究竟是讽刺还是厚道?——为《儒林外史》的艺术风格一辩

Is It Satire or Kindness?——Defending the Artistic Style of The Scholars

因鲁迅对于《儒林外史》讽刺艺术的格外褒奖,致使人们此后一直就把讽刺当作了《儒林外史》最显在的标签,甚至将其视为单纯的讽刺小说。而事实上,这样很容易遮蔽《儒林外史》最值得我们关注的优长之处。用讽刺来定义或者概括《儒林外史》的成就,对它不仅不能是一种提升,反而会变成一种限制。事实上,通过我们对小说中众多人物已然做过的分析,也不难发觉,作者的讽刺笔调并不多见,倒是处处显露出厚道温良的情怀,而这又恰恰是讽刺的反面。

Due to Lu Xun's special praise for the satirical art of The Scholars,people have always regarded satire as the most obvious label of The Scholars,and even regarded it as a simple satirical novel.In fact,it is easy to cover up the strengths and weaknesses of The Scholars.To define or generalize the achievements of The Scholars with irony can not only improve it,but also become a limitation.In fact,through our analysis of the many characters in the novel,it is not difficult to find that the author's satirical style is not common,but shows a kind and gentle feelings everywhere,which is the opposite of satire.