《出使英法义比四国日记》所昭示的桐城散文变革

The Transformation of Prose Writing of the Tongcheng School Exhibited in A Diary of the Experiences of An Ambassador to England,France,Italy and Belgium

出自古文家薛福成之手的《出使英法义比四国日记》,以欧洲社会为叙述对象,据事发论,称赞君主立宪制,提出挽救时弊、强盛中华的方略,以中华传统思想文化阐述西方政治、经济、科学观念,具有浓厚的改良主义色彩。取材、布局随意,在浅近文言中夹杂使用双音词、外来词,不自觉地离开了桐城"义法",成为古文蜕化、新文体孕育的开始。

A Diary of the Experiences of An Ambassador to England, France, Italy and Belgium, written by Xue Fucheng, pro- vides a narrative of European society. It praises monarchy system and proposes to cure abuses of the time to revitalize the Chinese nation. It conveys a strong reformist flavor by adopting traditional Chinese ideology and culture to interpret Western political, eco- nomic and scientific concepts. Its content and organization does not follow the traditional style strictly. In using an easy language, it frequently adopts many diplophonic words and foreign words, which is obviously in contrast to the traditional style of the Tongcheng School and indicates a new beginning of the transformation of Classical Chinese writing.