陶淵明的文學史地位新論

A New View of Tao Yuanming’s Place in Literary History

Abstract

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

陶淵明研究雖經一千五百年之久，但對於他在文學史上的地位，迄今爲止，尚未能得到確切的説明，其癥結在於未能把握住文學史的核心命題。從中國文學批評的傳統來看，文學史的核心命題是“文體”。所謂“文體”，是對文學作品的總體風貌或樣式的概括，對應於西方文論，一近似於風格，一近似於體裁，其特色是综合了二者，是文學性的集中體現。陶淵明是少有的文體大師，他兼采不同文類，融鑄新體；他不守成規舊矩，嘗試新體。無論詩文辭赋，他都有令人驚異的構想，爲自己所要表達的找到最佳的表達方式。因此，他不僅在文體上有很大創造，而且一旦創造便屬完美，成爲文學史上的典範。本文以中國傳統文學批評的“推源溯流”作爲研究方法的基石，以“文體”作爲討論的核心，意在針對今日中國文學研究中存在的兩大問題，即文學本體的缺失和理論性的缺失，企圖對之有所改善或改變。

Despite 1,500 years of scholarship on Tao Yuanming (365— 427), no definitive explanation of his place in the literary history of China has been given. This is because the core issue for the study of literary history has yet to be accurately identified. In light of traditional Chinese literary criticism, this core issue is about “genre”. The attribute of “genre” refers to the general style or form of a given oeuvre. This definition corresponds to two aspects in Western literary theory, namely style and genre. The Chinese concept combines both of these aspects and intensively illustrates the literariness of a given oeuvre.

Tao Yuanming was an unusual master of genres. He adopted various writing forms and invented new ones. He did not conform to rules but tried to write in new forms. In his poetry (shi), prose, and rhapsodies (ci fu), he presented startling innovation in his search for the best forms of presentation for his ideas. Not only was he creative, he also achieved perfection in his new form of presentation. For this reason his writing became a model in literary history.

Using the basic method of “locating the source by tracing the stream” in traditional literary criticism, the present study focuses on “genres”. It aims to correct or change two major shortcomings in the basics of literature and theorization respectively.