平等对话的设想:《潮汐图》的他者与自我

The Assumption of Equal Dialogue:On the Other and the Self in Tidal Chart

《潮汐图》以蛙的视角游历了广州、中国澳门和欧洲等地区,借其动物视角反映当时国内的学洋派和守旧派,以及外国博物学家对中国人的偏见,通过中西文明对比、中西套话的展示,在一定程度上还原了鸦片战争前夕自诩为“天朝上国”的中国自我形象和趋逐现代化的西方他者形象。但林棹的创作初衷并不止于表现中西二元对立的场面,而是借其说明人类中心主义和国族偏见产生的危害。小说的乌托邦式结局寄托了她对于文明平等对话的期盼,希望他者和我们能够和谐共处。

Tidal Chart describes the travels to Guangzhou,Macao and Europe from the perspective of a frog.It reflects the foreign school and the old school at that time,as well as the prejudice of foreign naturalists against Chinese people.Through the comparison of Chinese and Western civilizations,and the display of Chinese and Western idioms,it restores,to a certain extent,the self-image of China as the"Upper Kingdom in Heaven"on the eve of the Opium War and the image of the Western others,who are approaching modernization.However,the original intention of Lin Zhuo's creation is not only to express the scenes of Chinese and Western binary opposition,but to illustrate the harm caused by anthropocentrism and national prejudice.The utopian ending of the novel expresses her hope for equal dialogue among civilizations,hoping that we can coexist harmoniously with the others.