Page 181 - 《社会》2023年第1期

社会·2023·1

and have rarely explored the significance of the major characters’ emotional and
mental changes in the story. By introducing the concept and perspective of“life鄄
world”， this paper carefully analyses the emotional and mental changes of the
characters in the novel， and finds that Fei Xiaotong presents the birth process of his
ideal modern Chinese individual through the image of Baozhu， that is， in the
overlap and tension of home（i.e. cocoon） and factory， the modern individual can
truly emerge. What follows is a new life鄄world structure based on modern
individuals. In this structure， home is not only the place where the individual is
raised， but also the source of motivation and the place of security for the individual.
After breaking off from the cocoon（home）， the modern individual is most likely to
return to re鄄build the important place of“home” in the new life world. In contrast，
the image of Wang Wanqiu in the novel shows another possible entanglement state
of the individual. For Wang Wanqiu， there is no real home as a place of nurturing
and a source of motivation， so her self鄄individual is unable to build a system that
re鄄accommodates the home and the external world. Instead， she longs more for a
fantasy home， resulting in a series of actions and consequences. The contrast
between Baozhu and Wang Wanqiu in Cocoon truly reveals Fei Xiaotong’s
understanding of the complex possibility of Chinese people and Chinese society
changing from tradition to modernity. The novel opens up an important sociological
research avenue on the relationship between individuals and families in China.
Keywords：Fei Xiaotong，modern personality，social transformation，home，Life鄄world

一、 问题的提出

《茧》是费孝通在《江村经济》之后完成的一部英文小说。 该小说以
乡村女子张宝珠进入新式丝厂为核心线索， 描摹了工厂进驻乡土社会
后引发的一系列社会变动， 展现了人们面对社会变迁而生发的复杂的
情感状态和行为方式。 虽然小说本身并非学术著作，但其整体背景基本
参照江村的实际情况而设，并因此具有了丰富的纪实与理论意涵，被认
为是“《江村经济》核心部分的‘文学版’”（费孝通，2021：137）。
该小说近年被重新 发 掘 出 来 。 在 具 有 代表 性 的 研 究 中 ， 杨 清 媚
（ 2021）用“推演”一词精准概括了《茧》的学术意义。 作为实证主义研
究 ，《江 村 经 济》 主 要 阐 释 了 特 定 时 空 背 景 下 乡 土 社 会 的 实 然 状 态 ，

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