Toward the Future: A New Interpretation to Liang Qichao's The Future of New China

Abstract

Abstract: Through a close reading of The Future of New China by Liang Qichao's (1873-1929), an important novel published in 1902, the paper analyzes the way Liang narrates time, which is revealed in the dialogue relationship between the text and its annotations. It argues that the novel is neither a pure narration of the future, nor a mere review of the present, but a constant movement between the two. This fundamental narrative feature of the novel explains why the author made many mistakes, unnoticed in existing scholarship, when dealing with the conversion between the Gregorian calendar and the Chinese calendar, as well as with the transition between the present and the future.

Key words: Liang Qichao, The Future of New China, future, New Fiction

Jia Liyuan. Toward the Future: A New Interpretation to Liang Qichao's The Future of New China[J]. Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art, 2016, 36(4): 69-75.

References

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(1)这一情节构想出现于《新民丛报》所做的广告中,梁启超实际并未完成。见新小说报社:“中国唯一之文学报《新小说》”,载《新民丛报》14(1902):广告页。
(2)夏晓虹、赵毅衡等人曾指出这一错误。夏晓虹以“梁启超多加了一百年”一笔带过(“觉世”42)。赵毅衡则认为:“未来小说是从未来倒推叙述成为已然的未来,而不是纯然的预言。这个并不复杂的时间圈,会把初试者搞糊涂[……]梁启超不仅搞错了西历,甚至弄错了康梁派力主采用的‘孔子纪元'”(“二十世纪”103)。从未来倒叙的形式确实让写作者迷乱,但赵未深究背后更根本的是则中西两种时间系统交错的麻烦。此外,梁启超并未搞错孔子纪元的时间。
(3)关于近代的历法、纪年等时间问题,还可参见湛晓白:《时间的社会文化史——近代中国时间制度与观念变迁研究》(北京:社会科学文献出版社,2013年)。
(4)关于这个错误,笔者推测:梁启超是以1902年的二月初一(3月10日)星期一为准,认为一个甲子后的二月初一仍然是周一。不过,到了小说第三回的结尾,速记员在记录完孔觉民的第二次演讲后,却又说下一次演讲要等到“礼拜六”(“新中国未来记第三回”,78),似乎作者已经忘了此前设定的演讲时间了。
(5)有关梁启超的“世纪情怀”,见闾小波:“梁启超的世纪情怀”,《二十一世纪》2(1999):25—31。
(6)有关梁启超何以会犯这个错误,笔者曾当面向夏晓虹先生请教,她推测与“二十世纪”这一概念在当时的流行有关。
(7)第五回是《新小说》杂志上唯一一篇未署作者名的小说,曾有人将这一点作为证据之一认为此回并非梁启超所做,但根据夏晓虹的考辨,现有的怀疑都证据不足,本文采纳夏的观点,认同第五回的作者是梁启超。参见夏晓虹:《谁是〈新中国未来记〉第五回的作者》,《阅读梁启超》(北京:生活·读书·新知三联书店,2008年)296—303。
(8)本文中的所有着重号皆为笔者所加。
(9)1903年2月14日,上海《游戏报》就已经出现《新小说》第三号到货的广告,见陈大康:《中国近代小说编年史》(北京:人民文学出版社,2014年)570。梁氏的故事却已进展到3月28日之后,属于“未来”。
(10)《新中国未来记》第五回载于《新小说》第7号,出刊时间标为1903年9月,但据夏晓虹考证,实际出刊时间当为1904年1月17日以后(“谁是”,299)。

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Toward the Future: A New Interpretation to Liang Qichao's The Future of New China

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