中国,浮士德何为?——当代中国启蒙话语中的歌德《浮士德》

Reception of Faust in the Chinese Discourse of Enlightenment

本文在概述了浮士德形象在西方启蒙过程中的沉浮之后,回顾民国时期启蒙与救亡话语中的浮士德接受以及建国后前30年的浮士德形象解读,重点考察改革开放后中国学界在文艺评论和舞台实践中对于"浮士德精神"的执着、反思和质疑,以阐释浮士德在中国如何从自强不息的英雄、寻找出路的迷茫知识分子形象跌落到了罪孽深重的恶人,乃至游戏人生的犬儒主义者,进而指出《浮士德》在当下中国的接受史具体而微地反映了当代中国知识分子对启蒙的多元认知。

Every age or culture has its own Faust,and different ways of reading distinguish readers from each other. Goethe's masterpiece Faust transformed the old German legend of Faust,which used to preach religious faith and the punishment of evil,into an allegory of post-enlightenment intellectuals. The Faustische,which means striving( streben) for knowledge,lust and power,often becomes in the history of reception the carrier of various kinds of ideology. After touching on the fate of Goethe 's Faust in the process of enlightenment in Germany,and in the discourse of enlightenment and national salvation in the period of the Republic of China and during the first 30 years of the People's Republic of China,this article focuses on the reception of Faust in Chinese critical circles and on the stage since the reform and opening-up,and analyzes how the Faust- image changes: from an unyielding hero to a confused intellectual,then to a fallen sinner,and finally to a playful cynicist. The reception of Faust in China reflects in miniature the pluralistic conception of enlightenment in contemporary China.