Abstract

The Gathering by Anne Enright is the winner of Man Booker Prize in 2007. Through the heroine’s reminiscence and imagination during the process of arranging her brother’s funeral, the hidden anger and affection under the appearance of a big Irish family were revealed, and the heroine’s self-cure process from anguish and depression to love and hope was unveiled. The adept application of the stream of consciousness technique in The Gathering is one of its major features. But till now, the concerns about this work have mainly been news reports about its winning the prize, and only few reviews have involved its content and language. Although there have been mentions of its application of stream of consciousness technique, there have hardly been any detailed analysis of it. After introducing the origin, history, main techniques and effects of stream of consciousness, this paper analyzes its application in the novel. The analysis shows that the novel mainly applied these typical stream of consciousness techniques: interior monologue, free association, time and space montage, fantasy and dream, and also first-person point of view and epiphany. The stream of consciousness technique is content dispersed and theme concentrated, and it helps reveal the character’s psychological change in the most authentic and direct way, giving readers the first-hand experience. Therefore the theme of the novel is deepened, that is, parental love is vital for people’s growth, and family love is always there, and love instead of self-torture is the fountain of life.

Key words: The Gathering; Anne Enright; stream of consciousness

摘  要

安•恩莱特的《聚会》是2007年布克奖获奖作品。该作品通过讲述女主人公操办哥哥丧事时的回忆和想象，揭示了一个爱尔兰大家庭外表之下暗藏的愤怒和亲情,展现了女主人公从痛苦压抑到重拾爱与希望的自我治愈过程。意识流表现手法的运用是该小说的一大特点。目前国内外对于这部作品的关注多集中于对其获奖情况的报导，仅有少量评论涉及其内容、语言等，尽管也提及到其中使用了意识流手法，但还没有详尽的分析。本文介绍了意识流手法的起源、发展、主要方法和表达效果等相关理论,并分析了意识流手法在该作品中的运用。分析表明，该作品主要运用了内心独白、自由联想、时间空间蒙太奇、幻象与梦境这几种典型的意识流技巧，同时还包含第一人称叙述和顿悟。这些意识流技巧形散而神聚，有助于最真实、最直接地展现人物的心理变化过程，让读者有切身体会之感，从而深化了作品主题，即父母之爱对人的成长至关重要，并且家人间的爱一直存在，爱才是生活的源泉，而非自我折磨。

关键词：《聚会》；安•恩莱特；意识流