自我嘲弄的叙事者——华盛顿·欧文《瑞普·凡·温克尔》中的真实与幻想
The Self-Mocking Narrator—Reality and Fantasy in Washington Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle”

《瑞普·凡·温克尔》(“Rip Van Winkle”)围绕主人公似梦似幻的奇幻经历展开，文本中的叙事者刻意地证明故事的可信度，反复强调其真实性。然而，这种做法产生了与其预期目的相悖的效果——叙事者不断确认故事真实性的举动，反而引发了对叙事可靠性的质疑。叙事者在非自然元素与故事讲述之间的互动，营造出一种似真似幻的模糊感，并在虚实交错的边界间构建了位于文本缝隙中的临界空间。华盛顿·欧文(Washington Irving)通过这一过渡性空间呈现了19世纪美国作为新兴国家在文化认同上的困境，并借助奇幻叙事尝试重构民族身份。本文结合叙事学与世界构建理论，分析文本中自相矛盾的叙述者如何参与文本世界的建构。文本的叙述折射出作者对文化归属的探索，而通过可能世界理论中的临界空间意象，欧文以虚实交织的地理景观，隐喻美国在历史转型期的自我定位。
“Rip Van Winkle” revolves around the protagonist’s dreamlike, fantastical experience. The narrator deliberately attempts to validate the story’s credibility, repeatedly emphasizing its authenticity. However, this approach produces an effect contrary to its intended purpose—the narrator’s persistent insistence on the story’s truthfulness instead casts doubt on the reliability of the narration. The interplay between supernatural elements and storytelling creates an ambiguous sense of verisimilitude, constructing a liminal space within the textual fissures where reality and illusion blur. Through this transitional space, Washington Irving portrays the cultural identity struggles of 19th-century America as a nascent nation, employing fantasy narrative as a means to reconstruct national identity. This paper draws on narratology and world-building theory to examine how the text’s self-contradictory narrator participates in the construction of its narrative world. The narrative stance reflects the author’s exploration of cultural belonging, while the liminal imagery—analyzed through possible worlds theory—allows Irving to use a geographically ambiguous landscape as a metaphor for America’s self-positioning during a period of historical transformation.