新世纪小说中妓女形象谱系与中国现代性问题

Prostitute Images in Novels of the New Century and China's Modernity

新世纪小说中所塑造的妓女形象,成为了一种特殊的喻体,一种感知与体验新世纪中国现实的叙事符码,一种思考中国现代性的媒介。"逼良为娼型"的妓女形象,以妓女苦难叙事揭示城乡二元结构的不平等,追问现代性的冷酷;"赏心乐事型"以妓女自甘堕落的愉悦叙事,批判消费主义时代的精神病像,"知亡国恨型"延续"妓女救国"的故事母题,表明作家重返传统的取向。这三者均表现出反思、质疑与批判现代性的立场。而"从良幻灭型"则对阻滞现代性的传统道德观念表达出愤怒,彰显的是吁求现代性的急切。同为妓女形象,扭结了对现代性不同的价值立场,亦充分说明了中国现代性的特殊性与复杂性。

Prostitute images in novels of the new century are special metaphorical vehicles and narra-tive codes offering us insights into the social reality of China in the new century and an approach to the issue of China’s modernity. These prostitutes mainly fall into four categories. Some are forced to en-gage in prostitution for utter misery, revealing the inequality of urban-rural dual structure and the cru-elty of modernity. Some choose to be prostitutes on their initiative, through whose experiences the au-thors criticize the typical ill mentality in the age of consumerism. Some play an active role in the anti-Japanese war, in line with the motif of prostitutes saving the nation, indicating the authors’ return to traditional values. Some are excluded from the rural society for their past as a prostitute thus failing to return to normal life. The first three types show the authors’ reflections on and criticisms of modernity, while the last one manifests their calling for modernity and rage against the outdated traditional values. These prostitute images, endowed with different values in modernity, reveal the particularity and com-plexity of China’s modernity.