论清中期汉学家对唐宋八大家古文的态度

The Scholastic Attitude to the Eight Great Men of Letters of the Tang and Song Dynasties in the middle Qing Dynasty

讨论清中叶汉学家与桐城派的关系时,学者常常会关注二者之间的对立,研究的重点不外汉、宋之争与义理、考据、词章孰优孰劣的问题。而事实上,一些杰出的汉学家同时也是重要的古文创作者,他们并不是置身于古文圈之外的,当时的古文圈也并不纯粹以桐城派为中心。一些兼具古文家身份的汉学家同样会思考如何接受唐宋八大家古文的问题,但他们对待唐宋八大家的态度与桐城派不同:桐城派将唐宋八大家看作是一个权威的典范加以师法,于唐宋八大家之外的作者鲜有青睐。汉学家则倾向于将唐宋八大家放回到古文发展的历史脉络中去看待,他们不但热衷于考察唐宋八大家形成的过程,也愿意广泛关注唐宋八大家之外的其他古文作者,希望能够兼收博采而不囿于唐宋八大家的范围。

When discussing the relationship between the Han scholars and the Tongcheng school in the middle of the Qing Dynasty, researchers often focused on the opposition between them. In fact, some outstanding Han scholars were also important ancient Chinese prose writers. They were all active in the literary world together with the Tongcheng School writers. These Han scholars, like the Tongcheng school, would think about how to study the Eight Great Men of Letters of the Tang and Song Dynasties, but their attitude was different from those of the Tongcheng school. The Tongcheng school regarded the Eight Great Men of Letters as an example of authority to the neglect of other ancient Chinese prosewriters. The Han scholars, on the other hand, studied the prose of the Eight Great Men of Letters, and others as well, in the hope of incorporating schools of diverse nature.