中国古典文论中语境观念的四个维度

Four Dimensions of the Concept of Context in Chinese Classical Literary Theories

新世纪中国文艺理论研究的学术动向背后隐藏着“语境观念”。这种语境观念不仅仅取法于西方人文社会学科中的“语境转向”,还可以从中国古典文论中获取充裕的理论资源。梳理语境观念在中国古典文论中的知识谱系,我们发现存在四种不同的理解维度:一是将语境理解为“社会文化语境”,即直接影响文学的社会治乱、文化状况和政治秩序等;二是将语境视为“时代精神语境”,即决定文艺的民风习俗、思想精神、民众意愿、社会情绪等;三是将语境看作“地理语境”,即造成文学风格、文学体式差异的水土、气候等地理情境;四是将语境限定为“内在语境”,即让文章首尾统一为有机整体的内部关联。

With the advent of the 21st century, the concept of “context” has lied behind the academic trend of Chinese literary theory research. This concept is not only taken from the “contextual turn” in Western humanities and social disciplines, but also from the abundant theoretical resources in Chinese classical literary theories. Combing through the intellectual genealogy of this concept in Chinese classical literary theories, we could find four different comprehension dimensions of “context”: Firstly, “context” is understood as “social and cultural context”, i.e., social rule and disorder, cultural conditions, political order which directly affect literature. Secondly, “context” is regarded as the “spiritual context of the times”, i.e., the folk customs, ideology and spirit, popular will and social moods which determine literature and art. Thirdly, “context” is regarded as the “geographic context”, i.e., the geographic situation such as water, soil, climate, etc. which could cause the differences in literary styles and genres. Fourthly, “context” is limited to the “internal context”, i.e., the internal correlation that makes the beginning and the end of the article unified as an organic whole.