Chapter 37 exotic

Wilson sat on the balcony of the Bedford Hotel, leaning against the iron railing, his rosy knees bare.It was Sunday.The church bells rang, and it was time for morning prayers.On the other side of Bond Street, through the windows of a secondary school, several black chicks are clearly visible.They wore baggy dark blue smocks and combed their wire-like hair like never before.While gently stroking the stubble that had just emerged, Wilson closed his eyes and rested his mind while waiting for the gin to be delivered. Wilson sat there, facing Bond Street, then turned his face to the sea.His face was pale, and the girls in the school opposite did not interest him at all.This is enough to show that he just came out of the sea and came to the port.He is like the lagging pointer in the barometer.Its companions were already pointing to "stormy" weather, while it was still pointing to "clear and cloudless."Looking down, black staff members are walking towards the church.Their wives are dressed in red and green, shining brightly.This also failed to impress Wilson.He was sitting alone on the balcony, next to a bearded Indian.This person was wrapped in a turban, and he had long been eager to make a fortune for Mr. Hilson.This hour, or rather, this day is not for white people.They should be enjoying themselves on the beach five miles away at this moment.Unfortunately, Wilson does not have a car.He was alone.On both sides of the school, the metal roofs face the sea one by one.Overhead, a vulture landed on corrugated iron with a clang.

The Nature of Things by Graham Greene (1948) Imperialism and its aftermath unleashed wave after wave of unprecedented tourism, adventure, and migration across the globe.In this tide, writers, or those who are expected to become writers, are naturally involved.As a result, most of the novels in the past 150 years, especially the British novels, have exotic backgrounds.The so-called "exotic style" refers to "foreign scenery", which does not necessarily have to be charming or desirable.Graham Greene is good at using unattractive, or, as he calls it, "unpleasant" exotic landscapes as the setting of his novels.It is said that all his novels have only one scene, the product of his brain, called "Grimm World".All backgrounds do have similarities in terms of atmosphere.For example, most of the vultures fly in the sky of Green, and there are few pigeons, and even sparrows are rare.In terms of specifics, however, the term "Grimmworld" doesn't seem appropriate.

The exotic style in the novel is to neutralize the "foreign things" and show them to the assumed "domestic readers".Joseph Conrad knew this well.Conrad was a Polish emigrant who later joined a British caravan and saw firsthand what the British Empire and its rivals were doing in every corner of the globe.Therefore, without exception, his works are full of things from the era of imperialism.At the beginning of the novel "The Heart of Darkness", Conrad makes a classic analysis of the terrible impact of the Belgian colonization of Congo in Africa on the local people and even the Europeans who implemented the colonial policy.The story—begins by asking Marlowe, the narrator, to pay the bills to people on a cruise ship moored in the Thames Estuary. "It's also one of the darkest places in the world," said Marlowe suddenly.Then Marlowe spread out the wings of his imagination, imagining what the banks of the Thames would have looked like from a trireme of warships two thousand years ago. "Sand embankments, wetlands, forests, savages, things that civilized people cannot eat... There are barracks scattered in the wasteland, like silver needles in the sea. Cold, dense fog, storms, disease, exile, death. Death Everywhere, in the air, in the water, in the trees." This is in perfect contrast to the main body of the story.In the main body of the story, an Englishman comes from a prosperous, modern, "progressive" Europe to face the danger and poverty of black Africa.This paves the way for the question about "barbarism" and "civilization" that suddenly arises during Marlow's trip to the Congo.

Graham often referred to his admiration for Conrad, and openly admitted that he had to give up reading him lest he be overwhelmed by his predecessor's style. "The Nature of Things" is based on Green's experience while serving in the Sierra Leone Army.Whether the title of this book is allegorical, or whether it is an awe-inspiring homage to Conrad's African story, I do not know.Like Conrad, however, Greene's novel opens with a highly artistic treatment of domestic and foreign scenes.Wilson, who has just returned from England, is a minor character whose role is to introduce the reader to the exotic.After the goal is achieved, the point of view of the narrative turns to the protagonist Scorpio.Scooby is a senior police officer.Then, Green very cleverly avoided directly telling us the situation at this time (Liberty City), but let everyone figure it out for themselves.What's more, what makes the problem more complicated is that the series of clues provided by the author are really confusing.The Bedford Hotel, the church bells ringing for morning prayers, Bond Street and the high school, it all resembles an English city.In the first paragraph, only Wilson's bare legs (suggesting he's wearing shorts) and a black girl suggest that this might be tropical Africa.This startling and then enlightening effect subtly masks the colonialists' penchant for imposing their own culture on others.This approach is firstly used as a means to occupy the ideological field, and secondly, as a channel to relieve homesickness.It is ironic and sad that the colonized are willing to cooperate with the colonizer.For example, African girls wear British sports smocks and comb their hair painstakingly, and black staff and their wives pay homage to British sacred things devoutly and so on.Therefore, it is easy for us to regard "The Essence of Things" first as a novel about religious belief and moral norms, but in fact, it is also a very important colonial novel.

As mentioned earlier (see Section XIV), descriptions in fiction must be selective.This mainly relies on the rhetorical technique of synecdoche, that is, the rhetorical technique in which the part replaces the whole.The bare legs, pale face and beard recall Wilson.Sports smocks and wire hair conjure up images of African girls.Balconies with iron bars and a corrugated iron roof recall the Bedford Hotel.And so on and so on, and so on.The above details only account for a small part of the overall scene.There is only one obvious metaphor used in the article, that is, the simile of "barometer".The author seems to deliberately misinterpret the meaning of the word, that is, to use the dual meaning of Fair (one refers to "clear and cloudless weather" and the other refers to a person's "fair complexion".--Translator's Note), making the "white" and "black" throughout the text Form a contrast.However, some adjectives used in the description of the scene have an associative meaning similar to that of a metaphor, and can be referred to back and forth.The word bald in the original text is usually only used to modify the head. Here, it is emphasized that Wilson has no hair on his legs (due to the difference in English and Chinese writing habits, the translation uses the word "bare" instead. There is a discrepancy.——Translator's note); young usually Refers to a person who is "young", and is used here to describe his sparse beard (the translation uses "just emerging" to modify the beard, taking care of Chinese habits.——Translator's Note), in contrast to the thick hair of African girls.There are differences and there are similarities.Wilson rests his legs against the iron railing to symbolize that he still adheres to the oppressive moral code of the British school, still very simple and pure.It is mentioned twice in the article that he has no sexual impulse towards African women, which is enough to explain the problem.The wirelike curls of African girls' painstakingly combed hair are an even more obvious symbol of nature's submission to culture.The use of hair as a sign of race is still visible in the next passage, such as Indians with beards and turbans.

Although the scene is described in terms of Wilson's place in time and space, it is not narrated from his subjective point of view.It is only at the line "he is lonely" that the point of view is changed.Previously, Wilson himself was nothing more than part of the scene.And this is described from the perspective of an all-knowing and very impartial narrator.He knew what Wilson didn't know.Wilson could see what he couldn't see.The ironic relations between them were undoubtedly indistinguishable to Wilson, who closed his eyes (apparently nostalgic) and waited for the gin to be delivered.