从启蒙到革命:中国浪漫主义的嬗变

From Enlightenment to Revolution:the Evolution of Romanticism in Modern China

中国浪漫主义从一开始就介入了中国的思想启蒙,启蒙理性与浪漫主义无边无际的情感之间的张力,在中国现代思想中并不存在。中国浪漫主义唤醒了自我,但是这个自我是情感性的自我。这个情感性的自我将客观世界的一切都视为黑暗的,当作浪漫主义的素材,与世界保持着若即若离的关系;这种关系投射在政治上,浪漫主义放弃了对客观世界的政治判断,它在政治上的表现是同情与轻蔑,拒绝介入任何具体事务。浪漫主义在大革命年代发生了分化,其中一部分浪漫主义作家自觉融入革命潮流,将浪漫主义的情感性自我与革命激情相糅合,直至被后者取代。

Throughout the shift of Romanticism in Modern China, one might find a dilemma caused by the confusion of Romanticism and enlightenment. In Europe, Romanticism was one of the outcomes of the Enlightenment Movement. It required the Enlightenment Movement to discover the individual and establish the independent status of the human being in the world. Then it infused blood, flesh and emotion into the rational and abstract self. The Romantic self and the rational self originated in the same juncture, but differentiated from each other. The tension between them drew a picture of national states in Europe. In China, on the contrary, Romanticism was nearly the enlightenment as such with the result of not only the easiness of the transformation from Romanticism into revolution, but also the absence of tension between the rational self and the emotional self. This is why almost all of social revolution and innovation seemed to be rather emotional than rational in Modern China.