可用的历史——反奴隶制文学研究三人谈

Usable Past: A Talk on Antislavery Literature

笔者与美国著名文学批评家、《诺顿非裔美国文学选集》总主编威廉·安德鲁斯教授和美国反奴隶制文学项目负责人亚利桑那州立大学乔·洛卡德教授以对谈的形式,首先就《反奴隶制文学研究》系列丛书的选本进行详细介绍,接着延展开去,将反奴隶制文学放置在世界文学与美国文学传统中审视,从而凸显出这一文学体系的文学史意义。对谈中对中国学界在反奴隶制文学领域的翻译与研究进行简要梳理,强调了反奴隶制文学对美国文化的塑造力及其在美国民族文学精神中的核心地位,同时探讨了奴隶叙事的学术史及该文类在出版界与美国教学课程改革中的复兴之路,并把反奴隶制文学与现当代美国文学及当下劳动力全球化背景相关联,对北美及跨大西洋奴隶叙事的学术价值做了详尽的评介。对谈确认了反奴隶制文学是历史研究、文学研究的重要资源,并提出跨文化思考在研究与教授中反奴隶制文学中的重要性。

On the occasion of The Study of Antislavery Literature being published,Shi Penglu invites William L.Andrews and Joe Lockard for a conversation.The scholars examine slave narratives in the world literature and American literature tradition,which highlights the literary history significance of this body of literature.The paper evaluates Chinese scholars’research of anti-slavery literature,emphasizes the shaping power of slave narrative to American culture and its core position in the spirit of American national literature,and discusses the research history of slave narratives.The paper furthermore explores the revival of this genre in the publishing world and in the reform of American teaching curriculum,and relates slave narratives with modern and contemporary American literature and the current globalization of labor.By doing so,the paper makes a comprehensive review of the value of North American and transatlantic slave narratives.