正在此情深处:从《雅歌》8:1-7的语境析Qin’a的意义

The Underside of Passion:Qin’a in the Context of Song 8:1-7

在《雅歌》的华彩片段(8:6),qin’a与’ah?ba("爱情")形成同义对仗,然而其语意却颇有争议。它常被解读为针对或实或虚第三者的"嫉妒",或者生理性的"激情"。虽然两者在其他关于爱情的文本中都可以是爱情的同义词,但是它们都不能契合这对词出现的周边语境。因为语境对确定一个词的意义有关键作用,对qin’a这个词的解读也需要结合其语境(包括上下文和读者的诗歌体验)。本文将梳理《雅歌》8:6周边的三个诗歌单元(《雅歌》8:1-4,5,6-7),并结合《雅歌》中"在场与缺席"的主题,以推导本地语境所期待的qin’a之语意。这一系列文字分析也揭示出,女子的告白以她背负爱情的甜蜜痛苦为原动力。因此,笔者提议取qin’a的辞典第三种解释"承受痛苦",认为在爱情的语境里它可以理解为不知所起、一往而深的"深情"。它教人身不由己地背负那无法放下也不可替代的情感,在分隔和吸引之间忍耐,唯有向他者请求亲近的关系才能达成和平。以此"深情"与"爱情"相唱和,显示《雅歌》所见证的爱让人体会到,爱是要人背负而不是主宰的,而人的根基也不是自我的独立而是对他者的回应。

The word qin’a,paralleled to’ah?ba("love")in the Song’s climactic declaration(8:6),is a topic of debate in scholarly interpretations.The word tends to be read as"jealousy"against a real or nebulous third party,or as"passion"in the sense of physical arousal.Though both could make sense in other contexts of love,neither fully engages the local context.However,context is critical in defining the meaning of qin’a in Song 8:6.With an expanded definition of context,which includes both the literary cues and the ethical precondition of encountering the other,I will comb through three surrounding units(Song 8:1-4,5 and 6-7)to trace the meaning of qin’a in question.After showing how the female lover’s incurable,passive bearing is the underlying force that propels her proclamation,I will propose that qin’a is better read as"passion"in its etymological sense of"passivity,"of bearing the unbearable in spite of oneself.This reading further coheres with the theme of absence-and-presence in the Song.Finally,it helps to articulate that love,as the Song witnesses,is always the force that one undergoes rather than manipulates,and the human subject is first characterized not in one’s independence but in one’s responsibility to the other.