“中国不是中国”:英国文学里的中国形象  

"Cathay Is Not China": Images of China in English Literature

作　　者：葛桂录[1] 

机构地区：[1]福建师范大学文学院,福建福州350007

出　　处：《福建师范大学学报（哲学社会科学版）》2005年第5期64-70,共7页Journal of Fujian Normal University:Philosophy and Social Sciences Edition

基　　金：本文是2004年度福建省教育厅人文社科研究A类课题"英国文学里的中国题材:1793-1945"(JA04045S)的阶段性研究成果之一。

摘　　要：英国作家通过中国题材所展示的中国形象,包含着三重意义:关于异域的知识;本土的文化心理;本土与异域的关系。对英国作家而言,中国与其说是一个地理空间存在意义上的国家,不如说是他们想象描述的一个神话,是激发他们写作和表达思想的灵感和素材。不管他们以何种途径来认识中国,从何种角度来观察中国,用何种心态来评价中国,都无一例外地把中国视为与自身相异的“他者”,倾向于把中国想象为与西方不同的“文化构想物”。中国对于英国作家的价值,是作为一个“他者”的价值,而不是自身存在的价值。套用萨义德那句“东方不是东方”的名言,英国文学里所展示的中国形象,同样可看作是“中国不是中国”。In the images of China demonstrated by English writers through their themes of China, we can see threefold meanings： information of a foreign country, the cultural psychology of the native country and the relationship between these two countries. As for the English writers, China is more a myth described and imagined by them than a geographically existing country. It is the inspiration and material which inspires them to write and express. Regardless how they know China, in what perspective they observe China and with what mental attitude they appraise China, the English writers unexceptionally regard China as a different “the other”, as a “culturally conceived thing” different from the West. To them, the value of China consists in its being “the other”, not China itself. We can apply Edward W. Said＇s logion “Orient is not East” mechanically to say “Cathay is not China” as to the images of China demonstrated in English literature.

关 键 词：英国文学 中国题材 中国形象 他者想象 文化利用 

分 类 号：I106[文学—世界文学]