Abstract:

Alice Munro is a Canadian short story writer, who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2013, becoming the first Canadian to take the award since its launch in 1901. The Swedish Academy awarded her “master of the contemporary short story”. She is also the three-time winner of the Governor General's Literary Award. Munro, originally from Wingham in southwestern Ontario, has been called Canada's Chekhov. Many of her works are set in the life of southwestern Ontario. She focuses on people’s daily life and the subtle relations between them. The characters she creates are always gentle and quiet. Her simple, light touches bring very sincere feelings and leave the readers deep impressions. “Dimension” was first published in June 5, 2006 in The New Yorker. The story is in the light of females’ love, marriage and daily life. Reflecting feminine self-development is its topic. “Dimension” is distinctive in theme, fluent in language, meaningful in content and characterized by psychological realism. In a word, Munro’s works are realistic rather than homiletic, descriptive rather than reductive, artistic rather than scientific, philosophical, political, historical or religious. This paper intends to give an interpretation or analysis of this fiction in terms of its language used and characterization etc., and hopefully add to a better understanding of the author and her story in question.

Key words: Alice Munro；Dimension；language；heroine’s character and feminine maturity

摘  要：

艾丽丝•门罗是加拿大著名短篇小说作家，2013年获得诺贝尔文学奖。瑞典文学院在10月13日颁奖词中称艾丽丝•门罗为“当代短篇小说大师”。 她曾三次荣获加拿大最高文学奖项——总督奖，被美国作家誉为“我们时代的契诃夫”。她的很多作品都以安大略省西南小镇生活为素材，透过日常生活聚焦于人的生存状态和人与人之间纠结难解的关系。门罗小说中的人物往往个性温和、内敛，故事冲突大多波澜不惊，阅后却给人留下悠长的余香和回味。她的文字简约、不饰雕琢。《空间》这篇小说发表于2006年6月5号的《纽约客》上，这篇小说着眼于女性对于爱、婚姻和日常生活的看法，反映女性成长是本篇小说的主题，同时也是门罗小说一直关注的主题。本篇小说主题鲜明、语言流畅，充满柔情。小说情节细腻见长，文风透彻，带有心理现实主义特色。给人一种越读越想读，每次都有新体会的感觉。本文尝试通过从语言及人物刻画等方面分析探讨该小说，期待对门罗及其作品有更好的解读和了解。

关键词：艾丽丝•门罗；“空间”；语言；女主人公性格和女性成熟