早期洋教士眼界中的海南——论《海南纪行》中视野的敞开与遮蔽

The Early Foreign Churchman's Vision on Hainan——On the Opening and Shading of the Vision of The Travel Notes of Hainan

在《海南纪行》中,香便文的文明教养较为精致,这让他能欣赏大自然的原始苍莽,却难于理解原始苍莽之中生活方式的粗犷,在精细的眼镜下,粗犷也会变成粗俗。这是一种文明对另一种文化的遮蔽。香便文的道德感来自他的善良与优越,他的善良使得一切不公正都让他不安;他的优越却让他无法反省自身的视野,尤其是文化视野。在这一视野下,他只能看到汉人对黎人的压迫与剥削,却看不见西洋民族对非西洋民族的侵略与掠夺。

In The Travel Notes of Hainan, Benjamin Couch Henry＇ s civilization is very delicate and he can appreciate the primitive scenery of the nature, but he can hardly understand the straightforward and uninhibited lives of the primitive people. With this vision, the straightforward and uninhibited lives would be considered as vulgar, which is the shading of one kind of civilization over another. Benjamin Couch Henry＇ s sense of morality comes from his goodness and his superiority. His goodness makes him unrest to see any injustice, but his superi-ority makes him hard to reflect the cultural vision of his own. In this vision, he can see the Hans＇ domination and exploitation on the Li people, but he can not see the western nations＇ aggression and robbery on the non - western nations.