， during which thousands of American boys have volunteered for services in a Crusade. As Mr Cooperman says， “It was a Crusade in which young Americans expected to find ‘adventure’ to prove their ‘manhood’ in battle， and to get a taste of martial glory and Noble Sacrifice.”② However the Crusade stalls in mud and blood. For very few people understand that World War I is to be the first war in which unprecedented masses of men slaughter each other with little or none of the “glory” and test of “manhood” that are supposed to be part of the military experience. The novel deals with the futile butchery of mass， technological warfare—the “circus of death” which seems， to young writers like Hemingway， the ultimate nightmare.

2. Tragic Flavour Revealed by the Hero， Frederic Henry.

With the retreat at Caporetto， Frederic ceases to be the curiously passive hero. In Chapter 27 comes the well-known rejection of Frederic’ s earlier idealism: “I was always embarrassed by the words sacred， glorious， and sacrifice and the expression in vain…”③Frederic’ s mood here is a reflection not only of his personal misfortune but also of the whole dismal panorama of civilization disjointed by war.

Isolation has tragic associations for the individuals. The mechanized and impersonal war drives Frederic step by step from group participation to total isolation. This progress is the central action of the novel and defines Frederic as the central character even though he is not the “hero”. When the novel begins， Frederic Henry is an ambulance driver with the Italian Second Army. By the end of the novel Frederic is totally alone and is in another country. He owes allegiance to no chain of command. With no friends and no prospects， he is the truly lonely and sad man.

3. Tragic Flavour Heightened by the Use of Symbolism.

According to Mr Carlos Baker，“Throughout [the book]， Hemingway has worked solely by suggestion， implication， and quiet repetition; putting the reader into potential awareness [of the tragic end]， reading him for what is to come.”④

The rain in the novel is a symbol of disaster and tragedy. With the narration at the beginning of the first chapter， the reader has been prepared to recognize some kind of disaster-symbol in the return of the rains. Much as in Romeo and Juliet， several earlier premonitions of doom have been inserted at intervals. Mr Charles R. Anderson points out that the rain is “a pervasive symbol throughout the novel for the depression and destruction of war…”⑤

Conclusion

“The fact that the book was a tragic one did not make me unhappy since I believed that life was a tragedy and knew it could only have one end.”⑥

The appearance of A Farewell to Arms in book form on September 27， 1929， marked the inception of Hemingway’ s still lengthening career as one of the very few great tragic writers in twentieth-century fiction.

參考文獻：

[1]Baker， Carlos， ed. Ernest Hemingway: Critics of Four Major Novels [C]. New York: Charles Scribner’ s Sons， 1962.

[2]Baker， Carlos. Hemingway: The Writer as Artist [M]. New Jersey: Princeton University Press， 1956.

[3]Cooperman， Stanley. Ernest Hemingway’ s THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA [M]. New York: Simon Schuster， 1965.

[4]Hemingway， Ernest. A Farewell to Arms [M]. New York: Simon Schuster， 1995.

注釋：

①Carlos Baker， “The Mountain and the Plain，” Hemingway: The Writer as Artist， ed. Carlos Baker (Princeton， N. J.: Princeton University Press， 1956)， p. 94.

②Stanley Cooperman， Ernest Hemingway’ s THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA (New York: Simon Schuster， 1965)， p. 23.

③Ernest Hemingway， A Farewell to Arms (New York: Simon Schuster， 1995)， p. 128-129.

④ Carlos Baker， p. 32.

⑤Charles R. Anderson， “Hemingway’ s Other Style，” Ernest Hemingway: Critics of Four Major Novels， ed. Carlos Baker (New York: Charles Scribner’ s Sons， 1962)， p. 42.

⑥Hemingway’ s introduction dated June 30， 1948， to the illustrated edition of A Farewell to Arms (New York: Charles Scribner’ s Sons， 1962)， p. 42.

作者單位：南京醫科大學外國語學院