“反面教材”及其另类现代——反思海外世界“去道德”化的文学阐读

Villains and Their Alternative Modernities:Reflections on“De-moralization”Reading of Overseas Study of Chinese Literature

“去道德”的解读主张拉开文学与现实的距离,在单一的政治和道德评价之外,叩问更为复杂的解释可能。叶凯蒂的晚清妓女研究和苏文瑜的周作人研究,均属意于此。前者观察近代妓女如何通过娱乐和生活的方式介入到现代化的进程之中,为传统的女性发声寻求替代性方案,而后者则发展“中层理念”,思辨周作人如何在文学与政治之间作出有效调试,发展一种回转式的文明抵抗观。

“De-moralization”reading advocates focusing on the gap between fiction and reality,and asking for more complex interpretations besides the political and moral understandings.Both Catherine Yeh’s research on courtesans of the Late Qing Dynasty and Susan Daruvala’s study of Zhou Zuoren adopt such an approach.The former observes how courtesans intervened in the process of modernization through their entertainment and lifestyle,and sought alternative voices of traditional females,while the latter develops“theories of middle range”to speculate on how Zhou Zuoren made effective negotiation between literature and politics,and developed a concept of circuitous civilization resistance.