历史尽头的自觉——新世纪中国长篇小说的艺术流变

Self-awareness at the End of A Centennial Journey of Literature——Artistic Evolution of Chinese Saga Novels in the New Century

新世纪十多年来的长篇小说在艺术上发生了一些变化,由此形成了新的艺术特质。当我们始终站在20世纪文学发展源流的语境中来考察新世纪长篇小说,尤其是与上世纪八九十年代的长篇小说加以比较,才能看出新世纪长篇小说更为独特的艺术追求和面临的严峻考验。同时,汉语白话文学经历了百年的变革与发展,今天它在艺术上正在趋向于成熟。然而,也正是在现代以来的百年历史变革中,今天的文学走到了最后的路途,所有的艺术成就、成熟和新的突破,都是在历史的尽头,也是文学的尽头作出的坚韧努力。

The past decade and more in the 21st century have witnessed changes about artistic ex- pression in saga novels, which announces the birth of new artistic features. Only with an understanding of the development of the 20th - century literature and esp. of the disparity from and similarity with novels written in the last two decades of the 20th century, can saga novels in the 21st century be clearly exam- ined to reveal its unique artistic flavor and the challenges posed by the new age. On the other hand, Chi- nese vernacular literature, after a centennial journey of literary reforms, has reached maturity in terms of artistic expression. It is by the end of the journey that Chinese contemporary literature has scored all the achievements and breakthroughs.