美国视野中的中国现当代文学选择与阐释——基于文学选集的考察

Selecting and interpreting Chinese literature from an American perspective: Some reflections on anthologies of Chinese literature in translation

作为一种特殊的文本形态,翻译选集是考察文学跨文化接受的有效观测点。本文以新时期以来在美国出版的中国现当代小说选集为例,通过描述选集在文本选择和阐释框架上的总体特征,考察中国现当代文学在美国的一段接受史。研究发现,1980年代,中国文学被视作展示中国"现实"的媒介,选集对中国文学的选择和阐释有着泛政治化倾向;1990年代的选集回归了"为文学"的编选原则,中国文学的审美价值取代认识价值成为受关注的焦点,编者开始纠正此前关于中国文学的刻板印象;新世纪以来,虽然政治性解读依然是中国文学短期内难以摆脱的窠臼,但风格多样的编选译介格局使得中国文学的图景更加丰富。

As a special text form,translation anthologies can be a valid way to investigate literary transcultural reception. With the translation anthologies of contemporary Chinese literature published in America since 1979 as the research object and by analyzing the editors’ preferences in text selection and interpretation,this paper aims to trace the reception course of contemporary Chinese literature in America. The study shows that in America,during the first decade following the inception of Reform and Opening-up in China,Chinese literature was received as means to truly reflect China’s reality. There occurred a trend of politically-oriented selection and framing. The 1990s saw the shift of the editors’ focus from the documentary to the artistic value of modern Chinese literature and efforts were made to change the once-biased stereotype surrounding Chinese literature. Since the new century,with works of various styles anthologized,the image of Chinese literature becomes fuller than ever before,though the same old political interpretation of it persists.