嗜∕釋中國：以凡爾納《一個中國人在中國的磨難》為例

Adaption/Interpretation of China:Taking Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine of Jules Verne as Example

作家凡爾納（Jules Verne, 1828-1905）以《環遊世界八十天》（Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours）為名，擅於以文字與想像建構法國域外的世界，為法國19世紀中葉後舉足輕重的作家。《一個中國人在中國的磨難》（Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine）為凡爾納1879的作品，書中描寫一位中國人因自覺即將破產而簽訂死亡契約書，藉由委託他人協助結束生命。然而此位中國人在經歷各種意外後卻始終未能成功了結生命，過程中也發生諸多趣事。最後，當另一位更專業的殺手即將成功之際，此位中國人發現自己並未破產，而希望挽回最後一命，結束此份荒唐的契約。凡爾納從未到過中國，卻能以風趣幽默的方式描寫一位中國人的生命歷程，將19中葉後西方對中國的想像形象刻畫得鉅細靡遺，可作為當時西方人眼中的中國形象之參考文獻。職是，本文擬以形象學為主要理論，首先，從歷史的縱軸線分析中國形象在法國文學作品的嬗變；接續試圖解構《一個中國人在中國的磨難》文本的中國形象意涵；最後，希冀能歸結出作品的中國形象：是西方社會對東方社會的「嗜」好? 抑或是對其母國文化的另一種反思闡「釋」？

The writer Jules Verne (1828-1905), famous for Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours, is good at constructing a world outside of France with his words and imagination. Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine is Verne's work of 1879. The book describes a Chinese person signing a death contract because he is aware that he is about to go bankrupt. It ends by him enlisting others to help him live. However, this Chinese man has never succeeded in having the contract to end his life fulfilled, even after experiencing various accidents, and many interesting things have happened in the process. Finally, when another more professional killer was about to succeed, the Chinese man found out that he was not going bankrupt and hoped to save his life and end the absurd contract. Verne had never been to China, but he was able to describe the life course of a Chinese person in a humorous way. He described the West’s image of China after the mid-19th century in great detail, which is an important document for understanding Chinese society at that time. This article intends to take imagology as the main theory. First, we will analyze the evolution of the Chinese image in French literary works from the vertical axis of history; next we will continue to try to deconstruct the meaning of the Chinese image in the text of 'A Chinese in China'; finally, we hope that the Chinese image in the work can be summed up: Is it Western society’s “hobby” to imagine Eastern society? Or is it another reflection and interpretation of the home country’s culture?