布瓦洛论“诗与真”

On Boileau’s Understanding of“Poetics and Truth”

“诗与真”是文学的基本问题,也是布瓦洛诗学的焦点问题。17世纪法国文学理论家布瓦洛的文学思想关于“诗与真”的论述包含极其丰富而深刻的思想内涵。基于理性的“像真性”“自然本真”和“内心的真诚”是布瓦洛尚真诗学的核心术语,它既体现了以理性为纲的古典主义诉求,又集中代表了布瓦洛在法国君主专制的特殊历史时期对古希腊以来“摹仿说”的诗学传统和文艺复兴以来由于人性解放所致的自由风发的文艺思想的综合考量,这也是布瓦洛以“真实”为核心的人格理想与法兰西国家发展的历史使命相融合的必然结果。因而,布瓦洛的尚真诗学是历史使命,是时代精神,亦是其人生哲学。重读布瓦洛,全面揭示其尚真思想成为评价其意义与价值的首要任务。

“Poetics and truth”is a fundamental issue of literature and the focus of Boileau’s poetics.His thinking on poetics and truth was both extensive and profound.The rationality-informed concepts of“likeness”,“naturalness”and“inner sincerity”are the core terms of Boileau’s theorizing on poetics and truth.It not only embodies the classist core appeal to rationality,but also epitomizes Boileau’s overall grasping,in the particular historical period of French absolute monarchy,of the poetic tradition of“mimesis”since ancient Greece and the liberal tide arising from the liberation of human nature since the Renaissance.It is also on a necessary intermingling of Boileau’s individual truth-seeking oriented ideals and the historical call of France for strengthening the country through standardized literary and artistic measures.Therefore,if Boileau extolls truth in and through his poetry,it should be read both as his answer to the historical call of his country,the spirit of his times Boileau’s life philosophy.Uncovering the ideological core of Boileau’s theorizing on poetics and truth is critical to evaluating its significance and value.