重写世界文学史:超越西方中心主义的模式

Rewriting the History of World Literature:Transcending the Mode of Western-Centrism

关于世界文学的讨论同时也是全球人文学术研究界的一个热门话题,它与重写世界文明史的计划不无关系。作为世界文学概念的最早倡导者之一,歌德无疑有着一种世界主义的视野,他率先在西方语境下对世界文学进行了概念化,但他本人依然未能摆脱欧洲中心主义的束缚。长期以来,在国际学界的世界文学史编写领域,一直是欧洲中心主义以及后来的西方中心主义占据主导地位。因此,世界文学版图的绘制往往聚焦于少数几个欧洲大国的文学,很少涉及其他国家。即使在中国的世界文学研究领域,西方中心主义也长期占据主导地位。但是反西方中心主义的尝试从未停止过,这也体现于世界文学史的书写和世界文学选集的编选。西方的比较文学学者杜威·佛克马由于受过汉学的训练,对中国文学情有独钟,他试图从文化相对主义的角度建构一种新的世界主义。即使在讨论文学经典的形成和重构方面,他依然不忘中国的文学经典在世界文学中的地位。在当今的全球化时代,我们提出构建中国的自主文学理论话语体系,首先就要批判长期占据国际学界的西方中心主义。而我们在中国的语境下讨论世界文学的目的之一就是要超越西方中心主义的模式,从根本上改变世界文学史的书写和世界文学选集编选中的这一既定的格局。

The discussion on the issue of world literature is also a hot topic in the global humanities academic community,which is not unrelated to the project of rewriting the history of world civilization.As one of the earliest advocates of the concept of world literature,Goethe had a broad cosmopolitan vision and was the first to conceptualize world literature in the Western context,but he himself could not escape the limitations of Eurocentrism.For a long time,the writing of world literary history in the international academic community has always been dominated by Eurocentrism and later Western-centrism.The mapping of the world literary landscape often focuses on the literature of a few European powers,rarely involving other countries.Even in China,Western-centrism has also long dominated world literature studies.However,attempts to repudiate Western-centrism have never stopped,which is also reflected in the writing of world literary history and the compilation of world literature anthologies.Douwe Fokkema,a comparatist who was early trained in Sinology,had a special fondness for Chinese literature and tried to construct a new cosmopolitanism from the perspective of cultural relativism.Even in his discussion of the formation and reformation of literary canon,Fokkema emphasized the place of Chinese literature in world literature.The author of this article has,over the past decades,persisted in writing in English and published a large number of writings in the international academic world,gaining the right to speak.World poetics is such an original theoretical construct proposed by the author,which has played a leading role in discussions when it was published in an interdisciplinary top international journal.The author believes that since the attempt to rewrite the history of world literature has just started,it must make achievements in the following four aspects:(1)Breaking the Western-centric thinking pattern that has dominated international literary studies for a long time and advocating the spirit of mutual learning between civilizations;(2)The rewriting of the history of world literature should be different from the literary history books that have already been published:It should differ from Western scholars not only in position and perspective but should also highlight the subjectivity of Chinese scholars;(3)The rewriting of the history of world literature should not only be done in our own language for Chinese readers but also in the world's lingua franca—English,so as to make the voice of Chinese scholars heard in the international community;(4)The rewriting of the history of world literature should make breakthroughs in methodology.In short,to propose the construction of China's autonomous literary theoretical discursive system,it is necessary to criticize the Western-centrism that has long dominated the academic community and fundamentally change the thinking pattern in the writing of world literary history and the compilation of world literary anthologies.