移民都市与移民小说——论清末民初上海小说中的移民题材中长篇

A Migrant City and Migrant Novels——On the Migrant Novels and Novellas Created in Shanghai in Late Qing Dynasty and Early Republic

上海是中国特大的移民都市,在清末民初的上海小说中有大量的移民题材中长篇。移民之中有工商投资者、文化人、革命者……作为一个国际大都市,还有相当数量的国际移民。当然,极大多数移民是战乱与天灾中流向上海的难民与灾民,到上海成为出卖苦力的劳动者,但用"乡下人进城"这一概念是概括不了这股移民潮的全部内涵的。移民小说显示了上海这一移民大都会的众生相,也是培育外来移民的现代市民意识的形象化的启蒙教科书,深受广大市民读者的喜爱与欢迎,即使对今天的现实也有一定的参照价值。

Shanghai Qing Dynasty is a migrant megacity, and there was a rush of migrant novels and novellas in late and early Republic of China. Among the migrants were businessmen, men of letters, revolutionaries, and even international immigrants, for it was also an international metropolis. No doubt, most migrants were refugees created by wars and natural disasters and became laborers in turn. But the concept of “country fellows entering city” was far from inclusive enough for the wave of migration. The migrant novels and novellas, by depicting all and sundry of the migrant metropolis, served as picturesque enlightening textbooks for the migrants in shaping them into modem city dwellers and therefore were very popular among the general readers. They are of reference value even today.