论《长安街》的中国想象

Fictionalizing China in Avenue of Eternal Peace

自澳大利亚文学滥觞以降,澳大利亚作家刻画了诸多亚洲人形象,借此比照其盎格鲁—撒克逊民族及文化特性。作为当代澳大利亚"虚构亚洲"的中国题材小说,《长安街》从澳大利亚访客的视角绘制了一幅当代中国社会地图,刻画了诸多中国人形象。尽管《长安街》对中国的想象较之其他作品有明显的转变,但是该小说所述的中国仍然是神秘难测、充满异域色彩的"他者"。《长安街》的中国想象并非简单的东方主义话语表征问题,而是作者在新时期对澳大利亚民族身份建构所做的深刻思考。

Since the advent of Australian literature,Asians have been frequently described and even stereotyped in various works of literature so as to consolidate Australian identity and national awareness by comparing Asians with national and cultural features of Anglo-Saxon. Avenue of Eternal Peace,one of best-known novels written by Nicholas Jose in the trend of ＂fictionalizing Asia＂,remaps contemporary China and characterizes different Chinese people. Despite its partial authenticity in describing contemporary China,the novel depicts China as a mysterious and exotic country. The novel is a combination of imagining China and reorienting Australian identity.