逆向而行——庞德与宋发祥的邂逅和撞击

Pound's Encounter with Song Faxiang

1914年,正在为《华夏集》做准备的庞德与在美国受过高等教育的北洋政府官员宋发祥邂逅相遇。宋是庞德父亲的同行,曾积极为庞德在华谋职,庞德也满怀期待。虽然此事不了了之,但经庞德之手,宋发祥在伦敦的刊物上发表了一篇文章,批判儒家提倡"安贫乐道",否定物质追求,使中国"积贫积弱",落后于世界。这篇文章却激发起庞德对儒学的终生热情。在1914年和1918年发表的两篇文章中,庞德指出宋发祥所代表的贬孔思想缺乏对美和尊严的追求,从而否定了人性;针对宋的指责,他盛赞孔子在追求精神乐趣的同时也认同富国强兵的政治理想,因而博大、开放,优于狭隘的基督教文化。虽然后来庞德对儒学的理解有了发展,但他在1914—1918年间批评宋发祥的"反孔"主张时对儒家精神的想像,一直统领着他日后的创作。庞德固然未能像当代新儒家那样洞察传统儒家思想的局限,但他无疑是一位自始至终对儒家的中国怀有真正热情的另类"东方学者"。

Pound's encounter in 1914 with Song,a US-educated Chinese scientist and official and a family friend who offered to find him good position in China,gave rise to his lifelong enthusiasm in Confucianism. Ironically,it was Song's publication of an anti-Confucianism essay in a London based magazine with the help of Pound that led Pound to defend Confucius with two essays,which contained the basic elements of his Confucianism that was to dominate his Cantos.While Song accused Confucianism for advocating repression of material desires,which he believed was the root of all China's modern problems, Pound regarded such opinion as problematic both for placing material desire above the pursuit of intellectual pleasure and inner dignity,and for ignoring Confucius's political ideals of making the people affluent and the nation strong.It is true that Pound fails to see the limitations of the traditional Confucianism like the contemporary New Confucians did;nevertheless,his true love for Confucian China makes him anything but a hegemonic Orientalist.