Fiction And Nation

Benedict Richard O'Gorman Anderson's Imagined Communities theory is the classic discourse of Western nationalities and nationalism studies.Unlike other nationalism studies,the Imagined Communities theory pays more attention to the role of culture in the construction of nation and nationalism,which has aroused widespread attention in the field of literary and cultural studies.This paper focuses on the core issue of Imagined Communities theory:"Fiction and Nation".It combs,interprets,and explores Anderson's Imagined Communities theory from the following aspects:Chapter one,focusing on the core characteristics of Anderson's Imagined Communities theory,especially the interpretation of the relationship between the nation and literature,systematically investigates and presents the generation context of Anderson's theory,including the theoretical context and the realistic context.In terms of theoretical context,this chapter attempts to incorporate Anderson's national thought into the constructivist tradition of nation and nationalism research.It intends to consider the uniqueness of Anderson's theory from the succession of this tradition,and on this basis,it intend to investigate the influence of Western Marx thought,Auer Bach's literary study and Walter Benjamin's historical time consciousness on Anderson's national thought.In terms of realistic context,this chapter mainly demonstrates the regional politics in Southeast Asia and the re-emergence of nationalism since the 1990s is the realistic context of Anderson's Imagined Communities theory.Chapter two,focusing on the core issue of Anderson's Imagined Communities theory:"Fiction and Nation".On the basis of exploring the key element of "Simultaneity" of imagination and its relationship with literary activities,this chapter combs the mechanism of the Narrative in the imagination construction of the national community from three dimensions of literary narrative,printing language and construction of readership group,in order to answer the question of how the "imagination" of national community is possible.Chapter three,on the basis of understanding the internal mechanism of the Narrative in imagining the nation,we have to continue to ask:what is the principle of"imagination" being realized?This chapter grasps two key words of Identity and Mimesis,and attempts to answer this question from the relationship between literature and identity,the relationship between nation and identity,and the shift of the Narrative imitation poetics from literary imitation to cultural imitation.Chapter four,based on a systematic investigation of "Fiction and Nation",which is the core issue of Imagined Communities theory.This chapter tries to take Chinese nation and nationalism as an example to make a brief critical reflection on Anderson's Imagined Communities theory.First of all,I try to sum up the Chinese narration of the Imagined Communities theory,including Anderson's Chinese narrative and the theory of Imagined Communities,and the theoretical results of China as the research object.Secondly,it criticizes the Imagined Communities theory from three aspects:"Whose identity","De-Europeanization under the imitation logic" and "Neutral concept of Narration".