未去殖下的大歷史書寫：反思1990年代香港文學讀與寫的困局

The Failure of the Historical Project of Decolonization : The Dilemma of Writing/Reading Hong Kong Literature of the 1990's

本論文的重點有三。第一，指出1990年代在香港殖民地將去、未去之間，香港文學曾出現過「急速經典化」的現象，令其時以「九七回歸」等「大歷史」為題材的部份文學作品，在「當時」已「即時」正式進入文學史的視野。在十多二十年的時空距離下，中國及世界局勢屢經巨變，是適當的時候加以回顧及重評；第二，以當時兩部得獎長篇小說為例：心猿《狂城亂馬》、辛其氏《紅格子酒鋪》，說明這類作品頗為粗糙、情緒化或避重就輕的寫法，都不免在有意無意之間，延續或強化殖民地時期的思維模式，對中港歷史卻欠缺較為深刻、立體、複雜的反思；第三，在總結部分，這類早已「同步」進入文學史的作品，曾獲得專業評論者的高度評價，其地位難以動搖，然而，如公眾期待出現差距時，非專業的讀者又能用什麼的途徑參與重評？這或是自1990年代至今天，當代香港文學的「寫」（作家社群）、「讀」（讀者社群）甚至「評」（評論社群）都存在的困局──也是文學史建構過程中，需要面對和解決的問題。

This paper has three arguments. First, during the last throes of British colonial rule in the 1990's, the Hong Kong literary scene witnessed a rather unusual phenomenon of “rapid canonization,” resulting in the instant recognition of certain fictional works that deal with major historical events such as the 1997 handover as“masterpieces.” Fifteen years after the return of Hong Kong to China, it is time to reassess this particular phenomenon. Second, the two novels that were instantly“canonized” by literary awards──A Crazy Horse in a Mad City by Xin Yuan and Red Checkers Pub by Xin Qi Shi──consciously and/or unconsciously, fail to critique the colonial mentality by treating Hong Kong and Chinese history in a simplistic, reductive, and one-dimensional manner, frequently side-stepping and sentimentalizing crucial historical issues. Third, with the instant “canonization” of their works and the blessing of professional reviewers, the general reading public was very much shut off from the process of assessment and evaluation. This paper would like to call attention to this situation, which is ultimately also significant issue of constructing literary history.