“琴道”何在？———高羅佩與文人想像

The Lore of the Chinese Lute of Robert Hans van Gulik and his Imagination of the Chinese Literati

Abstract

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract also in English.

荷蘭漢學家高羅佩（Robert Hans van Gulik, 1910—1967）是一位對中國文化深造有得的學者，著作涵蓋小説、宗教、書法、繪畫、音樂等不同領域。《琴道》（The Lore of the Chinese Lute: An Essay in the Ideology of the Ch’in）成書於1938年，在中國音樂研究史上具有重要意義，本文因以此書爲研究對象。首先爬梳高羅佩習琴愛琴、撰寫《琴道》的過程；其次論《琴道》一書的内容，及問世七十餘年來國内外各方評價；第三部分則由《琴道》研探高羅佩的重要琴學觀點；最後一部分則回歸於撰作的時代環境，討論《琴道》的書寫策略及高羅佩如何透過此書達成他對於傳統文人（學者型官員）的想像。高羅佩採用了“出今入古”的書寫策略，“君子不器”的通才視角，以傳統文人的治學方法，徵引大量的經史文集，旁及園林、書法等其他藝文，立足於雅俗對立的傳統音樂史框架，以“三教論衡”形式辯證儒、釋、道的琴曲，體現了一位西方學者對於中國傳統知識分子、文人雅士的認同與想像。

Dutch Sinologist Robert Hans van Gulik (1910-1967) was a scholar well versed in oriental culture and fascinated with the Chinese guqin (the Seven-stringed zither which Gulik translated into the Chinese lute), thus he was the author of one book titled The Lore of the Chinese Lute: An Essay in the Ideology of the Ch’in. This paper takes this book as the subject of examination, and analyzes issues such as the book’s connotations, van Gulik’s concept of guqin studies, and his writing strategy.

The Lore of the Chinese Lute is the earliest English writing that focuses on the study of a single Chinese musical instrument in early Twentieth Century. Although there are polarized views on its evaluation, it is still historically meaningful and important in the discourse of Chinese music research. This paper will be presented in four sections. First, I will discuss van Gulik’s contact and study of guqin, second, the contents of The Lore of the Chinese Lute and its assessment in China and abroad. Third, I will analyze van Gulik’s concept of guqin studies through his work. Finally, I will examine van Gulik’s writing strategy in the context of the book’s creation, how van Gulik fulfilled his imagination of the traditional Chinese literati, and furthermore, how van Gulik understood and studied Chinese guqin music and culture through the life of a diplomat in foreign lands.