Fairy Tales Transformed? Twenty-First Century Adaptations and the Politics of Wonder
Fairy Tales Transformed? Twenty-First Century Adaptations and the Politics of Wonder
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童话故事变了？
DOI：
10.1080/0015587x.2015.1014617
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发表时间：
2015
期刊：
影响因子：
0.4
通讯作者：
Andrew Teverson
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Andrew Teverson
结论有助于总结克鲁克的调查要点;参考书目提供了一个全面的清单，最近的作品就这个问题，其中克鲁克作出了重大贡献。正如克鲁克所指出的，这些史诗的情节极其复杂，包含了几个幻想的元素：拥有惊人力量的美丽女孩，神奇的武器，邪恶的女巫，以及变老但从未真正变老的主角。克鲁克与现代肥皂剧的相似之处似乎是恰当的，因为故事的情节性质，由讲故事的人定期背诵，以及在萨布拉斯中描绘的事件的纯粹不相似。然而，“萨满教文学非常受欢迎，因此必须在塑造人们的历史观方面发挥作用”（39）。在这方面，这些史诗的流行和传播可以有助于研究前现代阿拉伯社会。事实上，在当代阿拉伯社会中，伊斯兰教作品仍然非常受欢迎，有书籍重印，讲故事的录音和现代电视剧改编。因此，我们需要考虑他们更彻底;同样的重要性，克鲁克的研究领域已相当忽视，甚至专家。克鲁克为阿拉伯流行史诗中的女战士提供了生动的肖像，并展示了在这些复杂情节的范围内，可以想象不同的人物塑造模式。事实上，女英雄不仅是英勇的战士，她们也是像Dhāt al-Himma这样的保护母亲;像Ghamra这样美丽而不可驯服的女孩;像Qamarkaya这样奸诈而无情的女王;或者像反复无常的Tāma这样危险而不可预测的情人。相比之下，哈姆扎王子的冒险提供了更传统和规范的女性观，女主角们在结婚的那一刻就交出了武器。总而言之，这些史诗传达了一幅前现代伊斯兰社会中女性的图景，远没有想象中的那么铁板一块。然而，它们大多是由男性表演者为男性观众表演的，因此反映了他们对妇女和赋予妇女权力的恐惧和愿望。虽然女性的敏感性似乎已经被描绘出来，但很难说这在多大程度上反映了前现代阿拉伯社会的实际情况。克鲁克决定不涉及性别问题，整本书只做了一些理论性的评论。正如克鲁克承认的那样，她最感兴趣的是讲述这些史诗的故事，并展示这些史诗可以为观众提供的想象潜力。如果这本书可能看起来更多的描述性比分析一些读者，克鲁克的意图是清楚地表明在序言中，她的选择似乎明智和深思熟虑的时候，一个回顾如何很少的研究已经进行了这种形式的文学生产。我们只能赞扬作者的勇气和专业知识，她在这样一个未开发的领域进行了如此广泛的挖掘，并提供了许多段落的翻译，其中许多段落的现代阿拉伯语版本是不可用的。克鲁克的书似乎是一个必不可少的除了任何读者有兴趣的文学和流行文化的多样性在阿拉伯语的丰富的材料，它提供了，所以仔细检查。最后的结果是一个彻底的和细心的研究写在一个明确的散文，使既令人印象深刻的工作奖学金和一个愉快的阅读的专家以及更广泛的公众-开拓者在阿拉伯文学领域的进一步研究。
conclusion helps summarize the main points of Kruk’s investigation; the bibliography provides a comprehensive list of recent works on the subject, to which Kruk contributed significantly. As Kruk points out, the plots of these epics are extremely intricate and contain several fantastical elements: beautiful girls with portentous strength, magical weapons, evil sorceresses, and protagonists who grow old, but never really age. The parallel that Kruk establishes with modern soap operas appears appropriate due both to the episodic nature of the stories, recited at regular intervals by storytellers, and to the sheer unlikeliness of the events portrayed in the sīras. However, ‘Sīra literature was very popular, and thus must have been instrumental in shaping people’s perception of history’ (39). In this respect, the popularity and the dissemination of these epics can be useful to the study of pre-modern Arab societies. Indeed, sīra works are still very popular in contemporary Arab societies, with book reprints, storytelling recordings, and modern television drama adaptations. Hence, we need to consider them more thoroughly; and likewise the importance of Kruk’s research in a field that has been rather neglected even by specialists. Kruk offers vivid portraits of female warriors in Arabic popular epics and shows how different patterns of characterization were conceivable within the horizon of these complicated plots. In fact, heroines appear not only as valiant warriors; they are also protective mothers like Dhāt al-Himma; beautiful and untameable girls such as Ghamra; treacherous and ruthless queens such as Qamarīya; or dangerous and unpredictable lovers like the capricious Tāma. By contrast, the adventures of Prince Hamza offer more traditional and normative views of womanhood, with heroines handing over their weapons the minute they get married. All in all, these epics convey a picture of women in pre-modern Islamic societies that is far less monolithic than might be expected. Yet they were mostly performed by male performers for male audiences, thus reflecting their fears and desires about women and female empowerment. Although female sensitivities appear to have been portrayed, it is hard to say how much this reflected actual situations in pre-modern Arab societies. Kruk decides not to engage with gender issues, and only a few theoretical remarks have been made throughout the book. As Kruk admits, she is mostly interested in telling the stories of these sīras and in showing the imaginary potential that these epics can offer to their audiences. If the book might seem more descriptive than analytical to some readers, Kruk’s intentions are clearly stated in the preface, and her choice appears wise and well considered when one recalls how little research has so far been conducted on this form of literary production. We can only praise the author for the courage and expertise she has shown in digging so extensively in such unexplored territory and for having provided translations of many passages fromworks of which completemodern Arabic editions are not available. Kruk’s book appears an essential addition to any reader interested in the diversity of the literary and popular culture in the Arabic language for thewealth ofmaterial it provides and so carefully examines. The final result is a thorough and attentive study written in a clear prose that makes both an impressivework of scholarship and an enjoyable reading for specialists aswell as for the wider public—a trailblazer for further studies in the field of Arabic literature.