1900年前后歐洲現代化進程和末世情結的語境中,以中國為代表的東方文化再次引起了歐洲知識界的關注。卡夫卡在其書信日記中對中國的敘述,與他在文學作品中塑造的中國形象之間,存在著巨大的反差。福柯的烏托邦和異托邦概念,為闡釋卡夫卡的中國形象提供了新的可能性:一方面,中國作為美好幻想的載體,呈現出烏托邦性質;另一方面,中國被建構成一個雜糅無序的空間,折射出在秩序被抽空、真理被消解的現代社會中,人的恐懼和無所適從。

Around the year 1900,in the context of modernization in Europe and an atmosphere of apocalypse,the oriental culture,represented by China,once again attracted attention from European intellectuals,including Kafka.However,there is a big gap between Kafka’s narrative about China in letters/diaries and the image of China presented in his literary works.Foucault’s elaboration on the two concepts Utopia and Heterotopia provides new possibility to interpret images of China presented by Kafka.On the one hand,China embodies enchanting fantasy,hence assuming a utopian nature.And on the other hand,China was constructed into a space out of order,reflecting a modern society where order only exists in vacuum and truth is blurred,and a society where people live in fear and haziness.