Laughter of the Oppressed

出版者:T. & T. Clark Publishers

作者:Jacqueline A. Bussie

页数:212

出版时间:2007-10-15

价格:$29.95

装帧:Papercover

isbn号码:9780567026781

具体描述

Review

Jacqueline Bussie reads familiar texts with a keen theological eye and provides fresh and innovative insights into these literary classics. With exquisite literary sensibility and bold theological imagination she helps her readers to understand how genuine laughter emerges from the depths of suffering. This is theological writing of the highest order - intelligent, faithful, and deeply moving. -- Ronald F. Thiemann, Bussey Professor of Theology, Harvard Divinity School

Political jokes arise in dictatorships and their laughter is liberating oppressed and silenced people. They are nothing less than a resonance of the laughing God in heaven. "The Lord shall have them in derision." (Ps 2,4). The arrogance of power is ridiculous because God is God. I read this fascinating study with growing admiration. It is a masterpiece and a great contribution to every liberating theology. -- Jurgen Moltmann

Jacqueline Bussie's book tackles the following unanswered questions: What is the theological and ethical significance of the laughter of the oppressed? And what does it mean to laugh at the horrible-to laugh while one suffers? The majority of ethical philosophical theory and western theology (e.g. Augustine, St. John Chrysostom, Oecolampadius, Reinhold Niebuhr) maintains that laughter is nihilistic and irresponsible, especially if occurring within tragic circumstance. However, she argues that the dominant social location of these theologians and theorists has led to a gap in inquiry, to a failure to consider laughter "from below." For Judeo-Christian theology, "The Laughter of the Oppressed" explores uncharted terrain. This book broadens the theological lens to examine the multicultural, modern historical fiction of Elie Wiesel, Toni Morrison, and Shusaku Endo as case studies. In these authors' well-respected texts, "Gates of the Forest", "Beloved", and "Silence", we discover the laughter of the Jews during the Holocaust, the laughter of African Americans both slave and free, and the laughter of the persecuted religious minority of Japanese Christians. These texts, in dialogue with voices from within and beyond their traditions, help us construct a theology of laughter. Bussie's book concludes that laughter functions as invaluable ethical and theological mode of resistance in the face of radically negating oppression that has ruptured both language and traditional belief. "The Laughter of the Oppressed" not only interrupts the banality of evil and the dualism of faith and doubt, but also deconstructs the dominant consciousness. Such laughter challenges theology to rearticulate the relationships between God and evil, theology and theodicy, theology and language, paradox and faith, tragedy and hope, and oppression and resistance.

作者简介

Jacqueline A. Bussie is Assistant Professor of Religion at Capital University.

用户评价

人物塑造方面，这本书展现了一种罕见的层次感和复杂性。这些角色绝非脸谱化的善恶符号，他们行走在道德的灰色地带，每个人都带着自己沉重的历史包袱和难以启齿的动机。我特别喜欢主角——他身上的那种矛盾性被刻画得入木三分。他时而展现出惊人的坚韧和洞察力，像一座屹立不倒的灯塔；但紧接着，他也会流露出一种近乎孩子气的脆弱和对外界的盲目依赖。作者似乎毫不留情地撕开了角色的外壳，让我们直面他们灵魂深处的幽暗角落，他们的优点和缺点相互缠绕，构成了立体而真实的人。即便是那些戏份不多的配角，也拥有令人难忘的侧影，他们的寥寥数语，却足以勾勒出一个完整的人生轨迹和深刻的时代烙印。这种群像描绘的能力，使得整个故事世界充满了生机，让人相信，即使离开了故事的主线，这些人依然会按照自己的轨迹继续生活下去，充满了未完待续的张力。

