没有《红楼梦》,何来晚清——兼与王德威先生商榷

王德威先生主张从中国文学内部来探寻现代性,提出晚清被压抑的现代性的著名识断,这无论是从把中国作为民族—国家的现代性叙述历史,还是“现代性”的古典定义而言,都有其学理上的渊源。但王先生将探寻中国文学现代性的努力止于晚清而不前,置《红楼梦》已具有的现代性因子于不顾,使这种被压抑的现代性一再被压抑,却是值得商榷的。《红楼梦》无论是“颓废”的叙事内容,还是革新的叙事技巧,都已开晚清小说的先声。从此意义而言,没有《红楼梦》,何来晚清?

The Dreams of Red Mansions: the Harbinger of Modernity in Late-Qing Dynasty

Mr Wang Dewei's assertion that the Chinese modernity should be sought for from within literature and that modernity was repressed in the Late-Qing era was well-justified both in terms of the narrative history of modernity of China as a nation-state and in terms of the classical definition of the concept of “modernity.” However,by ignoring modern elements in The Dreams of Red Mansions,Wang's quest of the Chinese modernity stops short of the Late-Qing era,repressing the already “repressed”modernity.In fact,it is precisely The Dreams of Red Mansions representing an avant-garde novel with its “decadent”content and advanced narratological techniques that harbingers the era of Late-Qing fiction.