清末新小说对于“开明专制”的想象——以吴趼人的《新石头记》为例

The Imagination of Benevolent Despotism by New Novels in Late Qing Dynasty: A Case Study of Wu Jianren's New Story of the Stone

日俄战争之后,知识人对"立宪"抱持着价值肯定,甚至将政体改良绝对化,以为累世沉积的旧政治伦理因此而焕然一新。《新石头记》所营造的"文明境界"乃是一个"道德理想国"。改良派里多有信从西方政党政治的坚定者,而包括吴趼人在内的很多文人对于西方的政党制度仍是陌生的。传统中国政治文化的基因性结构"大一统",于此成为文学想象的基本空间结构,其所伴生的帝国心态,尚未完全出离人们的政治意识。

After the Russo-Japanese War, intellectuals were affirmative of constitutional monarchy, and they even thought thatsuch a new regime would change the old political ethics. The 'civilized state' in New Story of the Stone is a 'morally ideal country'.Many reformists believed in the Western party politics, while quite lot literati, including Wu Jianren, were unfamiliar to such politics.Thus, “united China”, an idea deeply rooted in China’s traditional political culture, becomes the basic space structure for imaginationin novels. And the empire state of mind becomes understandable as it has not yet been completely out of people's politicalconsciousness