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1、“‘He’saPsychopathicKiller,butSoWhat?’”PLL37“He’saPsychopathicKiller,butSoWhat?”:FolkloreandMoralityinCormacMcCarthy’sNoCountryforOldMenLYDIAR.COOPERCormacMcCarthy’sNoCountryforOldMen(2005)tellsthestoryofasheriffstrugglingalonginthebloodywakeofapsy-chopathicmurderer.Thisnovelisnarratedp
2、rimarilyintheomniscientthird-personstylethattypifiesMcCarthy’sdarkestnovelslikeBloodMeridian(1986),but,unlikeBloodMeridian,thethird-personnarrativevoiceinNoCountryforOldMenisstrippedofMcCarthy’scharacteristicconvolutedandarchaicdiction.Asmanyofthenovel’searliestreviewerspointedout,itsch
3、aractersresembleiconiccaricaturesofevilportrayedinearliernovels,likeBloodMeridian’sJudgeHolden.ButNoCountryforOldMen’ssyntacticlandscapeisshornoftherich,Faulkner-esquelanguagetypicaloftheseearlierworks,leavingthecharactersflatandtwo-dimensional,somuchsothatJamesWoodcallsthenovel’svillai
4、n,AntonChigurh,a“hollowed”representationina“mor-allyemptybook”(92).Atonepoint,aminorcharacter,Wells,describesChigurhas“apsychopathickiller,”butheshrugsatthedescription,adding,“butsowhat?There’splentyofthemaround”(NCFOM141).TheinexplicableevilofChigurhandtheequallyinexplicablemoralcodep
5、racticedbySheriffBellmaymerelyunderscorethepointlessnessofanydiscussionofmorality,asWellsseemstobelieve.Inthisrespect,thenovelmayhavemuchincommonwiththenihilisticworldofBloodMerid-ian.Bell’sfirst-personnarrativeframes,however,drawexplicit,meta-textualattentiontothepurposeofnarration,sug
6、gestingthatsomethingmorethannihilisminfusesthisnovel’sdark3738PLLLydiaR.Coopercosmos.Bellisnotthenovel’snarrator,andhispropheticandvisionarymonologuesframethetalewhileremainingambigu-ouslyseparatefromit.Theframingdeviceofthenarrativesec-tions,alongwiththestrippedproseofthemainnarrative
7、andthetwo-dimensionalcharactersinfactforegroundthenatureandpurposeofstory-telling.Inparticular,thisnovelexplorestherelationshipbetweenstory-tellingandmoralitybyevokingarchaictropesandmodesofnarrationmoretypicallyassociatedwiththefolktale.ReleasedinJulyof2005,NoCountryforOldMenwasMc-C