故事情节的展开方式如同一个技艺高超的织布匠在工作，丝线看似杂乱无章，却在不经意间编织出复杂而精妙的图案。开篇的处理手法非常大胆，它并没有急于抛出核心冲突，反而用了一段漫长而细腻的环境描写来铺陈气氛，那种压抑感是渗透进骨髓里的，仿佛能闻到空气中弥漫的尘土和潮湿的味道。叙事节奏的拿捏尤其值得称道，它懂得何时该疾驰，何时又该放慢脚步，沉浸在人物的内心独白中。例如，在描述某次关键的对峙场景时，作者将时间拉伸到了近乎凝固的状态，每一个眼神的交汇、每一次呼吸的停顿都被放大检视，这种对“当下”的极致捕捉，让读者完全代入了角色的焦虑与不安。高潮部分的转折处理得极其巧妙，它不是一个突兀的意外，而更像是一个蓄谋已久的必然，回溯前文时，你会惊叹于那些看似无关紧要的伏笔是如何精密地咬合在一起的。整本书读下来，有一种酣畅淋漓的智力快感，仿佛参与了一场精彩绝伦的逻辑推理游戏，只是这场游戏的赌注是人性的深度。

这本书的核心主题探讨无疑是深刻且发人深省的，它巧妙地避开了直接的说教，而是通过一系列错综复杂的事件和人物命运，将哲学层面的思考潜移默化地植入了读者的脑海。它探讨了在极端压力下，个体尊严的边界在哪里，以及“抵抗”究竟是一种外显的行为，还是一种内在的精神姿态。我读完之后，久久不能平静，脑海中不断回放着那些关键的哲学诘问，关于自由的代价，关于记忆的可靠性，以及群体中的个体责任。更重要的是，这本书没有提供任何廉价的答案或安慰，它坦诚地展示了生活本身的复杂和模糊性，迫使读者必须带着自己的经验和道德观去面对这些议题。它不只是一个引人入胜的故事，更像是一面棱镜，折射出我们身处时代的某些隐秘的结构和我们自身行为模式中的惯性。它要求读者走出舒适区，进行一次严肃的内心对话，这种知识分子式的叩问，让这本书的价值远远超越了单纯的娱乐消遣。

这本书的装帧设计简直是一场视觉盛宴。封面采用了厚实的哑光纸张，触感温润而富有质感，那种低饱和度的深蓝色调，配上烫金的、略带手写风格的字体，立刻就能捕捉到读者的目光。我尤其欣赏设计者在细节处理上的匠心——书脊上的微小纹理，仔细看去像是某种古老的羊皮纸纹路，暗示着其中蕴含的深沉故事。内页的纸张选择也颇为考究，不是那种刺眼的亮白，而是带着一丝米黄的暖色调，长时间阅读下来眼睛也不会感到疲劳。我甚至花了不少时间研究扉页上的那枚小小的、像是印章的图案，它似乎与书名本身并无直接联系，却又散发出一种神秘的、仪式感十足的氛围。装帧的坚固程度也让人放心，即便经常带着它在通勤路上翻阅，书页和书脊也保持得如同初见般平整。这不仅仅是一本书，更像是一件精心雕琢的艺术品，光是把它放在书架上，就为整个空间增添了一份低调的格调。作者似乎非常注重阅读体验的完整性，从打开的第一刻起，就将人带入了一个精心构建的物理空间，这种对细节的执着，让我对即将展开的故事抱有了更高的期待。

语言风格是这本书最让我感到震撼的部分之一，它展现了极强的适应性和表现力。不同章节的叙事腔调有着显著的区别，仿佛是多位风格迥异的作家在接力完成这部作品。在描写宏大的历史背景和时代变迁时，文字变得凝练、古典，充满了史诗般的庄重感，句子结构严谨，用词考究，读起来有种被历史洪流裹挟的厚重感。然而，当视角切换到年轻一代角色的内心世界时，语言立刻变得跳跃、口语化，充满了俚语和即时的情绪爆发，那种鲜活的生命力几乎要冲破纸面。最绝妙的是，作者在穿插讽刺和黑色幽默时，笔锋又变得尖锐而精准，如同手术刀般剖开虚伪，让人在笑声中感到一丝寒意。这种对语言工具的娴熟驾驭，使得文本的阅读体验如同欣赏一场精心编排的交响乐，时而宏大，时而细腻，时而激昂，时而低回，完美地服务于故事的情感内核。