“五四”文学中“国”与“民”关系的演变轨迹

On the Development of“Nation-Citizen”Relations in theMay Fourth Literature

在民族救亡图存的时代背景下,启蒙思想家最初关注“国民”一词中蕴含的国家意识和国家价值。随着文学革命主张的提出和文学创作的发展,知识分子逐渐认识到“民”的重要性。二十世纪二三十年代,国民文学把“国民”放在社会层面进行考量,在“国”与“民”之间架起了一座桥梁。然而,“五四”时期的文学家并没有围绕着“国”与“民”关系进行深入探索,也未能通过创作实践将思考的结果恰当地书写出来。文学家难以摆脱倡导个人权利和个体意识的惯性,以致在“个人本位”与“群体意识”之间摇摆不定,并且以孤立的眼光去看待“国”与“民”的关系,因此未能实现书写“国民”的理想。

The term“Nation-Citizen”has always been a high-frequency word that appeared in the history of the May Fourth literature.Under the special background of the time,people were concerned about the national identity of the term“Nation-Citizen”and the mainstream of personality enlightenment.However,as the intellectuals paid attention to the social characteristics of“citizen”gradually,literary practice started a new round of checks and balances between“nation”and“citizen”.At that time,the intellectuals tried to construct an ideal relationship between“nation”and“citizen”by means of the trend of thought in literature and arts,but they encountered their Waterloo in reality.Eventually the rush of revolution led to the death of the May Fourth literature.If this period of history is reviewed objectively,the linking role it undertook would be discovered.Although the“national ideal”was not realized in the end,the potential conscious awareness of“nation”and“citizen”drew to each other also demonstrates that the searching for a sense of responsibility of“nation”from“citizen”of subsequent revolutionary literature was not accidental.Actually,it was the natural result of the development of the May Fourth New Culture Movement.