管窥《公言报》与《新青年》的戏曲改革辩论

On the Debate of Traditional Chinese Opera Reform between Gongyan Bao(公言报)and New Youth(新青年)

《公言报》是林白水等人于1916年在北京创办的一份日报,大约一年后被安福系收买。这一政治底色决定了《公言报》的政治立场和文化倾向。1918年,北京的“昆曲热”引发舆论界对戏曲改良问题的讨论。既有研究多以《新青年》为核心对象予以梳理,或多或少忽视《公言报》的相关言说。实际上,正是张厚载依托《公言报》与《新青年》同人几番论辩,才促成了关于戏曲改良的热烈争论,让新文化阵营有的放矢。通过梳理以往较少被整体关注的《公言报》,本文认为它的戏曲改良观是折衷主义,即戏曲改革虽然要学习西方戏剧,但应立足中国国情、尊重文学发展的自然规律,从中国传统戏曲当中寻找智慧,促进这株老枝长出新叶,由内而外进行革新。最终,争论双方谁也没有辩倒谁,《新青年》和《公言报》的主张分别成为后来文学改良、发展的重要一面,但是这场讨论对于思想解放和文学革新具有重要的历史意义。

Gongyan Bao(公言报)was a daily newspaper founded by Lin Baishui and others in 1916,and it was merged by Anfu Group about a year later.This political background determines the political stance and cultural tendency of Gongyan Bao.In 1918,the“Kunqu wave”in Beijing triggered discussions on the reform of traditional Chinese opera in the media.Existing studies mainly focus on New Youth,but ignore the opinions in Gongyan Bao to some extent.In fact,it was Zhang Houzai's arguments with others through Gongyan Bao and New Youth that led to a heated debate on the reform of traditional Chinese opera,which guided the new culture camp.By analyzing Gongyan Bao,which was seldom paid attention to in the past,this paper argues that its view of opera improvement was eclecticism,namely,although the opera reform should learn from Western drama,it should be based on China's national conditions,respect the natural law of literary development,inherit traditional Chinese opera,and promote its innovation from the inside out.In the end,neither of the two sides won the debate,and the opinions of New Youth and Gongyan Bao became an important aspect of later literary reform and development,respectively,but the debate had important historical significance for ideological emancipation and literary innovation.