作者 ｜
劉心華(國立政治大學俄國語文學系副教授)
摘要 ｜
19－20世紀之交，俄國發生了一連串的事件：工業化、快速現代化、教育普及、社會結構改變、戰爭、革命等，這種情境迫使俄羅斯女性必須同時肩負男人與女人的工作；這些歷史的發展，女性的本質及其社會的角色也必然被重新評估。隨後，蘇聯政權建立，一方面既要求女性參與勞動生產，加入戰鬥，並且獨立維持家計，又堅持婦女仍應保持女性的溫柔與女性特質。俄羅斯女性在面對工作與家庭雙重重擔的壓力下，越來越難以認同這種反覆灌輸的女性形象，企圖打破官方社會所塑造的女性典範。
另一方面，在文化的領域上，國家仍堅持傳統的性別刻板印象。雖然蘇聯社會極力改善各行各業的性別歧視，但在文學上卻沒有改變。作為女性作家，很容易就被認定放棄”內在 ”的女性特質。因此，「女性文學」和「女性作家」的措辭，直覺上就有輕蔑或含糊之意，所以許多優秀的當代女作家極力撇清「女性作家」的稱號，避免被貼上「女性文學」的標籤。一方面，她們否認依性別分類文學的正當性與實用性。另一方面，她們反對將這種文學種類貶抑為粗糙膚淺和過渡充滿愛情故事的文學。維多利亞‧托克列娃(Виктория Токарева, 1937-)就是這些女性作家的其中之一。
在上述背景下從事創作的托克列娃，雖然極力避免被列為女性主義作家，並強調她也經常描寫男性的世界與心理。但是，她的作品仍大多數以女人為中心，強烈關注女性經驗與心理。她的作品經常表現在女性在現代生活中不斷追求自我的文學主題：愛情、友誼、家庭關係和職業衝突的壓力以及世代的對抗等。她擅長以幽默的語調及隱喻的方式描寫日常生活，刻畫內心的衝突，造就了其獨特的風格。她的主角常處於幻想與現實、希望與結果、開始與結束、青年與老年之間徘徊，以及人性的弱點導致了夢想的毀滅。小說的人物總在生活中「追尋」；然而，殘酷的現實總讓願望破滅。幸福是否可以像童話故事中所描寫的，「從此以後，王子與公主過著幸福與快樂的生活」？本論文將探討托克列娃早、中、晚期中、短篇小說作品的主題，並闡析其藝術價值。
關鍵字 ｜
女性文學，日常生活文學，修正主義，大眾文學
Title ｜
Happy Never After?—The Searching Topic in the Short Stories of Victoria Tokareva
Author ｜
Liu, Shin-Hwa(Associate professor, Department of Russian Literature at National Chengchi University)
Abstract ｜
In the turning of the 19-20 century, many events occurred in Russia: rapid modernization, popularity of education, social reconstruction, revolution and war. Under the circumstances, Russian women were obligated to take both men’s and women’s burden and tasks. The upshot of these historical impacts would be a re-evaluation of women’s characters and role in the society.
Since the Soviet assumed the reins, Russian women have been urged to join the labor force, to fight in battles and to bear livelihood, meanwhile, they are also requested to retain traditional female tenderness. As confronting a dual pressure in working and livelihood, Russian women would repel this ideal image.
Although the Soviet promulgates to remove gender discriminations, it still continued stiff idea on traditional women, especially in the literature. If a writer is attributes to “female writers”, she/he might easily be regarded as one who disfavors or discontents with the women character in nature; the terms of “female literature” or “female writers” to some extent implicates pejorative meaning. Many contemporary distinctive writers and their works have avoided the appellation of “female writers” and “female literature”. Not only do they object to classify the literature by gender, but they don’t regard “female literature” as one of rugged, shallow, and passionate histories. Tokareva (1937–) is the example in point.
In spite that most Tokareva’s works are still women-centric, she articulates that they are also men-oriented. Many of her works take the subject of women’s struggle for self-esteem in the real life as their themes. Her writing style is humorous and metaphorical. The protagonists of her works are often lingering on illusion and reality. They have persistently been pursuing ideal in the real life; nevertheless, they are always depressed in searching for their aspirations. Could the upshot be like that of the fairy tales: “Hereafter, the prince and princess live happily forever.”? The paper will probe into Tokareva’s works in various span of time, and evaluate their values in the literature.
Keywords ｜
female literature, literature of everyday life, revisionism, mass literature.