《风》《骚》梦幻描写审美论

On the Aesthetics of Description of Dreams and Fantasies in Feng and Sao

《诗经》与《楚辞》是中国梦幻文学的源头之一。《诗经》梦幻描写虽简朴单一,但其开创之功实不可没。《楚辞》踵事增华,其梦幻描写趋于繁富细腻,神灵怪异任遣笔端,艺术空间宏阔辽远,极利于表达屈原那激越奔放的浪漫情怀。《诗经》的梦幻描写多与现实生活密切相关,呈现出鲜明的功利性;《楚辞》的梦幻描写多具有超现实的神秘性特征,有时还体现出较为浓厚的“梦魂说”宗教观念,但屈原所精心营构的梦幻世界,无不深刻烙印着现实社会内容的清新印记,具有深刻的象征意义。《诗经》《楚辞》共同开创了中国梦幻文学的创作传统,奠定了梦幻文学的坚实基础。

The Book of Songs and The Songs of Chu are two of the fountainheads of Chinese Dream Literature. Oversimplified as its description of dreams and fantasies is, The Book of Songs is credited with a pioneering fame. The Songs of Chu has greatly accelerated its magnificence in that its descriptions show an inclination towards richness and elaboration, spirits and weirdies are dispatched at the author's will, and the artistic space is broad and remote, all of which are the very appropriate expression of Qu Yuan's unrestrained, fervent, and romantic sentiment Descriptions of dreams and fantasies in The Book of Songs are more closely related to realistic life, showing obvious utilitarianism, while those in The Songs of Chu disclose the mysterious features of surrealism, and sometimes even embody the 'Soul Theory,' a strong religious concept. However, Qu Yuan's ingeniously structured dreamland is all deeply imprinted with a profound symbolic significance. The two works have co-established the tradition of and laid a solid foundation for Chinese Dream Literature.