黎明的喧嚣——历史时期过渡的模式

The Din of Dawn——Mode of the Transition of Historical Periodization

通常历史学家用生日、死亡、政治大事或单一的文化事件等突然的标记来为历史分期,这使历史时间发生断裂,时代错误成为尴尬的问题。本文认为,时期的划分不应将鲜活的时间隔断。不同时期应连接流动的时间里相互联系的事件。基于赫尔德的比喻,作者提出将黎明的喧嚣作为一个历史时期过渡到下一个历史时期的模式。本文旨在从"时期"这一概念的词源、音乐及诗歌对黎明的喧嚣这一模式的再现等角度重新思考分期化问题,以说明多样性是历史时期过渡的界定性特征。时期点缀时间的流动,崭新重叠的组合并不为了真理而竞争,而是为了提供互补的含义。

Historians usually delimit historical periods by abrupt markers such as births, deaths, political upheavals or singular cultural events. This way of periodization breaks apart the flux of historical time and embarrasses the existence of anachronism. The essay, however, argues that periods are linked episodes within the rolling flood of time and periodization shouldn＇t impair the continuity of time. Based on Herder＇s rhetoric, the essay proposes the din of natural dawn as the model for historical phase transitions. By analyzing the concept of period from its etymology, and the din of dawn from musical and poetic representations, it tries to rethink the issue of periodization so as to illustrate the view that the multiplicity of voices is the defining characteristic of historical transitions, periods constellate the flux of time and that overlapping configurations do not compete for truth hut rather offer complementary meanings.