1.3 作品赏析
1.3 Appreciation of the Novel
维克多·雨果以从1789年到巴黎流血起义这段时间的法国作为小说《悲惨世界》的历史背景。作者着力描述了保王党人与革命党人、自由派与保守派以及中产阶级与无产阶级之间在意识形态领域内的斗争。同时，作者坚定地站在民主、自由和人道主义一边，认为这些是被机器化生产和追求利润所打乱的社会秩序中不可缺少的因素。雨果在《悲惨世界》中也显示出自己受到当时各种文学思潮的影响，尤其是浪漫主义和现实主义的影响。浪漫主义和现实主义以及它们各自的特点均在这部书中得以体现：马里于斯和柯赛特之间的整个爱情故事可以说是严格符合浪漫主义流派特点的。作为一个浪漫主义的爱情故事，其情节发展完全依照浪漫主义奇想来进行。《悲惨世界》虽然创作于浪漫主义理想衰落时期，但它却是浪漫主义创作的顶峰。保尔·贝尼舒对此是这样评述的：“《悲惨世界》是浪漫主义最为钟爱的手法的完美例证：利用故事来展示某种思想。”虽然如此，故事情节仍以一个孤独的、被社会抛弃的人与命运和逆境抗争的悲惨人生为中心，具有强烈的浪漫主义色彩。同时，《悲惨世界》中的事件虽然经过了浪漫的处理，但其中的人物却取材于现实的生活环境，因此，我们说它是一部现实主义小说。书中列举的环境、地理背景、人物背景、历史时期及当时的条件都非常确切和客观。实际上，书中大多数人物都取材于社会中最低下、最悲惨的阶层，这就使得现实主义小说家所面临的任务更加艰巨，意义也更加重大。保尔·贝尼舒对雨果的模式作了这样的总结：“《悲惨世界》是一部集世间万象于一体的作品，包含着完整的人生经历。书中现实的意象是真实的。雨果所用的象征并没有把事物理想化，而是毫不掩饰地表达了事物的精神含义。”总之，《悲惨世界》既是一部浪漫主义小说，同时也是一部现实主义之作。现实主义是19世纪法国的又一场伟大的文学运动。
Victor Hugo utilizes the history of France from 1789 through the bloody insurrections of Paris as thebackground for his novel， Les Misérables. He tries to sketch the conflicting ideological struggles betweenroyalists and revolutionaries， liberals and conservatives， the middle class and the workers. At the sametime， the writer places himself decisively on the side of democracy， liberalism， and humanitarianism as thenecessary elements in a social order being crushed by mechanization and profits. Hugo also shows himselfin the current of all the literary trends of the day in Les Misérables， particularly Romanticism and Realism.
Romanticism and Realism， with their attendant characteristics， are observed in the book： The entire love storyof Marius and Cosette is strictly according to the Romantic school. While the love story is a type of the genre，it is developed according to the whims of Romanticism. But Les Misérables is also the culminating creationof Romanticism even though it chronologically falls after the decline of the Romantic ideal. Paul Benichoudefines it thus：“It is certainly true that Les Misérables is the most finished example of a technique whichthe Romantics preferred to all others： the development of an idea by means of a story.”Even so， the plot isstrongly Romantic in that it centers on the tragic existence of a solitary and unwanted individual battling fateand misfortune. Meanwhile Les Misérables is a Realistic novel because the actors are taken from real lifeand circumstances although the occurrences which befall these characters are treated Romantically. Thereis also a precise and objective enumeration of the environment， the geographical setting， the histories of thepersonages， the historical period， and the contemporary milieu. In fact， most of the characters are drawn fromthe lowest， most unfortunate classes of society， which makes the task of the Realistic novelist more forcefuland influential. Paul Benichou reduces the formula of Hugo in this fashion：“Les Misérables is first of allthe product of a varied experience of the world， containing the perceptions of an entire life. And this image ofreality is also a realistic image. The symbol， as Hugo uses it， does not idealize things； rather， it expresses theirspiritual meaning without disguising them.”In short， Les Misérables， while it is a Romantic novel， is also aproduct of Realism， the next great literary movement of the nineteenth century in France.
雨果在《悲惨世界》中展示了深刻的人类思想，这是因为这部小说被赋予了多种形式；《悲惨世界》的一个突出特点就是它集现有小说的各种形式于一身。《悲惨世界》是一部侦探小说、革命战争小说、爱情小说、浪漫小说、现实主义小说、宗教小说和哲理小说。雨果成功地用散文的形式写成了一部史诗——一部他曾试图用诗歌来写但又从未圆满完成的史诗。尽管《悲惨世界》有多种小说形式，但其艺术统一性却十分突出。雨果对创作这部小说的雄心作了这样的概括：“这部书是从内向外写的，思想产生人物，人物又产生戏剧——这就是艺术的规律。”
The human imagination which Hugo demonstrated at such great length in Les Misérables may be seenin the way that the novel has been assigned to several forms of the genre； indeed， one of the chief qualities ofLes Misérables resides in the fact that it is a synthesis of existing aspects of the novel. Thus， Les Misérablesis a detective story， a story of war and revolution， a love story， a romantic novel， a realistic novel， a religiousnovel， and a philosophical novel. Hugo has succeeded in writing an epic in prose—something which heattempted in poetry and never fully brought off. Despite the various types of novel in Les Misérables， thereis outstanding artistic unity； and Hugo defined his ambitions about this book thus：“The book has beencomposed from within to outward： the idea giving birth to the characters， the characters producing thedrama—there is the law of art.”
