作为中国现代审美意识的“忧郁”——顾彬论中国现代性的启示与不足

On Kubin's Discussion of Chinese Modernity: “Melancholy” as the Modern Aesthetic Awareness in China

德国汉学家顾彬的《二十世纪中国文学史》突显了现代性审美意识作为中国文学史研究之核心的特点。在顾彬看来,忧郁是中国现代审美意识转变的标志,因为现代人审美经验核心是忧郁,或者说忧郁占据了现代审美意识的中心。问题在于,依顾彬之见,中国的现代文学所呈现的现代性意识是一种普遍意义上的现代性,因为它是在西方现代性的影响下发生的,从而中国现代性并不仅仅是中国的现代性,而是具有普遍性意义。但他忽视了中国现代性具有的内在性特质,他认为红楼梦"忧郁"具有现代性的特质,实际上否定了自己关于中国现代性仅来自西方影响的论断。

German sinologist Wolfgang Kubin highlighted in his History of Chinese Literature in the 20th Century the aesthetic awareness as the core of Chinese literature history study. From his viewpoint, melancholy is the symbol of the aesthetic aware- ness change in modern China, as the core of the modern people＇s experience is melancholy. In other words, melancholy occu- pies the center of modern aesthetic awareness. According to Kubin, the modernity awareness presented by Chinese modern liter- ature is indeed the modernity in the universal sense influenced by western modernity. As a result, Chinese modernity is not only the modernity in China, but also in the universal sense. However, Kubin ignored the inherent nature possessed by Chinese mo- dernity. In fact, the view held by Kubin that ＂melancholy＂ reflected in A Dream of Red Mansions embodies modernity nature completely denies his argument that Chinese modernity is solely influenced by the western world.