儿童文学中的“他者”与作为“他者”的儿童——当代西方儿童文学的后殖民主义批评

The otherness in children’s literature and the child as the other:postcolonial criticism in contemporary western children’s literature

当代西方儿童文学的后殖民主义批评发端于1970年代,自1990年代以来得到迅速发展,形成了两条基本的批评线索:一是沿着一般文学领域后殖民主义批评的传统,致力于揭示、解释、剖析儿童文学书写中殖民话语霸权、压迫与反抗的现实;二是从儿童文学自身的独特性出发,致力于发掘、阐说、反思儿童文学中的成人话语霸权与“儿童—成人”关系。后殖民主义批评聚焦儿童文学的文化意识形态本性,激进的政治批判既构成了其鲜明的特点,也带来了亟需反思的问题。后殖民主义批评推动了当代西方儿童文学文类意识与艺术观念的革新,也使童年和儿童文学作为一种文化研究与批评的重要视角,在当代西方文化批评中日益受到关注。

Postcolonial criticism in contemporary western children’s literature emerged in the 1970 s and has developed rapidly since the 1990 s.It evolves along with two basic clues.The first is to follow the postcolonial critical tradition of general literature to reveal,explain and analyze the reality of colonial discourse hegemony,oppression and resistance in children’s literature writing.The second is,from the uniqueness of children’s literature itself,to explore,explain and reflect on the adult discourse hegemony and “child-adult” relation in children’s literature.Postcolonial criticism focuses on the cultural and ideological nature of children’s literature,and radical political criticism not only constitutes its distinctive features,but also brings about problems that need to be reflected on.Postcolonial criticism has promoted the revolution of the genre consciousness and literary concept of western children’s literature.Besides,as a significant perspective of cultural studies,childhood and children’s literature won increasing attention in contemporary western cultural criticism.