“重评”即脂砚斋“第二次评”——与蔡义江先生商榷

“A Re-comment”as“the Second Comment”by Zhiyan Zhai—— A Consultation with Mr. CAI Yi-jiang

《脂砚斋重评石头记》,是《石头记》早期三个抄本——甲戌本、己卯本、庚辰本的题名。蔡义江先生认为,"重评"或"至脂砚斋甲戌抄阅再评",都是脂砚斋对诸公已有过的评而言的,并非指他自己的第二次评。在各位评点者中,脂砚斋居于第二序列,并不清楚曹雪芹幼年情况。实际上,"重评"即"第二次评","重评"是以甲戌为分界而有的一个概念,甲戌本中存在部分著作权可考之双行夹批,可证脂砚斋曾经"初评"毫无疑义。脂砚斋与诸公评点目的不同,但与诸公一样知晓曹雪芹少年时期的情况,否定脂砚斋对曹雪芹的知情权实质是挑战脂砚斋诚实的品格。

A Re-comment on The Story of a Stone by Zhiyan Zhai was the title for the three early copies of The Story of a Stone -- versions of Jiashu, Yimao and Gengchen. Mr. CAI Yi-jiang believed that either the ＂re-comment＂ or ＂Zhiyan Zhai＇s another comment on the Jiashu version＂ referred to the comment of various commentators made by Zhiyan Zhai instead of its own second comment. Among these commentators, Zhiyan Zhai was the second one and did not know how CAO Xue-qin had been in his childhood. As a matter of fact, a ＂re-comment＂ is the ＂second＂ comment. It is the concept with Jiashu as boundary. The two-line intext-notes of which copyright can be decided in Jiashu version will prove without doubt that Zhiyan Zhai made the first comment. Its purpose was different from other commentators. But similarly, they all knew CAO＇s child-hood. The negation of Zhiyan Zhai＇s knowledge of CAO＇s childhood is in essence the challenge of Zhiyan Zhai＇s honesty per-sonality.