虽然我们试图从不同的角度去理解这部小说，但艾略特·M. 格兰特得出的需要从整体上去理解《悲惨世界》的结论仍能引起人们的深思：“因此，我们也许不必为维克多·雨果这部小说的确切类别归属而担心。让我们满足于把它称为巨着吧。因为书中的一些人物受到全世界的欢迎，因为它准确地反映了19世纪的难题和信念，因为它把某些历史事件讲述得如此生动，更因为深厚的人类同情心使每一页都充满活力。这样，我们便会再次发现，雨果已有意或无意地超出了任何一个小说流派的界限。”
Although we have attempted an understanding of the novel under its various aspects， one canreflect upon the considerations of Elliot M. Grant about the necessity of comprehending the totality of LesMisérables：“So perhaps we need not worry too much about the exact classification of Victor Hugo’s novel.
Let us be satisfied that the book is great； great because it contains certain characters who have achievedworld-wide fame， great because it reflects so admirably some of the problems and beliefs of the nineteenthcentury， great because it relates so stirringly certain historical events， great above all because a profoundhuman sympathy animates its every page. Once again we discover that， wittingly or not， Victor Hugo has gonebeyond the limitations of any one school.”
主题是在一部文学作品中所探索的基本的、常常是带有普遍性的思想。在《悲惨世界》中，雨果断言，爱和同情是一个人给予他人的最重要的礼物，始终表现这样的品质应当是人生最重要的目的。冉·阿让从一个充满仇恨和冷酷的罪犯转变成为一个备受尊敬的慈善家，集中表现了雨果对爱的强调，因为只有通过学会爱别人，冉·阿让才能自我完善。冉·阿让努力为别人谋利益，免不了给他惹出麻烦，可人们也给了他从未感受到的快乐和满足。
冉·阿让对他人的爱，特别是对柯赛特的爱，使他在绝望时刻坚持下去。雨果也揭示出，爱别人尽管困难，但也不总是徒劳的，他运用冉·阿让和割风这两个人来表现爱生爱，同情生同情。冉·阿让从围观的人群中挺身而出搭救割风；多年后，割风回报了冉·阿让的义举，他把冉·阿让安排到小皮克鲁斯女修道院栖身。在雨果的小说中，爱和同情是极有传播性的，从一人传给另一人。米里埃以信任和同情的行动改变了冉·阿让，接下来，冉·阿让把同情给予柯赛特，把她从泰纳迪埃夫妇的残忍虐待中解救出来。然后，柯赛特的爱情通过她与马里于斯结婚而达到圆满，他俩彼此的爱恋使他俩忘却了冉·阿让犯罪的过去。雨果运用小说谴责19世纪法国以阶级为基础的社会结构的不公正。一再表明这种社会结构把善良单纯的人变成乞丐和罪犯。雨果把目光聚集在三个需要改革的领域：教育、刑事司法和妇女待遇。
在《悲惨世界》中，雨果着力阐述了18世纪末19世纪初法国发生的许多革命、起义和极刑的社会影响。将拿破仑的兴衰连同波旁王朝的相继衰落记入史册，雨果使我们认识到，强加于日常生活的政治事件是频发而难以预料的。虽然雨果支持的是共和运动而不是君主政体，但他批判1789年法国革命以来所有的政体，因为这些政体不能有效地处理社会不公或消除法国僵化的阶级制度。
Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work. In Les Misérables，Hugo asserts that love and compassion are the most important gifts one person can give another and thatalways displaying these qualities should be the most important goal in life. Valjean’s transformation froma hate-filled and hardened criminal into a well-respected philanthropist epitomizes Hugo’s emphasis onlove， for it is only by learning to love others that Valjean is able to improve himself. While Valjean’s effortson behalf of others inevitably cause him problems， they also give him a sense of happiness and fulfillmentthat he has never felt before. Valjean’s love for others—in particular， for Cosette—is what keeps him goingin desperate times. Hugo also makes clear that loving others， while difficult， is not always a thankless task，and he uses Valjean and Fauchelevent to show that love begets love， and compassion begets compassion.
