对传统价值的追问与检验——读《金瓶梅》札记

Question and Test of the Traditional Value:Notes of The Golden Lotus

本文认为《金瓶梅》的作者以恶人为主角写一种浓浓的末世气,写在这末世里的人们究竟怎样地活。他以他的描述去追问当下的人,追问人的存在价值,不止是批判,也不是要警世,他是要追问,追问这个世界怎么了,追问人怎么了,追问人的良知为什么迷失在泥淖而不自知,追问人为什么在虚伪的"尊严"底下丧尽了尊严,追问人为什么已经朽腐不堪而偏偏觉得活得挺好……进而追问这个世界的价值体系是不是出了问题。他的一切追问都直接指向大众本身,包括他自己。这书的价值,正在于他在这不朽的故事里的对人本身深深的追问和对那个世界极冷峻的检验。本文论西门庆一生追求两件事即金钱和女色,在《金瓶梅》以前,没有这样的主角。金钱对权力社会是个挑战,政治权力统治的唯一性被消解了,一切相关的伦理纲常也因之动摇,旧有的为人处事的规范被打破,两千年以儒家思想为基础形成的社会秩序松懈了。面对西门庆这种"新型"人物对亘古不曾变的价值体系的消解,《金瓶梅》的作者固不能书其认同与赞扬,但亦不欲遽然归为无道而草率了事,所以他就改判断而追问,这是一种"怀疑主义"式的对传统价值体系的检验。这应是这部书最有价值的"新""奇"所在。

The article argues why the author of The Golden Lotus portrays an atmosphere of eschaton by featuring bad people. He represents how people lived in that decade of destiny. He neither criticizes nor cautions, instead, he questions about people＇ s values and asks： what＇ s wrong with people and the world？ Why people lost their conscience unconsciously？ Why they lost the real dignity and were blinded by the false dignity？ Why they felt good when life actually decayed？＂＂ Then the author comes to question if the value system of this society goes wrong. All of his questions point directly to the public as well as himself. The value of this book consists in the deep questioning to people and the grim test to that world contended in his immortal story. This article expounds that Xi Menqing pursuited money and women in all his life. There had been no one protagonist like this before The Golden Lotus emerges. Money was a challenge to the authoritative society. The uniqueness of political rule was eliminated, and then any relevant ethics came teetered. The old individual behaviorism was destroyed, and the Confucian social order slacked. To Xi Menqing-the ＂new＂ man type which destroyed the changeless value system, the author would neither approve nor criticize him simply. So the author questions instead of judging. It is a kind of ＂skeptical＂ test of the traditional value, and this should be why this book was recognized ＂new＂ and ＂remarkable＂.