宇文所安的中国文学史观及文学史研究法

Yuwen Suoan’s View on the History of Chinese Literature and Research Methods

一个多世纪以来,中西文学史家不断重写中国文学史。美国汉学家宇文所安的《中国文学作品选:起源到1911》及其文学史研究具有独特地位。其文学史研究的特点在于要描述文学和文化的实际发生演变过程,展现文学传统中的"话语群体";要求文学史家运用"历史想象力";以题材来展现文学传统,考察题材的形式、主题、结构惯例和历史演变。这些观念和方法给中国文学史研究提供了新的启迪。

Since the last hundred years, the literary hitory of China has been constantly revised by both the Chinese and Western literary historians. The American Sinologist Yuwen Suoan＇s A Selection of Chinese Literary Works： from Beginning to 1911 holds a very special position in the research of literary history. The characteristic of its literary history research lies in describing the actual evolutionary process of literature and culture, unfolding the ＂discourse groups＂ of literary tradition. It requires the literary historians to employ ＂imagination on history＂, to unfold literary tradition in themes, to examine the forms of the themes, topics, general structures and the historical evolution. These ideas and methods provided new enlightenment for the research of Chinese literary history.