《管锥编》对“淇奥之竹”学术陈案的破解

A Discussion of Guan Zhui Bian's Cracking of the Old Academic Case of “Qi-ao Bamboo”

《诗·卫风·淇奥》"瞻彼淇奥,绿竹猗猗"中的"绿竹"是两种草或两种菜名,还是指绿色的竹子,自汉至清,一直争论不休,可谓形成了一桩学术公案。钱锺书《管锥编》广征博引中外文献资料,揭示出这一学术陈案实际上涉及如何理解文学作品中景物描写的大问题,他认为,诗文中的景物描写可分为两大类,就创作主体而言,诗文中描写景物有两种情形,一是"得之当时目验者",二是"出于一时兴到者";就接收主体而言,须对作者描写景物是"得之当时目验者"还是"出于一时兴到者"做出判定,不能缘木求鱼,或按图索骥,或刻舟求剑;即使是"得之目验"者,还要考虑到"因世变事迁"的复杂性,亦不可守株待兔,从而令人信服地破解了这一学术陈案。

From the Han Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, the question that ＂green bamboo ＂ in ＂look at the curved shore of Qi-water, green Bamboo flourishes＂ in the Poetry Wei-feng＂ Qi- ao＂ refers to two kinds of grass or two kinds of vegetables, or the green bamboo, had been debated endlessly, and become an academic mystery. Qian Zhongshu＇ s Guan Zhui Bian by quoting fully Chinese and foreign literature, revealed that the academic old case actually involved a big issue about how to understand scenery description in literature. He believed that scenery description in poems can be divided into two categories, in terms of the creation subject, there are two cases in the scenery description in poems, one is ＂getting it at witnessing at the time ＂ , the second is ＂getting it from xing at the time ＂. In terms of the receiving subject, they should make a determination on the above cases of the author＇ s describing the scenery, and should not attempt the impossible , or locate something by following up a due, disregard the changing circumstances. He argues that even the one who ＂ gets it fromwitnessing＂ also should take into account the complexity of ＂changes of things＂, and should not sit back and wait. Thus Qian Zhongshu convincingly cracked this academic old case.