清初散文中枢:从李世熊看明遗民散文创作网络

The Mainstream Prose in the Early Qing Dynasty:The Prose Writing Network of Adherents of Ming Dynasty from the Perspective of Li Shixiong

出于明遗民的使命自觉和当代司马迁的文化选择,李世熊创作了相当一批忠愤之气磅礴四溢而又极富诗意和生气的散文,是一位名烛南天并辉映整个有清一代文坛的清初散文巨子。以李世熊、彭士望、魏禧、屈大均、王猷定、黄宗羲、张岱等为节点,明遗民的散文创作形成一个广袤浩大、百脉贯通的网络,在清初文坛俨然处于中枢地位,推动了一个史所罕见的散文创作繁荣时代的出现。

The literature of the adherents of late Ming and early Qing Dynasty has been a hot issue in literary study. The previous research focused more on the adherents＇ poems, but little on their prose. As a result, some great prose writers have been neglected, their position in literary history has not been acknowledged, and the whole picture of the prose writing network of the adherents remains unclear in the representative works of the Chinese prose history. Li Shixiong, an obscure prose writer in the works of literary history over the last 100 years, is such a symbolic figure among the adherents. Out of the mission awareness of an adherent of Ming and his cultural choice of being another Sima Qian, the great Chinese historian Li Shixiong spent over 40 years composing a considerable number of poetic and vigorous prose works imbued with loyalty and indignation, combining bitterness of feeling and elegance of form. Li proved to be a prose giant not only adored by intellectuals all over the country during his lifetime, with an honorable title of ＂leader of the literary circles＂ by Huang Zongxi, an authority on 17th century prose, but also appreciated after his death by various emperors like Kang Xi, Yong Zheng and Qian Long, and emperors in late Qing. The greater symbolic value of Li Shixiong lies in the fact that his prose wiring and historical influence are just the tip of the huge iceberg of the pivotal function which the adherents occupy in the evolution of prose at the turn of Ming and Qing Dynasties. These adherents developed close intimacy through daily communication and frequent travels together to meet other friends, and became sworn brothers because of their similar ages. Their prose writing formed a large and extensive noded network. One of the nodes was constructed by the group of Yi Tang prose writers and Peng Shiwang, Li＇s best friend, was among them. Except for the small nodes of individual writers such as Li Shixiong, Fu Zhanheng and Qian Chengzhi, there were larger nodes of prose writer groups： the Three Mountains on the River＇s south in Jiangxi province （i. e. , the Peak in Xinjian, the Bun Hill in Xinzi and the Chengshan in Nanfeng）; Beitian in eastern Guangdong; Banqiao in Nanjing, Xixi in Hangzhou, and Wanxi in Changshu, as well as other places like ＂Wenquan,＂ ＂Ruizhu＂ and ＂Jianjiang. ＂ These writers constituted a network covering China＇s Southern Guangdong, Western Fujian, Mid-Anhui, Nanjing, Zhejiang Province and almost the whole province of Jiangxi. There were countless subnetworks with Li Shixiong, Wei Xi, Qu Dajun, Wang Youding, Huang Zongxi and Zhang Dai as nodes, With frequent communication among large and small nodes, the prose wring of the adherents of Ming formed a large, self-perpetuating and well-linked network, covering most of the anti-Qing districts, occupying an undisputed central position and exerting great influence on other prose writers in the early Qing, and ushered in a period of high prosperity of prose writing. For example, in the years from 1676 to 1681, prose writers adhering to Ming such as He Jie and Peng Shiwang strongly felt the impact of the large number of famous prose writers and their unprecedented creativity in the two or three decades, and declared that prose writing was at its peak. Following such a train of thought and with down-to-earth textual research, this paper fills the blank in the macro-study of prose writing of the adherents of Ming at the beginning of Qing Dynasty.