从两部海外中国文学史看新的文学史如何可能

New Possibilities of Literary History-An Analysis of Two Overseas Works about Chinese Literary History

《剑桥中国文学史》和《哥伦比亚中国文学史》从三方面探索了中国文学史写作的新的可能:运用新的理论、采用新的体例、进行新的批评。二者运用文学文化史与新历史主义理论,将文学史写作的中心从文学转移到文学文化,并着意于解构历史,打破统一,凸显多元,关注边缘。在体例上,前者采用文化本位的时代分期,后者则将文类研究和主题探讨相结合,且二者都寻求分期与划类的平衡与综合;批评方面,二者都在消解经典的基础上重估经典,并对具有跨文化交流价值的作家作品格外重视。两部文学史的创新探索将为中国文学史写作提供良好的示范和借鉴。

This paper analyzes two overseas works about Chinese literary history+The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature and The Columbia History of Chinese Literature,finding that they explore new possibilities of literary history from the following three aspects:new theories,new forms and new comments.Firstly,theories of“history of literary culture”and New Historicism are used.Thus,the focus of literary history is transformed from literature to“literary culture”.Deconstruction of history,break of unity,stress on diversity and attention to the edge are emphasized in both of them.In forms,“literary culture”-focused periodization is applied in the former book while genre studies and thematic discussions are combined in the latter one.However,for them it’s a common goal to attain the balance and integration of periodization and genre classification.In the aspect of comments,some classic works are reevaluated after decanonization and those authors or works with cross-cultural value gain particular attention.All in all,the innovative exploration of these two works gives a good example to and provides valuable guidance for the writing of Chinese literary history.