| Oliver Goldsmith’s "The Citizen of the World",as a representative work of the "Chinese Letters" genre,is an important piece in the history of Sino-British relations and exchanges.When researchers discuss The Citizen of the World,they usually focus on the image of China in the eyes of the British during the Enlightenment period,and the image of China is often divided into positive and negative aspects,thus forming a common evaluation system.That is to say,only from the content of the text,using the words and attitudes that Goldsmith used as the basis for judgment.In these studies on the "image of China",Goldsmith was "invisible",and his creative process,living conditions and personal identity failed to form an effective connection with the creation of the image of "citizen of the world" and the image of China in the text.Based on this,this article attempts to focus on the concept of "citizen of the world",and comprehensively sort out the text of " The Citizen of the World " from the context of the creative process,social background,the interior of the text,the author’s own experience and the echoes of "citizen of the world" in later generations.In this way,this article attempts to explain Goldsmith’s choice of "The Citizen of the World" as the final publication title from both the internal and external aspects of the work to replace the previous "Chinese Letters",and to assign the image of "citizen of the world" to a Chinese philosopher’s Analysis of the reasons to re-examine Goldsmith’s general attitude towards Britain and China.For this reason,this paper mainly discusses the following aspects: In the introduction part,it defines the "citizen of the world" studied in this paper as a specific person rather than a conceptual thing;It represents the influence of the "Chinoiserie" sought after by European society in the 17 th and 18 th centuries.The first chapter of the main discussion part traces the source of the previous text of "The Citizen of the World" from the image of the "Chinese Philosopher",the selection of the text,the selection of the "Chinese Letters" genre,and the direct source of the protagonist of the work,and clarifies the creation process of Goldsmith.Influenced by China,he pointed out that the advent of citizens of the World was no accident.The second chapter goes into the text,from the comparative analysis of the Chinese and British figures,national political systems,religion,law and other social ideologies,confirming that Goldsmith’s attitude towards China and the Chinese is not a generalized praise or negative,but in an ambiguous state of unclear attitude.Chapter Three starts from Goldsmith himself,and analyzes the reasons for the repeated changes of Goldsmith’s attitude towards China,the "other".As an Irish-born writer living in London,Goldsmith was at a loss for colonial powers,but at the same time he made a living by writing reviews in London for royalties.The British colonized his home country,but he needed to make a living here.This contradiction caused Goldsmith to have an ambiguous attitude towards China in "Citizens of the World",and it was also the reason why he chose " The Citizen of the World " as the title of his letter when it was finally published reason: This is Goldsmith’s new attempt to find his own identity.The later work "Letters From John Chinaman and other essays" is the continuous walking and exploration of "citizen of the world " in the world,and the continuous development of the concept of " citizen of the world " also provides the possibility to solve cultural conflicts and form a community with a shared future for mankind. |
