中国说理散文之源:历史记言文——“七十子后学散文”系列研究之一

Historical narration: the origin of Chinese analytic prose——A series study on the "70 scholars' prose"(1)

中国古人过早地发展了伴随着原始思维特征的经验思维,因而中国最早的散文主要不是感性叙事作品,而是以总结帝王政治经验为旨归的历史记言散文。《尚书》记言文是中国说理散文的开端,这些记言文有一个外在的叙事框架,它们已经具备论点、论据、论证这些论说文基本要素,有些记言文主题集中,条理清晰。《国语》说理散文较《尚书》有六大进展:一是出现一批主题集中、结构紧凑的说理文章;二是形成主客问答的对话体;三是文章论据出现由宗教神学向《诗》、《书》文献、典章制度的转变;四是抽象概括水平明显提高;五是进一步丰富了表现手法;六是出现一些近似语录体的短文。《尚书》、《国语》中的历史记言文是七十子后学散文的先驱,对战国诸子散文也有深远的影响。

Chinese earliest prose was the historical narrations which focused on summarizing the emperors' ruling experience rather than the perceptual writing.The Classic of Documents marked the beginning of Chinese analytic prose.These essays already contained the essentials of argumentation such as point of view,grounds of argument and demonstration.The later National Records made progress in the aspects of organization,style,argument,generalization and ways of expression.The historical narrations in the Classic of Documents and the Remarks of Monarchies were the origin of the following 70 scholars' prose and also produced far-reaching influence on various writers of the Warring States.