一個「國民」，各自表述──論晚清小說與魯迅小說的國民想像

Abstract

本文從文學的場域，研究晚清小說與魯迅小說的「國民」想像如何衝擊到小說的敘事。論文先從「國民」詞彙的流變切入，凸顯一個「國民」，如何被作者群各自表述，投射出不同的意涵。論文進而以這兩個時代的普遍議題──「覺醒」與「昏睡」、「未來」與「過去」作為取鏡點，論證小說在不同「國民」概念的介入下，構築出兩種朝代末與世紀初交錯的「國民」奇書，極端而瑰麗，激切又詭異，「國民」或成為力振山河、雄心壯志的希冀所在，或成為承擔國事日非、社會頹壞的重擔。若是放到作者的寫作動機上，各自表述的國民卻又相互呼應，國民被放在國家盛衰的角度上，擔負起歷史、政治的責任，在不同的向度展示出一救贖的書寫框架。

This paper looks at how, in the field of literature, the image of “national” in the fiction of the late Qing and of Lu Xun魯迅 impacted fictional narrative.We begin with changes in the vocabulary associated with “national” to show how writers applied different interpretations of the image to express differing connotations. We then take topics that were common to the two periods, i.e. awakening vs. slumber, future vs. past, to discuss how these different usages helped to create two great works revolving around the concept of “national”that captured the spirit of the time at the end of the Qing dynasty and the birth of the Republic of China. Extreme yet beautiful, strident yet unique, “national” in these works became either a source of hope for a new start, or took on the burden of a country in decline and a decaying society. If we speak in terms of the authors` motive for writing, we see that the different interpretations of“national” are actually responses to each other wherein the “national” takes on the historical and political responsibility for a country`s rise and decline under the framework of a writing of salvation or redemption.