士大夫的异域妙想记--论张德彝《航海述奇》中的不可靠叙述

Scholar-Bureaucrat’s Exotic Fantasy--On unreliable narration in Zhang Deyi’s The Tales of Overseas Trip

作为近代第一批由清政府派遣赴西方游历、接触西方文化的士大夫代表,张德彝在《航海述奇》中对西方的文化礼制、政治制度、工业技术等进行了全面的记述,这使得同治初年对遥远国度不甚了了的中国人大开眼界。然而,受到思想认知、知识体系、社会历史情境等因素的影响,作为“隐含作者”的张德彝在事实/事件轴、知识/感知轴及不定式视角三个层面出现了错误或不充分的报道、判断与解读,从而构成了不可靠叙述。结合不可靠叙述理论考察张德彝的《航海述奇》,可以在一定程度上展现以张德彝为代表的晚清士大夫群体在中西文化交流过程中的矛盾、冲突与反思。

As a representative of the first group of modern scholars sent by the Qing government to travel to the West and come into con⁃tact with Western culture,Zhang Deyi,in his book of The Tales of Overseas Trip,provides a comprehensive account of Western culture and rituals,political systems,and industrial technology,which was an eye-opener for the Chinese who were not familiar with distant countries in the early years of the Tongzhi reign.However,under the influence of factors such as ideological perception,knowledge sys⁃tem,and socio-historical context,Zhang Deyi,as the“implied author”,made wrong or inadequate reports,judgements,and interpreta⁃tions in the three levels of the fact/event axis,the knowledge/perception axis,and the indeterminate perspective,which constituted unre⁃liable narratives.Examining Zhang Deyi’s book of The Tales of Overseas Trip in the light of the theory of unreliable narratives can,to a certain extent,show the contradictions,conflicts and reflections of the late Qing scholarly group represented by Zhang Deyi in the pro⁃cess of Sino-Western cultural exchanges.