作为重构的世界文学——郭小橹《叫我以实玛莉》中的语言哲学与世界观

刘倩

doi:10.19857/j.cnki.ICL.20258302

作为重构的世界文学——郭小橹《叫我以实玛莉》中的语言哲学与世界观

doi: 10.19857/j.cnki.ICL.20258302

刘倩^,

华威大学

基金项目:

2023—2024年度上海交通大学-华威大学种子基金

详细信息

作者简介:
刘倩，华威大学现代语言与文化学院副教授，翻译与跨文化研究部门主任，主要研究方向为中国近现代翻译文学、比较文学、阅读史、英国华人文学。

通讯作者:
刘倩,E-mail:qian.liu.1@warwick.ac.uk

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出版历程
- 收稿日期: 2025-06-30
- 录用日期: 2025-09-10

World Literature as Reconstruction: Language Philosophy and Worldview in Xiaolu Guo’s Call Me Ishmaelle

Jane Qian Liu^,

University of Warwick

Funds:

SJTU-Warwick Joint Seed Fund 2023/24：Chinese British Writers and the Practice of World Literature

More Information

Author Bio:
Jane Qian LIU is an associate professor at the School of Modern Languages and Cultures, University of Warwick. She is Head of the Translation and Transcultural Studies Section. Her research interests include translated literature of early twentieth-century China, comparative literature, the history of reading, and British Chinese literature.

摘要

摘要: 英籍华裔作家郭小橹的长篇小说新作《叫我以实玛莉》在致敬美国小说家麦尔维尔的《白鲸》的同时，将其进行了深层次的转换和多重意义上的重构。叙述者从男子以实玛利变成了女子以实玛莉，从女性视角讲述了追捕白鲸的故事。《叫我以实玛莉》在多个维度上颠覆了《白鲸》中的世界观，包括白鲸的象征意义、性别与身份、种族与地位等，并用道家哲学颠覆了基督教的世界观。这种颠覆之所以得以实现，则与郭小橹近年来创作中的一贯特质密切相关：语言与世界观的紧密联动，以及语言对世界构建的重要作用。作为“世界之窗”的世界文学观聚焦于世界文学——尤其是第三世界的文学作品——在内容上的异质性。然而，随着全球化程度日益加强，许多文学作品都不仅仅具有内容上的异质性，而是同时具有语言上的异质性。恰恰因为郭小橹对语言问题的重视和在创作中进行的语言实验，她的作品为世界文学理论提供了新的启发，让我们得以注意到语言异质性——作为内容异质性的对立及基础——应该也被视为世界文学的重要特质。在当下的世界文学里，语言往往不再局限于文学的形式，而是与文学的内容、思想和主题密不可分。异质性的语言本身便蕴含了跨文化的生活体验和身份认同，因此能在深层次上反映并构建当下人们居于其中的多元世界。
- 世界文学 /
- 语言异质性 /
- 郭小橹 /
- 《叫我以实玛莉》 /
- 麦尔维尔 /
- 《白鲸》
Abstract: In the newly published novel Call Me Ishmaelle by the British-Chinese writer Xiaolu Guo, there is a clear homage to Moby Dick by the American novelist Herman Melville. At the same time, there is profound transformation and reconstruction on multiple levels. The narrator Ishmael becomes Ishmaelle who is female, and the story is told from a female perspective. Call Me Ishmaelle subverts the worldview of Moby Dick on multiple dimensions, including the symbolic meanings of the white whale, the relationship between gender and identity, race and power, and it subverts the Christian worldview of the latter with Daoism. The way this novel achieves such subversion is closely related to the features of Xiaolu Guo’s recent works, namely, the close interaction between language and worldview, and the importance she places in language in constructing the world. The conception of World Literature as “window on the world” focuses on the heterogeneity of the content of World Literature, particularly literary works from the third world. However, with increasing globalisation, many literary works demonstrate not only heterogeneity of content, but also that of language. Thanks to Xiaolu Guo’s attention to linguistic issues and linguistic experiments, her works provide new insights into theories of World Literature, foregrounding the significance of linguistic heterogeneity, both as opposition to and as bases for the heterogeneity of content, for World Literature. In contemporary World Literature, language is no longer the mere form of literature, but is closely linked to its content, ideas, and themes. Heterogeneous languages embody transcultural lived experiences and identities, hence reflecting and constructing the multidimensional world in which we live.
- World Literature /
- linguistic heterogeneity /
- Xiaolu Guo /
- Call Me Ishmaelle /
- Herman Melville /
- Moby Dick

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参考文献(26)

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