斯威夫特与中国:一种政治地理学视角考察

Swift and China:A Study in the Perspective of Political Geography

斯威夫特的中国关联研究一直是学界的边缘话题,且在依循"中国—坦普尔—斯威夫特"逻辑理路归纳其中国趣味时,我们容易忽视彼时游记文学"中国书写"的修辞惯例及生成动机。斯威夫特笔下的中国器物与风俗描摹,作为英国知识分子观照、重构自身的"批评中介",有着较为具体的历史语境与直率的政治指涉;可以说隐含着他介入"古今之争""礼仪之争""政制之争"等启蒙秩序论辩时的复杂动机。通过将斯威夫特的中国书写置于"游记文学传统"中,围绕但不限于政治地理学视角,我们或能更好地审视斯威夫特与18世纪中英文化交流的思想史关联。

In Swiftian study,the relationship between Jonathan Swift and China is a peripheral topic.While focusing on Swift’s Chinese writings,by following the influential"China-Temple-Swift"logical pattern,researchers tend to overlook the rhetoric paradigm and its intricate motivations which were formed in contemporary travel literature tradition.Those Chinese bagatelles and ethos in Swift’s writings,utilized by English intellectuals as the criticizing media to reflect(reconstruct)themselves,contain copious historical contexts and blunt political references such as the Chinese Rites controversy,La Querelle des Anciens et des Modernes and controversies over the forms of government.Based on yet not constrained to political geography perspective,this paper puts Swift’s Chinese writings in the travel literature tradition and tries to pry into Swift’s attitudes and connection to the 18 th century Sino-Anglais communication history.