中国比较文学学会会刊 1984年创刊 由中国比较文学学会和上海外国语大学联合主办 ISSN 1006-6101 CN
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中国比较文学 ›› 2023, Vol. 0 ›› Issue (1): 202-220.

• 比较诗学 • 上一篇    下一篇

具体的探索——博尔赫斯动物分类法及中国“异托邦”再考论

赵倞   

  • 发布日期:2023-01-10
  • 作者简介:赵倞,中国人民大学文学院副教授。研究方向:比较诗学、西方文论、比较古典学。电子邮箱:zhao.jing@ruc.edu.cn。

  • Published:2023-01-10

摘要: 博尔赫斯的动物分类法启发了福柯的“异托邦”之论,张隆溪将其“中国百科全书”考证为虚构。这一解释学事件可牵出“寻同”与“求异”的两条比较主义线索,在方法论意义上,双方皆指向“具体的探索”,后者则早已隐含在《诗学》的经典论断之中。而博尔赫斯的动物分类法夹缠在一系列不可靠叙事之中,具体的学问探索时刻暴露在错谬的风险之下,他对此亦有高度自觉。福柯注意到动物分类法的虚构性质,正是这一虚构触动了分类逻辑的共同经验。再结合西方人“梦境”里的中国形象,福柯初步提出“异托邦”的概念;这一概念此后获得了更为理论化的表达,与其说它是对场域的分类,不如说是一种指向现实和具体的分析方法。而在现实的中国文献中,学者对动物分类法的原型进行了多样的探索,其中《庄子·至乐》中有关“生物衍化”的章句,可与博尔赫斯动物分类法建立某种具体的联系。

关键词: 博尔赫斯, 福柯, 比较主义, 分类法, 异托邦

Abstract: Jorge Luis Borges' famous taxonomy of animals inspires Michel Foucault's idea of “heterotopia.” But the “Chinese Encyclopedia,” from which the taxonomy is said to be cited, is testified fictitious by Zhang Longxi. From the discussions concerning such a hermeneutical event, two lines of reasoning can be drawn, which are, respectively, a comparatism-seeking-for-the-same and a comparatism-seeking-for-the-other. Met ̄ho ̄do ̄logi ̄cally, the two lines converge on the call for “an inquiry of the concrete,” that is, a point already suggested by Aristotle's Poetics. A scrutinized reading on Borges' text shows that the taxonomy is girdled by a series of unreliable narratives. Such a shakiness, which may cause every scholar's inquiry to falter, does not escape Borges' consciousness. The fictitiousness of the taxonomy is also noticed by Foucault, who uses it as an analogy to challenge the common logic of classification. After citing an image of China “in our dream,” Foucault raises the concept of “heterotopia,” and theorizes it one year later in an essay, where heterotopia is understood not only as a sub-division of real spaces, but also as a mode of critique emphasizing the concreteness and realness of spatial power relations. As regards the search for a real equivalent in Chinese literature to Borges' taxonomy, scholarly endeavors abound. Among them, stands out a passage on biological metamorphoses in Zhuagnzi, of which, a certain concrete relation to Borgesian taxonomy can be found.

Key words: Borges, Foucault, comparatism, taxonomy, heterotopia