Feminist Writing in Remapping the Territory of Literature

    Speech given by Lan Xin， at The Second Workshop on World-the Territory Rewritten by Literature

    at Beijing Normal University，17,11,2017

    看到今天的主題，我想起了德國思想家卡爾•雅斯貝爾斯在《歷史的起源與目標(biāo)》一書中提到的“軸心時代”。即公元前800年至公元前200年間，在中國、西方和印度等地同時誕生了影響世人的先哲比如，我國出現(xiàn)了孔子、孟子、荀子、老子等思想家，而西方有蘇格拉底、柏拉圖、亞里士多德等哲學(xué)家，古印度有釋迦摩尼。這些世界不同疆域的智者和覺者，幾乎在同一時代存在，影響著各自疆域的文明，卻因為那個時代沒有能互通的載體而沒有交匯。

    Respected teachers, friends, ladies and gentlemen:

    Today's topic brings me to the concept of Axial Age, introduced by German philosopher  Karl Jaspers in his book  The Origin and Goal of History, published in 1949,  characterizing the period of ancient history from about the 8th to the 3rd century BC.According to Jaspers, new ways of thinking appeared in  India (Sankymuni), China (Confucius, Mencius, Laotze) and the Greco-Roman world (Aristotle, Plato, Socrates) which ran the gamut of all possibilities  in religion and philosophy. These representative figures emerge almost in a striking parallel development, without any obvious direct cultural contact between all of the participating Eurasian cultures.

    后來，隨著時代的發(fā)展，文明的進(jìn)步，是“文學(xué)”重繪了世界各國的疆域，讓優(yōu)秀的歷史文明和文學(xué)作品得以交匯與流傳。也因此，我從小有幸讀到這些經(jīng)典的世界名著，是它們?yōu)槲掖蜷_了看世界的窗口，豐潤了我的成長，滋養(yǎng)我的內(nèi)心和精神世界。在我成長中的世界，是文學(xué)繪制的疆域。

    Jaspers deems the pre-Jesus 500 hundred years as of pivotal importance and the first crop of Eurasian sages harvested, at the fountainhead of human culture, Incidentally they were mapping for the first time the territory of literature. We are indeed lucky descendants of these sages and thinkers as we are meant to be civilized and mentally enriched fed upon their writings and teachings.

    在眾多名著中，對我影響最大的是英國作家夏洛蒂•勃朗特的《簡愛》。女主人公簡愛敢于反抗壓迫和社會偏見，努力爭取獨立、自由、平等和真愛，為追求幸福生活而頑強(qiáng)斗爭，宣告了女性自我意識的覺醒。這部作品在全世界的傳播，也喚起了各國讀者 “女性意識”的覺醒，我也深受其影響。

    Among the host of world classics that has been my spiritual guide in life and in writing, ,Jane Eyre, a novel by English writer Charlotte Brontë has been pre-eminent. The book follows the emotions and experiences of its eponymous heroine,from her adolescence to womanhood and her love for Mr. Rochester. What engages my lifelong attention is the awakening of the heroine's sense of femininity in the evolution of her moral and spiritual sensibility in the teeth of prevalent social prejudices of a male dominated society.

    包括《傲慢與偏見》《亂世佳人》《荊棘鳥》這些名著中的女性意識也在不同時代影響著全世界的讀者。而在中國，自五四運動以來，由于中國自身社會歷史條件的變化，也因為美國和歐洲婦女解放運動的影響，現(xiàn)代意義上的中國女性文學(xué)從男性本位文化中崛起。

    Justifiably a novel ahead of its time ,given the strong willed character of Jane and the novel's exploration of  proto-feminism, Emily Bronte breaks the ice in the feminist genre for the wide reception of Pride and Prejudice, Gone with the winds, The Thorn Bird, among others that follow in the coming century. I should emphasize individualistic heroines such as Jane Eyre and Scarlett,  "Meggie" Cleary have been powerful icons in triggering social changes in male chauvinistic cultures such as China and other similar gender repressive societies .May 4th Movement in 1919 has been proven a watershed for culture and literature alike, old and new, and the truly feminine literature in China in particular.

