论中晚明的实用主义四六文章观

A Pragmatic View on Siliu Prose in the Mid-Late Ming Dynasty

明代中后期,四六文在官场交际和日常应酬中皆得到广泛应用,四六选本的刊刻发行也随之大为兴盛,一些文人借机大力鼓吹四六文利于彰显礼节和利于表情达意两个方面的特性,并在此基础上提出"以适用为美"的实用主义四六文章观。这种文章观看到了四六文应用范围的广泛性以及用途的重要性,因而有其内在合理性,并对儒家正统文章观产生了一定的冲击作用。但是,由于这种文章观是在商业利益的驱使下产生,因而也具有一定的片面性,其在促进中晚明四六文写作兴盛的同时,也造成其形式化的倾向和套袭之风的盛行,并最终使得中晚明的四六文写作在总体上呈现为"夺一时之胜"的"鸡肋"。

As siliu prose （rhythmical prose characterized by parallelism and ornateness ）was widely used in official discourse and daily communications in the mid-late Ming Dynasty,the inscription and publication of the anthologies of this special type of writings was also flourishing. In such a situation, some scholars fervently advocated this genre by claiming that it could help promote the etiquette as well as express ideas or feelings effectively. On this basis,they proposed a pragmatic view that took appli-cability and popularity as the primary criterion for judging the quality and value of siliu prose. This view,focusing on the wide applications and important functions of this genre,was reasonable to some extent and had a certain impact on the orthodox Confucian view on writing. However,as it was mainly driven by commercial interests,this view on writing had its intrinsic limitations：while it promoted the prosperity of siliu prose,it resulted in a trend of formalism and the prevalence of plagiarism.