“一切时代的灵魂”:莎士比亚与我们

"The Soul of All Time":Shakespeare and Us

莎士比亚的作品产生于特定的历史时代并展现了具体的人物和情景,但它们并不为任何一个特定的历史时代、社会阶级、利益集团、意识形态而写。莎士比亚志不在此:作为"一切时代的灵魂",他关注的是具体情境中的普遍人性--即便是他政治意味相对明显的英国历史剧和罗马剧,也是如此。认为他的作品是某一特定的历史时代、社会阶级、利益集团或意识形态的传声筒,为文学背书或是世俗政治的神正论等思想的,是对莎士比亚文学意义的严重误解乃至亵渎。文学兼容并包而随物赋形,固非单纯美好的"华屋"或"在水一方"的桃源秘境,但它自有根基和家门;研究文学而忽略文学本身——语言、文本、阐释传统--有可能导致沦为观风望气、逢迎当道和"阉然媚于世"的肤浅研究,对此我们须有足够的反思和警惕。

Shakespeare composed his works in a particular moment of historical time,where we find all walks of people in different situations,but they were not written to endorse any particular historical era,social class,interest group or ideology.As“the soul of all time”(Ben Jonson),Shakespeare is interested in presenting universal human nature in specific space-time—so it is with his political“history plays”and Roman plays.To regard his works as a dramatic mouthpiece,a literary endorsement or a secular theodicy is a serious misunderstanding of,even a blasphemy against,Shakespeare’s importance.Literature is(and should be)comprehensive,sure enough,as it’s always been.Also,it is not a mere“House Beautiful”or secret garden,but an established tradition that has its own right and property.Studying literature without paying sufficient attention to literature per se—language,text,interpretative tradition etc.—may get lost in the maze of“intellectual history”and,as we have seen too many times in our history,lead to the dangerous complicity with and abuse of discourse-power.