“繁简”与中国古代小说批评

Criticism of“Complexity and Simplicity”in Ancient Chinese Novels

中国古代文学批评中关于“繁简”的认识,主要着眼于文法论和格调论等层面。文法论层面的“繁简”,主要包含修辞、镕意与裁事中的敷演与简省;格调论层面的“繁简”,主要包含文体体要和作者体性之繁简。中国古代小说批评继承史传文“裁事”写作观念,又在文法论上加以细化,认为作者既可利用“炼字”“缩句”“重叠”等修辞策略实现加倍省与加倍增的创作要求,又可通过调整头绪繁杂的情节线索实现详略并出、匀称统一的结构追求。在小说批评者看来,小说作者常追求“繁简得体”“长短适度”,多以言简意赅、文约事丰和辞敷意显为审美追求。

The understanding of“complexity and simplicity”in ancient Chinese literary criticism mainly focuses on aspects such as grammar and style theory.At the level of grammar theory,“complexity and simplicity”mainly includes rhetoric,fusion of meaning,and perfunctory and concise expressions in writing.The“complexity and simplicity”at the level of style theory mainly includes the complexity and simplicity of literary style and the author’s personality.The criticism of ancient Chinese novels inherits the concept of“cutting down on matters”in historical texts and refines the grammar theory.It is believed that the author can use rhetorical strategies such as“refining characters”,“reducing sentences”,and“overlapping”to achieve the creation requirements of double thrift and double increase,and can also achieve the structural pursuit of detailed and uniform presentation by adjusting the complex emotional clues.In the eyes of novel critics,novel authors often pursue“simplicity and propriety”and“moderation in length”,often pursuing aesthetic pursuits such as conciseness,richness,and clear meaning in language.