近代西方书信体小说与主体性话语的建构

近代西方人的主体性不是自然的或天赋的,而是一种被人为地建构起来的现代性话语.这种建构是一个十分复杂的过程,涉及到整个社会的政治、经济和文化领域的方方面面,其中也包括文学在内.18世纪兴起并广泛流行于欧洲各国的书信体小说在建构近代西方主体性方面发挥了重要的历史性作用.它以其私密化的性爱题材、第一人称的叙述视角、主观的和即时性的时空模式以及充分的对话性,建构了符合时代要求的主体性话语,最终将近代西方历史主体从传统的集体性社会引出,走向以个体化为特征的现代社会.

On Epistolary Novel and the Making of Modern Subject as a Discourse in the West

Modern subjectivity of the Westerners is neither natural nor intrinsic, but a discourse made during the modern period. The making of such a discourse is a complex process involved in the society's realms of politics, economy and culture, including literature. Epistolary novel as a new genre that rose and prevailed in European countries in the 18th century played an important historical role in the making of modern subjectivity. By its private themes, first personal perspective, subjective time-space mode and dialogical principle, etc, a discourse of subjectivity is made in the epistolary novel in keeping with the era, which finally led the Western modern historical subject into a modern community characterized by individualism away from a traditional collective one.