德拉布尔《七姐妹》中的老年身体叙事

The Aging Body Narrative in Drabble’s The Seven Sisters

摘要: 英国作家玛格丽特·德拉布尔(Margaret Drabble, 1939-)一生创作颇丰。在早中期的小说中以塑造青年与中年女性角色为主，到了后期，作家顺应英国老龄化的发展进程，以老年女性为主，探讨了与老年密切相关的话题。在文学老年学和身体叙事学的双重视角下探究德拉布尔于2002年出版的《七姐妹》，发现小说揭示了女性在步入老年后面临的孤独处境。在此基础上，小说从“身体”为切入点揭示衰老带来的身心挑战，并鼓励老年女性通过写作、重新建立人际关系、旅行等方式，完成自我的“死亡”与重生，重新构建起生命的意义。

Abstract: British writer Margaret Drabble (1939-) has produced a prolific body of work throughout her career. Her early and mid-career novels primarily focused on portraying young and middle-aged female characters. Later in her career, responding to Britain’s aging demographic trends, she shifted her focus to elderly women, exploring themes closely tied to aging. Exploring her 2002 novel The Seven Sisters through the dual lenses of literary gerontology and body narratives reveals how the work exposes the loneliness women face upon entering old age. Given that, the novel examines the mental and physical difficulties associated with aging by starting with the “body”. It also encourages older women to rethink the meaning of life and embrace their own “death” and rebirth through writing, reestablishing relationships, traveling, etc.