火车与海船——有关西方文化和文学中“流动性”因素的思考

Trains and Ships:Elements of Mobility in Western Culture and Literature

若只聚焦欧美国家的情况,那么“流动性”概念所指,可以是社会现象、文化理念或文学主题,因此我们可以从不同侧面审视这个概念的内涵及演化,尤其是它在文学家笔下会具有何种轮廓。若扩展眼界,我们还可以反观西方现代性起始阶段某些与流动性有关的意识形态成分,比如宗教改革及早期中产阶级发展过程所展示的思想认识。若把视野再扩大一些,我们还可以审视更长的历史时期内贯穿于西方文化和文学中的流动性因素,如此即可以让所谓“尤利西斯主题”等重要文学传统与我们的话题发生关联和碰撞。对有关历史现象和文学主题的思考,也可以增强我们对于中西方文学之间一些显见差异的感知。

If our focus is only applied on western countries,then the concept of"mobility"may bear on such areas as social phenomena,cultural ideas,and literary themes;hence the possibility to examine what the concept contains and how it has evolved in the past from different perspectives,especially with regard to how different authors represent it in their works.With an expansion of our horizon,we may revisit ideological elements pertinent to"mobility"'marking the dawning moments in western modernity,such as ideas related to the Religious Reformation and the rise of the middle-class culture.A further expansion of our view may lead to a longer historical period of western culture and literature,informed with other elements of mobility.This may enable an interaction between our topic and age-old literary themes,the Ulysses Theme as a case in point.Thoughts evolving from such examinations may also enliven our awareness of some obvious differences between Chinese and western literatures.