Valjean jumps out of a crowd of onlookers to rescue Fauchelevent； years later， Fauchelevent repays Valjean’sbravery by offering him refuge in the convent of Petit-Picpus. In Hugo’s novel， love and compassion arenearly infectious， passed on from one person to another. After M. Myriel transforms Valjean with acts of trustand affection， Valjean， in turn， is able to impart this compassion to Cosette， rescuing her from the corruptingcruelty of the Théardiers. Cosette’s love then reaches fulfillment through her marriage to Marius， and theirlove for each other leads them both to forgive Valjean for his criminal past. Hugo uses his novel to condemnthe unjust class-based structure of nineteenth-century France， showing time and again that the society’sstructure turns good， innocent people into beggars and criminals. Hugo focuses three areas that particularlyneed reform： education， criminal justice， and the treatment of women. In Les Misérables， Hugo traces thesocial impact of the numerous revolutions， insurrections， and executions that took place in late eighteenth-and early nineteenth-century France. By chronicling the rise and fall of Napoleon as well as the restorationand subsequent decline of the Bourbon Monarchy， Hugo gives us a sense of the perpetual uncertainty thatpolitical events imposed upon daily life. Though Hugo’s sympathies are with republican movements ratherthan with the monarchy， he criticizes all of the regimes since the French Revolution of 1789 for their inabilityto deal effectively with social injustice or eliminate France’s rigid class system.
不管怎样，研究雨果小说写作中的技法和艺术风格以辨明哪些行之有效、哪些导致了缺点是件有益的事。雨果是以诗人和戏剧家的身份开始他的写作生涯的，因而他把这些艺术体裁中的一些理论带到了小说创作之中。他的风格反映出一种来自诗的强烈动感。他尽情沉溺于丰富绚丽的散文中，并使用了大量的形容词等。不过，总的来讲，雨果的文风比较朴素，人物对话则反映出说话者的地位和所处的环境。雨果还经常使用夸张和重复，他那夸张的表现手法和反复的强调使他的思想具有更强的影响力。在故事梗概中，我们已多次清楚地看到雨果把巧合和机遇作为其小说概念的基础。浪漫主义不承认生活只受冰冷的理性和完全可以解释的现象控制，雨果的这种思想也是浪漫主义教义的一个组成部分。这些手段被用来解决情节上的难题，同时也证实了雨果是一位坚定的浪漫主义者。对比是《悲惨世界》句式结构的基本特点；这种对应的结构起到了讽刺的作用。在上下文中对各种观点的平衡十分常见，而对同一句子中前一部分的对立观点进行平衡更是屡见不鲜。比喻、象征和拟人等诗歌中常用的手法也出现在雨果的小说中。雨果禁不住要对一种思想进行直接和间接地比较，而比较的后果则是产生不可抗拒的魅力。他在无生命的物体中看出人的影子，并情不自禁地漫谈起二者的关系。尽管这些特点为小说增色添彩，但也延缓了故事情节的发展。匆匆浏览一遍，这些特点也许不太显眼，而读者一旦静下心来重读的时候，也就是说，当读者不再急于知道“后来怎么样了”的时候，他们就会深刻领会到《悲惨世界》中雨果那辉煌的思想体系。虽然小说的每一部分都刻画得非常精致，但小说的总体要比各个部分之和更加壮丽。因此，索拉对整体效果作了这样的概述：“从另一方面来说，《悲惨世界》是一个规格宏大的建筑，它的设计建造完美和谐，堪称一个活的有机体。雨果终于用散文写出了他用诗歌未能完成的史诗。”
Nonetheless， it is well to inquire into the technical and artistic procedures of Hugo in the constructionof his novel， and to see which are fruitful in their development and which may be defective in their execution.
Hugo began his career as a poet and as a dramatist， and he carried over some of the theories from those genresinto his novelistic art. Thus， his style reflects a forceful and dynamic poetic wellspring. He indulges freelyin a rich and flowery prose which makes abundant use of adjectives， for instance. Nevertheless， the style ofHugo is basically simple， and his conversational patterns reflect the environment and class of the speaker.
Hugo also employs hyperbole and repetition very frequently； his exaggerated expression and emphasis anewon the idea lend powerful weight to his opinions. Enough has been indicated within the plot summaries to seeclearly and often Hugo’s reliance upon coincidence and chance as basic to his concept of the novel. Theseideas are also part of the Romantic credo， which refuses to accept life as ruled only by cold reason and totallyexplicable phenomena. Thus， these devices serve to resolve story situations but they likewise prove Hugo’sloyalty to Romanticism. Antithesis is the fundamental trait of the sentence structure of Les Misérables； andthis antithetical composition is employed in epigrammatic fashion. The balancing of thoughts is frequentlysimilar in context and even more frequently of a directly opposite idea from the first part of the sentence.
Metaphor， symbol and personification， usually encountered in poetry， also are to be found in Hugo’s novel.
He cannot resist the direct and implied comparisons of a thought， and the results are compelling in theirattraction. He also sees the human analogy in apparently inanimate objects and is tempted to digress intothese relationships. Although these characteristics lend beauty and richness of texture to the text， theyadmittedly slow down the process of story and plot development. In a rapid reading， they are probably not soclosely observed； once the reader will take the occasion to review the text—when interest in“what happensnext”is not followed at feverish pace—he will appreciate to fuller advantage the interior decoration ofHugo’s edifice in Les Misérables. In short， the whole is greater than the sum of its parts， although these partsare artistically portrayed. Thus Saurat summarizes the total effect：“Les Misérables， on the other hand， is atremendous building which is harmoniously planned and executed， a real living organic unit. Hugo managedto produce in prose that epic which he somehow failed to achieve in poetry.”
