论有偿写作的困境与纾解——以元好问散文创作为中心

The Dilemma of Paid Writing and Its Solution:On Yuan Haowen’s Prose Production

有偿写作是指作家受人请托撰文,并收受物质回馈的一种特殊创作形式。有偿写作涉及请托者与作者两方意愿的表达,并需接受其他读者对文章公正性的评判。物质的介入,往往给作者带来道德与技术的多重困境。金元之际,特殊的社会环境与个人身份、经历促成了元好问大量的有偿写作。对不同类型的请托者,元好问运用不同的写作策略维持有偿写作的公平性、独立性,也尽力平衡请托者、作者与其他读者之间的关系,体现了优秀作家协调物质、人情与文学三者关系的深厚能力。有偿写作对中国古代文学创作有较大促动作用。

Paid writing referred to a special creative form that writers were commissioned to compose with a material reward. Paid writing concerned expectations of both the patron and the author, and was subject to other readers’ evaluation of its fairness. The material concern often trapped the author into multiple moral and technical dilemmas. As an exemplar to have solved these dilemmas, Yuan Haowen completed a huge amount of paid writing during the Jin and the Yuan dynasties, due to the particular social environment, his personal identity and experience. For different types of patrons, Yuan Haowen used different writing strategies to maintain fairness and the independence of paid writing, and managed to keep a balance among patrons, authors and other readers. All these exemplified the prowess of excellent writers to mediate between material pursuit, favoritism, and literary value. In this regard, paid writing could be seen as a great driving force for the creation of ancient Chinese literature.