古代散文形式体系的建构 : 五种基本文形的分析

沿着刘勰的思路, 将 “以文为纲” 的体系下延至散文的分类, 可以梳理建构出古代散文形式的体系。首先是把握“文”作为一种基本组织原则的属性, 然后考虑如何使用它来准确地区分历代散文的主要形式, 勾勒出一个全面完整的体系。在最高层次上,可以把古代散文形式分为两大类,一为言外文形, 一为言内文形。“言外文形”, 即作者把注意力转向文章段落之间留白的空隙, 借段落的跳跃来引导读者揣摩作品的言外之意, 进而将看似无序的片段组合成一个绚丽的整体。而四种基本的“言内文形”先后兴起,分别是独步先秦两汉文的“字词重复文形”、风靡魏晋宋文的 “双音词迭加文形” 、近乎独占齐梁文的 “骈对文形”、以及明清科举所独创的 “重复骈对文形”。言外和言内两种文形与叙述、描述、论述文类之间各有不同的关系。一个可信的文形体系必须是内文化的,即根植于中国自身的文学传统。文形系统的可用性,应该在教学和研究两个领域中加以验证。

Following Liu Xie’s train of thought in his The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons, this article constructs a broad patterning-based scheme for codifyinga system of ancient Chinese prose forms. This scheme is composed of two basic modes of patterning, that is, textual patterning and extratextual patterning at the first level, and four categories of textual patterning, that is, textual patterning with repetitive words, textual patterning with aggregation of disyllabic words, textual patterning in the parallel style, and textual patterning in the repetitive-parallel style at the second level. An in-depth analysis of eight famous texts, drawn from antiquity to the Qing Dynasty, reveals how continual innovations in textual patterning and extra-textual patterning gave rise to manifold and inherently-related prose forms over the millennia. The close reading also sheds light on the distinctive artistic features of these prose forms, as well as their symbiotic relationships with the three types of genres (narrative, descriptive, and expository) and with broad sociopolitical and cultural developments.