布衣之文:清前期文坛身份意识的强化与文化权力的转移

“The Commoner’s Prose”:The Strengthening of Literary Identity Consciousness and the Transfer of Cultural Power in the Early Qing Dynasty

在清顺治、康熙年间,文坛上已经出现极其鲜明的身份意识,无论是布衣处士还是缙绅公卿,都自觉而明确地以社会政治角色为标准,将当代古文家区分为“布衣”与“缙绅”两种身份类型,由此形成“布衣之文”与“缙绅之文”的分野。在清前期,“布衣之文”成果丰硕,足以与“缙绅之文”并驾齐驱,甚至凌驾其上,由此推动古文创作趋于鼎盛,文坛上呈现出文化权力下移的趋向。为古文注入超迈的精神气质和丰厚的道德修养,以“布衣”人格的内蕴与内化,提升“布文之文”的文化品格,这是清前期布衣之士在古文理论、批评与创作上的共同追求。但是,经过一百多年的较量,到乾隆年间,布衣之士终于败下阵来,士大夫文人重新执掌文坛大权,评骘文品优劣,主导文风走向,布衣之文也渐渐失去原有的光彩。

During the reign of Shunzhi and Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty,a very distinct sense of identity had emerged in the literary world. Both the commoners and the officers consciously and clearly distinguished the contemporary ancient prose writers into two types of identity: commoner and officer,according to their social and political roles,thus forming the distinction between“the commoner’s prose”and“the officer’s prose”. In the early Qing Dynasty,“the commoner’s prose”was fruitful enough to keep pace with“the officer’s prose”or even override it,thus promoting the prosperity of ancient prose creation and the downward trend of cultural power in literary circles. It is the common pursuit of the commoners in the early Qing Dynasty in the theory,criticism and creation of ancient Chinese prose to inject super spiritual temperament and rich moral cultivation into it,to enhance the cultural character of“the commoner’s prose”with the insertion and internalization of the commoner’s personality. However,after more than one hundred years of struggle,in the Qianlong period,the commoners finally defeated. The scholar-officials reassumed the power of literary circles. They commented on the quality of literary works,dominated the trend of literary style,and“the commoner’s prose”gradually lost their original glory.