叶纹:《未来往事:当代中国的文学期待与终结》

摘要

Tales of Futures Past investigates and explores how visions of the future have influenced the development of Chinese Literature.In a variety of Chinese texts ranging from science fiction to translation journals,from modernist writing to environmental literature,this book sets an ambitious goal to demonstrate two seemingly different though interrelated visions of the future:“destination”and“anticipation.”The future seen as a destination indicates a developmentalism of the state,where what comes should be“better”than the present.The concept of anticipation indicates the perception of time“inscribed in the present,shaped by past experience,and encompassing such private and public affects as hope and fear.”1 By comparison,the future considered as“anticipation”is envisioned as a cluster of forward-oriented intellectual,political,and emotional dispositions.As the affective state,“anticipation”encompasses thematic,formal,and practical aspects of literary culture.“By complementing a notion of the future as destination with one understood as anticipation,”2 the book explores how fantasies of the past and visions of the future conflate in Chinese literature,and how anticipation shapes fictional narratives,debates,and editorial practices.