清末民初儿童文学现代演进中的新伦理建构

New Ethical Constructions in the Modern Evolution of Children’s Literature in the Late Qing Dynasty and Early Republic of China

查尔斯·泰勒所言的“大脱嵌”革命在清末民初引发了新伦理的建构。基于儿童成长的发展性、可塑性,儿童被视为新兴民族国家的希望,清末民初的先觉者们在救亡图存的时代召唤下,焕发出构建儿童新意义秩序的极大热情。儿童文学的现代演进就是伴随着关于儿童的新伦理秩序而生成的,其主要通过三种路径来完成:在新家国伦理建构中“制造”小国民;从德性伦理到规范伦理建构中“制造”小公民;在新身体伦理建构中“制造”“模范儿童”。然而,儿童在“大脱嵌”革命后并没有真正获得自我主体性,而是再次将个人置于新国家共同体框架中,成为负载着人们关于国家、政治和文化想象的隐喻符号。尽管如此,清末民初的文本中总有些儿童拒绝被格式化规训,他们总能冲破现实的困境、观念的囚笼,叫喊出生命的喜悦和自由。这说明儿童文学的现代演进之路是曲折的,前途是光明的,因为真正的童年精神在引领着我们。

The“Great Disembedding”revolution,as Charles Taylor called it,sparked the construction of a new ethic in the Late Qing Dynasty and Early Republic of China.Based on the fact that the developmental and malleable nature of children’s growth,children could be used as a hope for the nascent nation-state.The pioneers of the Late Qing Dynasty and Early Republic of China were urged with great enthusiasm to build a new meaningful order for children by the call of the times to ensure the survival of the country.The modern evolution of children’s literature is accompanied by the emergence of a new ethical order related to children and is achieved in three main ways:the“creation”of junior nationals in the new ethical construction of the family and country,the“creation”of junior citizens in the construction from virtue ethics to normative ethics,and the“creation”of“model children”in the construction of the new body ethics.However,after the“Great Disembedding”revolution,the child does not really acquire self-subjectivity,but places the individual again in the framework of the new national community,as a metaphorical symbol loaded with people’s imagination about state,politics and culture.Nevertheless,in the texts of the Late Qing Dynasty and Early Republic of China,there are always some children who refuse to be disciplined by the format,and they can always break through the dilemma of reality and the prison of perception to scream out the joy and freedom of life.This shows that the modern evolutionary path of children’s literature is tortuous and the future is bright because the true spirit of childhood guides us.