    隨著女性意識的不斷覺醒，中國諸多作家尤其以女作家為典型，先后涌出了一批女性意識覺醒的作家，比如，冰心、廬隱、凌叔華、丁玲、王安憶、鐵凝等，她們站在女性的立場，審視女性的身心發(fā)展，并以文學(xué)為媒介，促進(jìn)女性在精神上與時代的溝通。與此同時，中國文學(xué)作品中的女性話語意識也在同步覺醒與重建。

    The first wave of feminist awareness has seen emergence of China's Emily Bronte  writers such as  Bin Xin, Lu *, Lin Shuhua, Ding Ling ,to be succeeded by more refined and sophisticated novelists like Wang Anyi and Tielin who all share a common goal: to write and define the essence of being Chinese women and further the grand cause of political, economic, personal, and social equality of sexes in China This includes seeking to establish educational and professional opportunities for women that are equal to such opportunities for men.

    不同的社會歷史階段，決定著女性意識發(fā)展的不同層次和歷史內(nèi)容。在21世紀(jì)的當(dāng)下，在全球化深化發(fā)展的今天，女性自主意識進(jìn)入到了一個全新的階段。在時代發(fā)展背景下，女性已走出了性別的局限，在社會、職場、商場、婚戀、家庭當(dāng)中的獨立自主意識日益明顯。與此同時，當(dāng)下也涌出了大量以描寫女性戀愛、婚姻、家庭、職場、商戰(zhàn)的文學(xué)作品，并得到了廣大女性讀者的喜愛。這說明，在女性日益強(qiáng)大的今天，全球女性意識的日益覺醒和重建，也同時在重繪具有時代特色的文學(xué)疆域。

    The feminist advocacy varies from age to age, country to country and in the era of globalization women mostly come into their own ,being fully autonomous and independent in workplace, family, dating out and wedding. Literature of similar tone of mind and thought has boomed and won favor especially with women readers, an indication that the traditional domain of literature has been substantially expanded.

    而時代的飛速發(fā)展，也為當(dāng)下的年輕人帶來了前所未有的迷惘和困惑，比如他們在戀愛和婚姻中遇到了這個時代才有的問題。在我這幾年的創(chuàng)作中，我常反思：身為一名致力于兩性情感研究和女性身心靈身長的作家，當(dāng)下，該如何在作品中運用女性意識幫助讀者身心靈的成長？如何讓她們領(lǐng)悟當(dāng)下關(guān)于“愛”的深義？如何讓她們成長為更好的自己，收獲更多的幸福？

    A  young woman writer myself, it comes natural for me to identify problems besetting my fellow sisters in career, dating and marriage and my writing aims to understand the nature of gender inequality by examining women's social roles and lived experience; I should be deemed socially committed as I do hope to help my generation one way or another in fostering their feminist sensibility and caring about their spiritual growth. They do need assistance in mastering the challenges of work, career and intimacy to be their better selves.

    身為新時代的作家，我以知心姐姐和閨中密友的角度來感同身受讀者的缺失和渴求，給他們力量和溫暖。而當(dāng)下女性意識日益強(qiáng)烈的疆域里，文學(xué)讓這片疆域廣袤無邊，也讓人與人之間心靈的距離越來越近。相信會有越來越多的文學(xué)作品，將引領(lǐng)人們的心靈穿越有形與無形的疆域，在恒古不變的人類主題“生與死”、“愛與美”中反思過去，預(yù)見未來，并為這片疆域賦予更多的智慧與力量！

    What is the true purpose in life in an increasingly superficial and mechanical world? What do women really want? What makes a good lover and a truly successful professional in the same time? These are issues that confront both women and women writers. I deem it obligatory to offer some tentative answers by unraveling the mystery of relationships and aiding my readers on their journey to fulfill their true purpose and to be authentically feminine.

    translated by Hunter(huang shaozheng)independent translator