晚清科学传播与末日科幻小说创作以 “彗地相撞”为中心的考察

Science Dissemination and Doomsday Fiction Creation in the Late Qing Dynasty An investigation centering on “the Collision of the Comet and the Earth”

19世纪末,西方关于彗星撞地球的科学新闻以及以此为主题的末日题材小说被大量翻译至中国,引起了中国读者的广泛关注。加之晚清动荡的时局和弥漫社会的末世情绪,激发了中国本土作者以彗地相撞为题材的小说创作,促使彗地相撞逐渐从一个天文科学话题抽象为一种文学象征,具有强烈的现实寓意。彗地相撞的研究与传播,在中国特殊的时政局势和社会心理背景下,从科学报道到文学翻译,再到文学创作,最终演变为一种广泛的象征毁灭的文学意象,折射出了一段科学、社会与文学相互交织的时代影像。

At the end of the 19^(th)-century, a large amount of western science news about “the Collision of the Comet and the Earth” and doomsday fiction with this theme was translated into Chinese, which attracted widespread attention from Chinese readers. Additionally, the turbulent situation in the late Qing Dynasty and the eschatological mood of the society inspired local Chinese writers to create novels based on the theme of comets hitting the Earth;this motif gradually transformed from an astronomical scientific topic into a literary symbol with strong realistic implications. In the context of China’s unique political circumstance and social-psychological background, the research and dissemination of comets hitting the Earth finally evolved into a literary image of extensive symbol destruction, from scientific reporting to literary translation and literary creation, reflecting the images of the times in which science, society, and literature were intertwined.