18世纪世界文学视野中的曹雪芹和《红楼梦》

中国文学和西方文学间一向有种不对等的交流，一般中国学者熟知西方文学经典，但西方人并不掩饰他们对中国文学的无知。这种现象发生在今天，个中原因有其值得探讨的复杂性。中国的文学经典《红楼梦》，是曹雪芹写给自己和知友们看的一部感伤忆旧录，他从来没有、也不屑于承认自己是作家，无意将其发表，更不愿意用它牟利或谋生。这与同时期的欧洲作家有着根本的不同，他们都是很自觉、自知的作家，有鲜明的读者意识和市场考量。我们将曹雪芹与他同时代的西方作家进行比较研究，就凸显出曹雪芹在当时世界作家中的独特地位及创作意义。

Comparative Studies: CAO Xueqin and A Dream of Red Mansions in the Landscape of 18 th Century World Literature

There were some major differences between Chinese and European literature in the 18th century. One key difference is that while gifted writers were well respected in Europe, in China, literary writers were frowned upon -the only socially accepted path for an educated man was to focus on the royal exam and a career in government. While Western writers took pride in their writing and wrote with the reader＇ s interest in mind, most Chinese writers of the time were reluctant to even disclose their authorship and did not ever expect their works to be published. CAO Xueqin＇ s purpose in writing A Dream of Red Mansions was not to publish, but rather to heal his personal sadness of the family tragedy caused by royal entanglements. He was a victim of the dispute and his only out- let has through his writing. It was in this background that CAO Xueqin wrote the masterpiece in Chinese literature and unintentionally established the new standard for Chinese writers. The following essay is a comparative study of works of CAO Xueqin and the major European writers of his time.