异域情调·故国想象·原乡记忆——美国英语文学中的三种中国形象及其批评

Exoticicsm,Motherland lmagination and Hometown Memory:Three Images of China in American Literature Written in English

美国的英语文学中存在着三种不同的中国形象，它们由文化身份差异显著的主体所塑造，也被不同文化身份的群体所消费。当我们研究这些形象以及它们在中国国内的批评接受时，发现批评者的兴趣所在常常是形象学并不关注的形象的“真实性”问题。本文认为，批评界对中国形象是否符合中国现实这一问题的关注和兴趣自有其根源与合理性，对形象真实性的伦理评价受到一些关键因素的影响和制约。批评者对这些形象的剖析既应当显示对西方社会与文化权力运作的适度敏感，也不应忽视它们对中国社会的能动意义。

Three different types of authors with different cultural identity create three different images of China in American literature written in English. Whether these images show the reader an ＂authentic＂ China is a question that image study seldom bothers to care but one that often arouses the interest of domestic critics. This essay explores the cause of such interest and then analyzes some factors critical to the ethical evaluation related to the ＂authenticity＂ of these images. The author holds that a proper criticism should, on the one hand, displays a reasonable sensitiveness to the socio- cultural hegemonism inherent in these China＇s images, and on the other hand, also realizes the positive significance they sometimes carry to Chinese society.