教化使命、同情心、自我保護論英國女作家立德的中國遊記與旅遊倫理

The Civilizing Mission, Social Sympathy, and Self-Preservation on Alicia Bewicke Little's Trips in China and the Ethics of Travel

余君偉(Eric K. W. Yu)

《英美文學評論》 15期 (2009/12) Pp. 121-146

https://doi.org/10.6711/REAL.200912_(15).0005

摘要

艾莉西亞•比尤伊克•立德(Alicia Bewicke Little, 1845-1926)是最早深入中國內陸的英國旅遊文學作家，也是清末在中國推動反纏足運動最活躍的西方女權主義者。她的遊記《穿藍色長袍的國度》(In the Land of the Blue Gown, 1901)記錄了她在四川鄉間小住、華西反洋暴動和反裹足之行等事件，為早期中西文化相遇的具體情況提供了珍貴的第一手資料。而所謂「旅遊倫理」，則是晚近西方遊記研究的新興課題，在國內似乎尚未受到重視。本文嘗試從立德這本中國遊記中選出具體的例子，討論旅行主體與他者相遇時可能出現的文化交涉與衝突的問題，尤其著眼於主體感到困窘不安的時刻，以探索相關的倫理學涵義。自瑪麗•路易絲•普拉特(Mary Louise Pratt)以降，不少受後殖民主義影響的西方遊記研究，都傾向於近乎黑白分明的道德批判。本文嘗試改變方向，探索當迥異的文化交會時，可能造成怎麼樣的道德困境和倫理學難題。本文討論的主題包括白人的教化使命、同情心、自我保護、寬容和跨文化溝通的重要性。

關鍵字

旅遊文學 ； 維多利亞時期 ； 晚清 ； 立德 ； 倫理學 ； 自我保護 ； 反纏足運動

並列摘要

Alicia Bewicke Little (1845-1926) was one of the earliest English writers who traveled deep into the interior of China during the late imperial period. She was also the most active feminist campaigning for the abolition of the old Chinese custom of footbinding. Her travelogue In the Land of the Blue Gown (1901) meticulously records such events as her sojourn in rural Sichuan, the anti-foreign riots in West China, and her anti-footbinding tours around China, offering us precious first-hand accounts of the early encounter between East and West. The ethics of travel is a promising new topic in travel literature studies, as yet little discussed in Taiwan. The present paper tries to find concrete examples from Little's book for an engaging discussion of cross-cultural negotiations, focusing particularly on moments of unease when cultural alterity is intensely felt and exploring its ethical implications. In recent years, owing to the influence of postcolonial theory, Anglo-American travel writing scholarship has tended to adopt a more rigid approach to ethical issues, often sacrificing the more nuanced understanding of moral complexities and ambiguities for pointed ideological critiques. This paper seeks to redress the balance by attending to the more confusing and aporetic kinds of travel experience. The major themes to be discussed include the civilizing mission, social sympathy, self-preservation, tolerance, and the importance of intercultural communication.

並列關鍵字

travel literature ； the Victorian Age ； the late Qing Dynasty ； Alicia Bewicke Little ； ethics ； self-preservation ； the anti-footbinding campaign

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