芥川龙之介的杭州之行——一个大正西湖梦的破灭

1921年，日本大正时代代表作家芥川龙之介应大阪每日新闻社之邀请赴中国旅行考察，撰写了《中国游记》，其中以不小的篇幅记录了他的杭州之行。本文从“中国趣味”和西湖景观在日本历史中的特殊地位以及二十世纪早期杭州现代化进程等方面探讨芥川的浪漫西湖梦及其破灭的原因。究其根本，芥川对西湖乃至近代中国的批评．也是对西化日本的反思，中国之行成为他探寻传统回归本我的重要媒介。西湖梦的破碎其实流露了芥川内心对日本背离传统一味模仿西方的失望。

Akutagawa Ryunosuke's Tour of Hangzhou: A Shattered West Lake Dream of the Taisho Times

Akutagawa Ryunosuke’s Travels in China (1921) was written in the context of a dramatic rise of Japanese travelling in China in early 20th century and an increased inteset on the Japanese part in a China that they had so far only managed to know through Chinese stories, poems and paintings. This essay seeks to explain, through a close reading of Akutagawa’s Travels, the causes of his shattered West Lake dream by exploring the Chinese appeals in the Taisho times, the West Lake’s special position Japanese cultural history and the modern development that Hangzhou was experiencing at the time of Aktagawa’s visit.