论毛姆小说《万事通先生》中的不可靠叙述

An Analysis of the Unreliable Narration in Maugham’s Short Story “Mr. Know-All”

摘要: 不可靠叙述是文学创作中的一个重要技巧，并且已成为当今叙事学界热议的话题之一。在毛姆的著名短篇小说《万事通先生》中，第一人称叙述者“我”的叙述具有明显的不可靠性，从而使小说充满了戏剧性和张力。本文采用修辞性研究方法，结合小说文本分析该小说在事实/事件轴、知识/感知轴、和价值/判断轴上的不可靠叙述的表现，从而揭示其对强化修辞效果、塑造人物形象和阐释主题意义等方面所产生的作用。

Abstract: Unreliable narration is a significant technique in literary creation, and has become one of the hot topics in contemporary narratological studies. In W. Somerset Maugham’s famous short story “Mr. Know-All”, the first-person narrator “I” demonstrates obvious unreliability in his narration, which endows the story with remarkable dramatic effects. Employing a rhetorical approach, this paper aims to investigate the unreliable narration in this short story along the axes of “facts/events”, “knowledge/perception”, and “values/judgments”, and furthermore reveals the role of such unreliable narration in enhancing rhetorical effects, shaping character images, and interpreting the thematic significance of the work.