In On Saving Face, Michael Keevak traces the Western reception of the Chinese concept of “face” during the past two hundred years, arguing that it has always been linked to nineteenth-century colonialism. “Lose face” and “save face” have become so normalized in modern European languages that most users do not even realize that they are of Chinese origin. “Face” is an extremely complex and varied notion in all East Asian cultures. It involves proper behavior and the avoidance of conflict, encompassing every aspect of one’s place in society as well as one’s relationships with other people. One can “give face,” “get face,” “fight for face,” “tear up face,” and a host of other expressions. But when it began to become known to the Western trading community in China beginning in the middle of the nineteenth century, it was distorted and reduced to two phrases only, “lose face” and “save face,” both of which were used to suggest distinctly Western ideas of humiliation, embarrassment, honor, a
從文學出發的媒介論述,對文學研究與考察自有啟發之處。這本小書引介基特勒(Friedrich A. Kittler)與席格爾(Bernhard Siegert)這兩位當代德國學者的三本重要媒介論著,彰顯其中的文學基質。透過作者陳春燕的精采析讀與脈絡化,本書演示了「媒介思維」的「論述網絡」與文學批評方法,兼具開創性與批判力。其中席格爾「重寫」卡夫卡的「由政大戰」,頗有助於從媒介理論面向去理解這位德語「小文學」大家的愛情與文學世界。