潮流之外与牢笼之中——“个人主义”话语、《平凡的世界》与“后文革”一代青年的成长史

On the Relations between “Individualism” Discourse,The Common World and the Developmental History of One Generation of Youths after the “Cultural Revolution”

对于《平凡的世界》这样一部至今仍有巨大影响的作品,却难以得到有效而合理的阐释,这似乎是一个悖论。但若联系同时代的主流写作来看,这一悖论其实事出有因:小说中"人性"和"人"的重建明显不同于伤痕、反思叙述乃至改革、知青写作,路遥也竭力要摆脱当时文学潮流的左右,因此可以说,正是这种有意从"时代精神"——在当时主要表现为对"文革"的批判和现代化的宏大叙述——的束缚中挣脱出来,并以此建构起其"个人主义"话语的大厦,而使得小说相对具有了超越特定时代的"永恒"价值,作品能在今天仍能吸引广大读者很大程度上也源于此。但具有反讽意味的是,这种"个人主义"

While it seems a paradox that there has been no valid and rational explanation for the much popu- larity of such a book as The Common World up till now, there are some good reasons for its popularity given the con- temporaneous mainstream writing, that is, for one thing, the reestablishment of ＂humanity＂ and ＂humans＂ in the novel is distinct from that in traumatic and reflective narratives as well as in writings on economic reforms and on school leavers; for another, Lu Yao has also endeavored to rid himself of the constraints of the then literary trend. As such, it is this intention of shaking off the constraint of the ＂time spirit＂--typical of the criticism of the ＂Cuhur- al Revolution＂ and the grand narrative of modernization--and his ＂invidualism＂ discourse built upon such a basis that has endowed the novel with its ＂eternal＂ value beyond the specific epoch and has rendered it still appealing e- ven nowadays. But ironically, this ＂individualism＂ discourse has in effect somewhat laid the best foundation for the advent of China＇ s globalization progress accidentally.