「小說」烏托邦──論晚清文學的結構性書寫

Utopian Fiction: Structural Writings in Late Qing Literature

在「揭發伏藏，顯其弊惡」的譴責聲中，晚清小說界掀起另一極端的「希望」之音，形塑出近現代小說的「烏托邦」視野。本文透過大量原始材料，試圖探討看似最基本可是卻棘手的問題：到底，烏托邦之概念與書寫如何在晚清文化界、新小說文體乃至文藝刊物中「發生」？為解決此問題，本文先從「概念旅行」追蹤烏托邦詞彙的翻譯歷程，發現傳教士及中國知識分子因其不同的理念而對烏托邦注入特定的理念與內涵；接著，從「敘事展演」探討晚清作者群於小說敘事中召喚來黃金世界、大同、極樂世界、華胥國等不同來源的概念，拓展出一套「烏托邦家族」，注入救國、冒險、科學等基調，強調主權尊嚴、文明進步等信仰，遙指一個可以逆轉現實困境的新中國，使得理想視域得到（再）創造的契機；第三，從書寫主旨、時空形式與價值內涵歸納晚清小說的烏托邦視野，進而爬梳晚清的「文藝脈絡」，考察此時代的結構性視野在文藝場合的發生與表述方式，指出政治、科學、理想、社會小說等次文類投射的烏托邦視野；最後，本文重新評估晚清烏托邦書寫於文學史的位置，指出此遍布各出版社、報章、期刊與作者群的烏托邦書寫，更能呼應「新小說」文體的期待視野，理應受到更大的重視。

Alongside the voices revealing and condemning social ills present in late Qing fiction, there were also sounds of hope to be heard, which would later shape a Utopian vision in the modern novel. By tracking down and gathering together a large volume of original materials, this study attempts to explore a deceptively thorny issue: just how was it that Utopian concepts and writings came to be present in late Qing cultural circles, New Fiction, and art and literature publications? To resolve this question, this study embarks on a conceptual journey, tracing the history of how the term ”Utopia” was translated, and discovering the specific ideas and connotations attached to it by missionaries and Chinese intellectuals due to their different philosophies. This study then adopts a narrative performance perspective to explore how late Qing writers summoned together and further developed a ”Utopian family” of concepts in their fictional narratives, such as the Golden World 黃金世界, Great Harmony 大同, Pure Lands 極樂世界, and Huaxu華胥, drawn from a variety of contexts. By further incorporating key themes such as nation-saving, adventure, and science, and emphasizing beliefs in sovereign dignity and civilizing progress, these writers pointed to a distant new China that could reverse the real difficulties the country was in, so restoring creative opportunities to this ideal vision. Thirdly, this paper summarizes Utopianism in late Qing fiction by examining the substance of the writings themselves, the forms of space and time employed therein, and their intrinsic value. I then attempt to make sense of the literary context, investigating the ways in which this specifically late Qing era structural vision occurs and is formulated in the literary situation, and indicating how the Utopian vision is reflected in the political, scientific, idealist, and social subgenres of fiction. Finally, the significance of late Qing Utopian writing in literary history is reevaluated, concluding that Utopian writing, which found its way into various publishing houses, newspapers, periodicals, and writers' groups, was better able to respond to the expectations of a new fictional genre, and SO should receive a great deal more attention.