再论“比兴”与“讽寓”——答张隆溪教授之一

A Further Discussion on“Bi Xing”and Allegory——A Reply to Prof. Zhang Longxi

“比兴”和“讽寓”(allegory)分别是中西诗学中两个重要的观念,它们都具有某种“言在于此而意在于彼”的特征,但同时又存在深刻的历史和文化差异,忽视这种差异,用所谓“讽寓解释”(allegoresis)来描述和概括中国学者用比兴方式进行的诗歌批评,造成了对中国诗学传统的严重歪曲和“误读”“误释”。跨文化的沟通和理解并不依赖“讽寓解释”这样抽象的“概念工具”来实现,而只能通过不同文化,包括“比兴”和“讽寓”之间的对话来获得。

“Bi Xing” and allegory are two important concepts in, respectively, Chinese and Western poetics,sharing the same feature of talking about one thing but implying another. But profound historical andcultural differences also exist between them. Any ignorance or neglect of such differences, such as that inapplying the term of allegoresis to Chinese poetic criticism that resorts to “Bi Xing”, would lead to seriousdistortion or at least misunderstanding/misinterpretation of traditional Chinese poetics. Such abstract“conceptual apparatus” as allegoresis should not be relied upon in cross-cultural communications andunderstandings which should be done through dialogues between different cultures, including dialoguesbetween “Bi Xing” and allegory.