《七录序》与阮孝绪的知识、思想世界

The“Preface to Seven Catalogues”and Ruan Xiaoxu’s World of Knowledge and Thought

南朝时期,由于纸的普及,相比于使用简牍的时代,获取知识的途径已大为便捷。在这种背景下,私家藏书兴盛。家有文史、拥书万卷者,也不罕见。“知识下移”成为一种趋势。因此,带有“博”的词汇,如“渊博综广”等,常常被用来形容当时的知识人。阮孝绪阅读量惊人,号称“博极群书”。保留在《广弘明集》中的《七录序》就对阮孝绪的阅读过程、知识构成有所记录。从《七录序》可知,书籍总目《七录》因其穷“天下之遗书秘记”的性质,在某种程度上反映了梁武帝大同二年(536)以前,整个南朝的藏书规模。从私人阅读的角度来讲,《七录》是阮孝绪个人“阅读史”的总结,包含了他自身的“知识轮廓”。不过,阮孝绪博极群书,“阅读领域”几乎涉及了当时各个学术门类。因此,探讨阮孝绪私人阅读的历程以及《七录》的目录构成,也就具备了更大的意义。阮孝绪个人的“阅读史”与精神前进的历程,其实也是整个南朝学术文化、精神世界变化的缩影。

During the Southern Dynasties,the spread of paper made it easier to acquire knowledge than in the days when bamboo slips were used.In this context,private book collections flourished and it was not uncommon for a family to accumulate a good library and hold thousands of books.In short,“knowledge popularization”became a trend.Therefore,words with“博”in them,such as“profound and comprehensive”,were often used to describe the intellectuals of that time.Ruan Xiaoxu was an astonishingly well read,and was known as“a man of great erudition”.The“Preface to Seven Catalogues”(《七录序》)preserved in the Guang Hongming Collection(《广弘明集》)recorded the reading process and knowledge composition of Ruan Xiaoxu.From the“Preface to the Seven Catalogues”,it can be seen that the general catalogue of books,Seven Catalogues(《七录》),because of its nature of being the“secret record of the last books of the world”,to a certain extent,reflects the scale of the book collection of the entire Southern Dynasties before the second year of Datong(536)of Emperor Wu of Liang.From the perspective of private reading,the Seven Catalogues was a summary of Ruan Xiaoxu’s personal reading history and book search history,which contained the outline of his own knowledge.Furthermore,Ruan Xiaoxu was very knowledgeable about books,and his“reading field”involved almost every academic discipline at that time.Therefore,it is of greater significance to discuss the history of Ruan Xiaoxu’s private reading and the composition of the catalogue of Seven Catalogues.Ruan Xiaoxu’s personal reading history and the course of spiritual advancement is also the epitome of the changes of the entire Southern academic culture and spiritual world.