新中国六十年福克纳研究之考察与分析

在很长的时间内,我国学者对威廉.福克纳注意不多,直到1950年福克纳获得诺贝尔文学奖,我国学者对这位作家的译介和研究才正式展开,但很快又因“文化大革命”而中断。自1979年开始,我国的福克纳研究走上正轨。1990-1999年是我国翻译出版福克纳作品和有关著作的全盛时期,也是福克纳研究的一个高潮。进入21世纪以来,我国的福克纳研究稳步而迅速发展。这一时期福克纳研究的特点是年轻学者增多,研究对象范围扩大,研究方法也更加新颖和多样,从比较文学角度予以研究的论文、论著也在逐渐增加,还出现不少总结我国福克纳研究的文章。总体而言,我国福克纳研究起步较晚,但发展迅速。存在的问题主要是重复研究,对他的后期作品以及现实主义创作手法研究不足等。

Review and Analysis of William Faulkner Studies in China over the Past 60 Years

For almost half a century,scholars,editors,translators,and university professors did not pay much attention to William Faulkner,the world-famous American novelist.Faulkner was first introduced to Chinese readers by Modern Times Magazine in the 1930s,which,however,did not stir up much interest.In 1950,when Faulkner won the Nobel Prize for literature,some Chinese scholars became interested.Unfortunately,political campaigns,especially the Cultural Revolution,interrupted further study of Faulkner.The neglect of Faulkner in the early years after the founding of the People’s Republic of China was no surprise as translations and discussions of the former Soviet Union and East-European literature dominated the field of foreign literature studies.It was not until the late 1970s that a new wave of Faulkner scholarship was initiated.The decade of 1979-1989 witnessed Faulkner’s growing popularity among Chinese readers,writers as well as scholars.Young writers like Zhao Mei,Mo Yan and Zhang Kangkang all acknowledged his influence.Focusing on The Sound and the Fury and ″A Rose for Emily″,literary critics mainly discussed the characters and themes of his novels,and his use of stream of consciousness and other modernist techniques.The study of Faulkner in China reached its height during the 1990s,accompanied by large-scale translation and readings of Faulkner’s novels and Faulkner studies in the West.Critical studies on Faulkner in this period focused on introducing his life and art,but with increasing comprehensiveness and sophistication.Remarkably,there is a lasting interest in Faulkner’s reflections on women and race among literary critics at home and abroad.An examination of the essays published in China in the 1990s demonstrates that Chinese scholars have engaged in a dialogue with their Western counterparts sharing in-depth views on research topics and methods.Faulkner studies in China have made rapid progress since the beginning of the new century,featured by the involvement of an increasing number of young scholars,a broadening interest in Faulkner’s works besides The Sound and the Fury and ″A Rose for Emily″,a diversification of research approaches,and a gradual increase in academic papers and books in terms of comparative criticism.On the whole,Faulkner studies began rather late in China but have developed fast since the late 1970s.Chinese scholars of Faulkner have made great achievements in spite of some overlapping and repetitive discussions around such topics as race,gender,the fictional kingdom,and the function of time.Further studies on Faulkner’s later works and his use of realist techniques are therefore recommended.