谨守道文之正常存经世之心——刘熙载对《左传》古典文章批评的总结

Adhering on the Righteousness of Dao with Humanistic and Pragmatic Concerns Liu Xizai's Summary of Classical Article Criticism on Zuo Zhuan

在清代后期社会巨变的大背景下,刘熙载回归程朱理学,希望通过重塑形象以激发其活力;他放弃了“作文害道”“严防夷夏”等极端理念,将朱熹“道与文同一”思想作为核心;同时,他又在一定程度上吸收明末清初“经世致用”思想,以应对时代新状况。上述三方面思想并存于他的诗文书画评论。刘熙载《左传》文章批评的特点是以儒家思想为背景,无门户之见,去芜存菁。他主要从理学视野、文章经典、叙事技法三个角度展开相关评论,其核心是“道”与“文”、“元气”与“尚礼”、“意法”与“运化”三组概念。刘熙载希望通过自己的著述及上海龙门书院教育活动改变现状,他推崇《左传》也是这一系列行动的组成部分。然而时移势易,社会状况并没有因为他的努力而发生改变。但是,他的精当总结为《左传》古典文章批评画上圆满句号。

Under the backdrop of the great social changes in the late Qing Dynasty,Liu Xizai returned to the Neo-Confucianism,hoping to revitalize it by reshaping its image.He abandoned some extreme ideas such as“composition harms Tao”and“the strict line between Chinese and barbarian”ect.and took Zhu Xi’s idea of“Tao and Article are the same”as the core.At the same time,he also absorbed to certain extent the idea of“applying to the world”in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties to cope with the new situation of the times.The above three aspects coexist in his reviews on poetry,article,calligraphy and painting.Liu Xizai's article criticism on Zuo Zhuan is characterized by the use of Confucianism as the background,without the sectarian bias,removing the messy parts,leaving the essential ones.He mainly made relevant comments from three angles:the Neo-Confucian perspective,the classics of the article,and the narrative techniques.The cores of his comments were three groups of concepts:“Dao”and“Article”,“Vitality”and“Etiquette”,“Yi Fa”and“Transformation”.Liu Xizai hoped to change the status quo through his writings and educational activities in Shanghai Longmen Academy.His advocacy of Zuo Zhuan is also an integral part of these activities.However,time has changed,social conditions would not be changed because of his efforts.Nevertheless,his shrewd summary is a successful conclusion to the classical literary criticism on Zuo Zhuan.