为大众而写:文学史的另一种可能——评《中国现代通俗小说史略》

Writing for the General Public:Another Possibility of Literary History,A Review on A Brief History of Modern Popular Novels in China

2020年,由范伯群先生领衔,徐斯年先生、刘祥安教授共同参与撰写的《中国现代通俗小说史略》由江苏凤凰教育出版社出版。基于“外译”的写作目的和让海外普通读者对中国现代通俗小说感兴趣的初衷,该书强调“崇尚浅薄”,以“讲故事”的笔法撰写文学史。“讲故事”的笔法事实上实现了文学史书写由“史”向“文”的调整与回溯,更以其“独立的准备”,接榫鲁迅的《中国小说史略》。与刚刚出版的《哈佛新编中国现代文学史》不约而同,呈示了文学史在学术研究和高校教学之外更多的可能。

In 2020,A Brief History of Modern Popular Novels in China,which is lead-authored by Mr.Fan Boqun and co-authored by Mr.Xu Sinian and Professor Liu Xiang’an,was published by Jiangsu Phoenix Education Press.Based on the writing purpose of“overseas translation”and the initial intention of arousing the interest of the ordinary overseas readers in modern Chinese popular novels,the book emphasizes“advocating superficiality”,and writing literary history in the style of“story telling”.The writing method of“story telling”actually realized the adjustment and restoration of literary history writing from“history”to“literature”,and it also docked to Lu Xun’s A Brief History of Chinese Fiction with its“independent preparation”.The book coincides with the just-published Harvard New History of Modern Chinese Literature,and shows that literary history has more possibilities and aspects in addition to academic research and university education.