明清诗学中以意为主的创作论

The Ming-Qing Theories of Literary Creation Centered on the Yi(Creative Conception)

如何描述作者“翻空”的作品想象转化为征实的文字,是困扰明清之前文论家的大难题。陆机《文赋》先用隐晦的比喻来形容行文的动势,结尾时又忽然描述灵感驱动行文的状况,但始终未能打通翻空的想象和征实的书写的关系。刘勰虽然意识到神思最终还得落实到文章构造,故列出成文之“三准”,但却没法阐明神思与三准实施的关系。到了唐代,王昌龄别出心裁,一方面妙用源自书论、动态的“意”描述作者在成文阶段的心理活动,另一方面又用名词性的“意”来代称作品的情感内容,并将此“意”与景物的互动视为连缀文字的原则。明清论意者则沿着王昌龄所开辟的路径,致力于用灵动飞扬的“意”来贯穿统摄作品书写的所有层次,从虚至实,对“意”神妙的气势、意与成文模式、意与文章结构、意与炼情、意与求意取象、意与遣词造句作出极为精辟的阐述。同时,他们还在更高的理论层次作出总结,深入探究讨论意与诗法辩证互动,让后者从死法变为活法。在很大程度上可以说,明清文论家解决了描述想象转变为文字过程的难题,从而使古代创作论变得更加宽阔和完整。

In studying the creative process,the greatest challenge is to describe how an author transforms an insubstantial envisioning of the work-to-be into a substantial text of language.Six Dynasties critics like Lu Ji(261-303)and Liu Xie(465-520)sought to tackle this challenge but failed to illuminate the dynamic interplay between the spontaneous mind and the conscious awareness of rules in the final act of composing a text.Tang critic Wang Changling(698-756)ingeniously found a way to overcome this challenge by adapting the term yi意from calligraphy criticism.Tang and earlier calligraphy critics used the term yi to describe a calligrapher’s visual conception of characters to be written,a mental activity that precedes and then accompanies the act of calligraphic execution.Likewise,Wang Changling employed the term yi to describe the dynamic role of the mind in the final stage of poetic composition.Following the direction of Wang Changling,Ming-Qing critics began to explore the pivotal guiding role of yi in practically all aspects of poetic composition,ranging from the accumulation of creative energy to the choice of compositional modes,structuring,the refining of emotion,selection of images,and the ordering of words.On a more theoretical level,they conceptualized yi as the means to turn lifeless poetic rules to creative tour de force.In a global context,their systematic expositions on the multifarious functions of yi in the final compositional stage fill a void conspicuously left in Western theory of the creative process.