現代的想像圖景──晚清小說的文明話語

本文以「現代的想像圖景──晚清小說的文明話語」為題，先針對「文明」的語義變遷做梳理，這個詞雖是古代漢語已有的詞彙，然而在現代意義上的「文明」，卻有著迥異於古漢語詞彙的內部意涵。這個外來語的進入挾帶著新思想與新概念，透過背景的梳理，亦可看見物質文化與精神文化在清末社會中的討論。中西的交流勢必有個衝突與矛盾，李伯元《文明小史》是晚清首部以「文明」為題的作品，用史詩筆法試圖紀錄下時人面對西方文化時的各種樣貌，同時也記錄下時人在邁向現代的過程中，對文明提出了怎麼樣的質疑與探問。吳趼人《新石頭記》「文明境界」以二十回的篇幅、完整的文明世界回應「何謂文明」的問題。透過極度渲染的科幻小說元素，在寫作上馳騁各種幻想。透過賈寶玉的遊覽極欲展示屬於東方的文明境界，最終以「東方文明」為世界的領袖。晚清因線性時間觀的進入產生「未來小說」，這個時間概念看似瞻望向前，實際上仍帶有許多歷史與過去的回顧與反省。其次，烏托邦之地的構築雖然是源自於「空間」（烏有之地）的概念，但空間的位移同時也帶動了時間的移動。其間充分運用科學技術使各種傳說或夢想變得可行，透過種種營造與烘托，企圖追趕時間，率先為未來佈局。最後，透過科幻小說裡的對話與討論可知，即使未來科技與知識無限進步，時人仍不免對於道德是否同步躍進產生疑慮，在這個問題上仍有所顧忌，可見文明最終的核心問題，仍必需回歸到文化與精神的本質。

關鍵字

文明；現代；展示；未來

並列摘要

Title of Thesis：Imagining the Modern: the Discourse of Civilization in Late Qing Fictions Name of Institute：Department of Chinese Languages and Literature in College of Humanities at National Chi-Nan University Pages：112 Graduation Time：July, 2011 Degree：Master of Chinese Literature Student Name： Hsin-Yi Yu Advisor Name：CHIN-SHU HUANG Abstract The thesis titled "Imagining the Modern: the Discourse of Civilization in Late Qing Fictions," first focuses on the "civilization" to analyze its semantic change. Although the word, "civilization," can be traced back to Han Dynasty, it has a different concept in the modern society. The term combines the entry of foreign civilization and new ideas which contain the cultural discussions in material and spiritual aspects in the late Qing society. The exchange between Western and Eastern worlds is bound to have conflicts and contradictions. Bo-Yuan Li（李伯元）in "History of Civilization," first dealt with the subject in the late Qing period, depicting how Chinese people reacting to Western culture in epic styles. He also recorded the various attitudes when facing "civilization" in the process of modernization at that time, and how people raised questions and explored this topic. "The new story of the stone" written by Jian-Ren Wu（吳趼人）, has twenty articles responding what is "civilization" in the "Civilized State" chapter. Rendered by the elements of scientific fictions, he wrote with a variety of fantasies. Through Bao-Yu Jia's （賈寶玉） tour to show Eastern civilizations, ultimately, he concluded that the "Oriental/Eastern civilization" was the world leader. Linear concept of time was introduced to the late Qing Dynasty and turned into "next/future novel," and the 'time" here looks like looking forward, but actually bringing in historical reviews and reflections on the past. Secondly, to build the land of utopia, it derived from the "space" (emptiness of land) concept, but it also led to the displacement of space in terms of time moving forward. Due to the use of science and technology, the novels create all sorts of legends as well as dreams, expressing various attempts to catch up with time and to lay out for the future. Finally, through the dialogues and discussions, the scientific fictions demonstrate the great progress in technology and knowledge; however, people still can not help but come up with ethic doubts about whether morals can progress synchronously. This issue is an old one, and the core questions of civilization are still related to the cultural and spiritual nature in the long run. Key words：Civilization, Modern, Exhibition, Future