清儒戏曲观探考

Probing into Confucian Scholars' Perception of Opera in the Qing Dynasty

清儒的戏曲观大多集中在对戏曲地位和功能的认识上,并且受所处时代学术思潮的影响。清初理学家对待戏曲的态度基本以反对或轻视为主。清中叶汉学家的经学本位主义立场决定了对戏曲的态度,或是将戏曲视为经学的附庸,认为戏曲有功经学,或是将戏曲视为小道。清末的学者大多能认识到戏曲启发民智和启迪人心的作用,努力提高戏曲的社会地位,并推进戏曲的研究。大多数清儒对戏曲的态度较为矛盾,一方面他们爱好观剧,为戏曲剧本题写序跋,肯定其艺术价值;另一方面,却从内心轻视戏曲。这种矛盾态度与戏曲本身的内容取向和审美取向有关。

Confucian scholars in the Qing Dynasty mostly focused their attention on the position and function of traditional opera which was influenced by the ideological trend of their time. While Neol Confucianists in the early Qing Dynasty opposed and despised opera,sinologists in the middle period of Qing regarded opera as a dependent of Confucian classics,determined by sectionalism of Confucian classic studies. Most scholars in the late Qing realized opera' s function of enlightenmentand inspiration,and therefore strived to promote its social position and advanced studies of it. However,the majority of Confucian scholars in the Qing Dynasty held an ambivalent attitude toward opera. On the one hand,they were fond of watching opera plays,wrote prefaces and postscripts for scripts and affirmed their artistic merits; on the other hand,they disdained opera deep down in their heart.