关于英国文学史编撰的思考

On Compiling Histories of English Literature

历史有两种,一种是“信史”,即所谓尽量客观的历史;另一种是带有编者个性的历史,它通过列举史实来表达编者独有的思想。本文指出,目前中国大陆出版的中国学者编撰的英国文学史基本上属于前一种,给人千部一腔千人一面的感觉。本文认为中国学者编撰英国文学史应该在以下方面加以改进:一、重视科学技术对文学的影响;二、重视作家之间的历时的和共时的影响;三、突出中国本土意识。

There are histories of facts and histories of ideas of the compiler embodied in the facts. Most of the histories written by scholars from the Chinese mainland belong to the first type, hence lacking originality. The present paper points out that, in compiling histories of English literature, Chinese authors should, firstly, take into consideration the impact on literature by science and technology; secondly, deal with the diachronic inheritance and synchronous interactions among the English writers and their works; and thirdly, examine the works and events in English literature in the Chinese sense of nativeness.