淚水、黃河與河工：《老殘遊記》中的洪災創傷書寫

Tears, the Yellow River, and Hydraulic Technology: The Flood Trauma in The Travels of Lao Can

十九世紀後期是中國現代化的關鍵時期，同時也是黃河史上決口與氾濫最為嚴重的時期。黃河治理自古是帝國內政最重要的工作，到了這個時期更成了最具急迫性的現代化工程的一部分。晚清小說家劉鶚（1857-1909）在1890年代深入參與黃河整治，並且以此作為《老殘遊記》的主題。黃河洪災所帶來的巨大災難，成為身為治河工程師的劉鶚的創傷經驗。《老殘遊記》是第一部直接處理因大量死亡所帶來的創傷經驗的小說。在小說中，創傷是如何被描述與處理的？對劉鶚而言，洪災是否具有比單純災難經驗更複雜的技術性層面的意義？創傷療癒與河工之間的關係在小說中是否，以及如何在小說中被理解？本文試圖藉由探討《老殘遊記》如何被洪災創傷所形塑，進一步理解十九、二十世紀之交環境危機與現代中國國族認同之間的關係。

The late 19th century is widely known as the period of modernization in China. But it was also the time that witnessed the highest frequency of flooding of the Yellow River in history. Yellow River flood management, a top priority in internal affairs for the Chinese empire since antiquity, became an urgent and immediate task as well as a pivotal part of the modernization project for the Qing government in the late 19th century. As a technician deeply engaged in regulation of the Yellow River in the 1890s, the late Qing novelist Liu E 劉鶚 (1857-1909) begins his celebrated The Travels of Lao Can 老殘遊記 with the theme of Yellow River floods. The flooding caused by the Yellow River breach was an unbearable trauma for Liu E, who himself was unable to effectively control the Yellow River and personally witnessed the ensuing tragedy. Prior to The Travels of Lao Can, there had never been a Chinese literary work that dealt directly with the traumatic experience of mass death. How did The Travels of Lao Can describe and deal with such trauma that had never been written about? Did the trauma caused by the flooding of the Yellow River involve a more complicated technical orientation for Liu E, who, compared with the simple bystanders of the disaster, was directly involved in river management? In the novel, what is the relationship between the recovery from this trauma and river technology? This paper sheds light on the relationship between environmental crises and the inception of national identity in late 19th and early 20th century China by examining how The Travels of Lao Can was shaped by and responded to the trauma caused by the Yellow River floods in Shandong in the year 1889.