选择性亲和力？————王尔德读庄子

英国汉学家瞿理思1889年发表了他翻译的《庄子》，而英国作家奥斯卡·王尔德很快在1890年就发表了长篇书评，把庄子的道家思想阐释为反对一切政府管理、争取个人自由的哲学。这正是王尔德自己所理解的费边社会主义，即认为艺术应该是超越政治和伦理的唯美主义思想；这是一种近于无政府主义的思想，主张一切任其自然。王尔德这一思想与主张无为而治的道家思想有一种不期而至的契合。虽然王尔德不懂中文，对道家思想也没有研究，但凭着艺术家和思想家的敏感，他对庄子的评论不无深刻之处。由于现代王尔德研究往往不关注这篇书评，而王尔德选本也通常不收录这篇书评，因此，在审视西方现代文学与中国传统的关系时探讨王尔德对《庄子》译本的评论，自有其意义。

Elective Affinities?On Wilde's Reading of Zhuangzi

Oscar Wilde wrote a long review in 1890 on Herbert Giles' English translation of the Zhuangzi，which was published in 1889.Wilde read Zhuangzi's Taoist thinking as a philosophy for individual freedom against all forms of government.That was of course Wilde's own philosophy,the sort of Fabian socialism as he understood it.In Wilde's philosophy,the aestheticism of art is beyond morality and politics and is a near anarchistic liberalism.His aesthetic thoughts on art surprisingly bore some resemblance or affinities with the Taoist ideal of ruling with non-action.Though Wilde was ignorant of Chinese and no expert of Taoism,his artistic and intellectual sensibilities made it possible for him to make some insightful remarks on Zhuangzi's ideas.As this review is not usually taken notice of in modern Wildean criticism,nor is it included in most Wilde selections,it is thus important to pay some critical attention to Wilde's views on the translation of the Zhuangzi.