知音的诗学——中国古代文学批评的“知音”话语分析

The Poetics of Zhiyin: An analysis of “Zhiyin” discourse in ancient Chinese literary criticism

"知音"是中国古代调节作者与读者关系的重要术语。"知音"本指鉴赏音乐的能力,进而指能鉴赏音乐的人,在音乐鉴赏属公共话语范畴的时代,"知音"指能够洞察政治治乱之人。伯牙、子期的故事意味着"知音"开始用于解读私人之志的人,进而"知音"开始用于文学批评之中,指理想的读者。与音乐"知音"必须依靠现场不同,文学"知音"可以远离作者的时代,延迟到"千年之下",作者借此摒弃读者的平庸之见,树立写作的信心。元代以后出现的戏曲"知音",需要重回表演现场,需要有对戏曲作品、戏曲表演作综合批评的能力。经由一些戏曲批评家的论述,戏曲"知音"转向指代专业戏曲批评家,这与明清文学批评转向专业化契合。

‘Zhiyin’ is an important term used to regulate the relationship between writers and readers in ancient China. It originally refers to the ability of music appreciation and later refers to those who can appreciate music. In the era when music appreciation is a part of public discourse, Zhiyin is used to refer to people with an insight into the political chaos. The story of Boya and ZhongZiqi shows the tendency of this word used to interpret people with an insight into personal ambitions. Hereafter, ‘Zhiyin’ is adopted in literature criticism as a metaphor of an ideal reader. Different from the ‘Zhiyin ‘of music who depends on live performances, the ‘Zhiyin’ in literature can be a thousand years far away from the time of the writer. Therefore, a writer can build his confidence in writing without having to worry about the mediocre judgments from his readers. ‘Zhiyin of dramas emerges after the Yuan Dynasty, who need to return to the scenes of live performances and have the ability to make a comprehensive criticism on opera works as well as opera performances. Through the exposition of some drama critics, ‘Zhiyin’ turns to refer to professional drama critics, which is in line with the professionalization of the literary criticism in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.