笑谈古今也从容——试论“戏说历史”的文化内涵

The Cultural Implication of "Jesting" History

任何一种历史记录都带有某种程度的主观性,任何人都不具有界定、说明、解释历史事实的终极权力。不同的历史观和历史记录掩藏着不同的旨趣,对历史题材的处理遮蔽着不同的利益。“戏说”历史可分为两类:一类是以戏剧的形式述说历史,一类是以游戏的心态述说历史。一般社会精英易于容忍前者,却难以接受后者;而在普通百姓那里,这种区分没有多少实质意义。并非所有的“戏说历史”都是合理合法或有价值的,但探索总是应该允许的。

Subjectivity is more or less inescapable in any historical works and nobody has the final say of defining, explaining and interpreting historical events. To be specific, different historical outlooks or records conceive different purports and hence different interests in dealing with historical themes. With this principle in mind, “jesting” history may be divided into two sorts： one being shaped in dramatic form and the other resulting from game psychology. Academic figures are likely to accept the former but unbearable for the latter; for the populace, however, the distinction makes little difference. Generally,not all “jesting” historical works are close to historical facts or valuable, but alternative explorations are allowable.