“世界文学”与非西方世界

"世界文学"在西方的实践表明,它实际上排除了现代时期以前的写作文本以及英语之外的写作文本。思考世界文学时,秉持一种"道德的以及理论理想化的包容性世界文学"观念是必要的。这样的世界文学观念将以一种系统的方式把非西方世界的文学包括在内。如何以一种系统的方式把非西方文学包括在世界文学中,可以考虑如下三种富有成效的方法。其一,以印度、中国、日本为中心或其他非西方的观点去看待世界文学;其二,通过东西方诗学的比较研究来看待世界文学;其三,在东方学习西方、西方学习东方的过程中来看待审美循环的结合点。这种世界文学观念将不仅更加准确地反映世界的组成,并且还将以一种更加平等的方式看待世界。

“World Literature”and the Non-Western World

Current methods of studying world literature in the West do not sufficiently acknowledge non-Western literatures as part of the“world”.“World literature”as practiced in the West virtually excludes texts written before the modern period and texts written in languages other than English. In this essay I contest this view of world literature, arguing for the necessity of what Rey Chow calls“the ethical as well as theoretical ideal of an inclusive world literature”. Such a world literature would include literatures of the non-Western world in a systematic fashion. There are three fruitful methods by which non-Western literatures could be included in world literature in a systematic way. One of these is to treat world literature from an indocentric, sinocentric, nipponocentric, or other non-Western point of view. A second is to treat world literature through the comparative study of East?ern and Western poetics. A third is to treat junctures of aesthetic circulation during which West learns from East, and East learns from West, each one an equal partner in the interchange. Such a world literature would not only more accurately reflect the composition of the world but would also view the world in a more egalitarian way than current Western perspectives.