见证与反思:希利斯•米勒之“文学终结论”在中国

Witness and Reflection:J.Hillis Miller’s Speech on the End of Literature in China

2000年7月,希利斯•米勒在他在中国的主旨发言中,以雅克•德里达的话为引子,探讨了文学研究在大学全球化和新的电信王国中能否生存下来的问题。这一发言在中国学界引起了极大震动,许多学者纷纷撰文回应他的观点。作为米勒在中国发言的译者和见证者,我也一直在关注和思考这个问题。究其实,这场论争所揭示的乃是中国学者在世纪之交,面对全球化和文化研究的大规模入侵,所产生的潜在的对文学和文学研究前景的焦虑。本文回顾了这场论争的背景和一些细节,并对此提出了一些个人的反思。

J.Hillis Miller delivered a speech in China in July 2000,in which he quoted Jacques Derrida to address the question:Will literary study survive the globalization of the university and the new regime of telecommunications?This speech caused a great disturbance among Chinese scholars,and many of them wrote articles and even books to argue with him.As a witness and particularly as a translator of Miller’s speeches in China,I have been following and pondering over this issue,which revealed the strong and hidden anxiety of the Chinese scholars at the turn of the 21st century in regard to the prospects of literature and literary studies upon the invasion of globalization and cultural studies.In this paper,the background and some details of the discussion are reviewed and some personal reflections are presented.