朱东润《莎氏乐府谈》价值论

On the Value of Zhu Dongrun's Talks on Tales from Shakespeare

朱东润20世纪初在上海《太平洋》杂志发表的四篇《莎氏乐府谈》,是中国学界细腻贴近莎士比亚戏剧文本开展批评的开始。这四篇《莎氏乐府谈》洋洋洒洒两万余言,充分显示了作者对莎士比亚的专业认知,是现存篇幅最长、论述最细致、最早独立成章的完整的莎士比亚评论。其评论范围涉及到莎士比亚的简约生平、创作成就与不足、著作权、演员、戏剧布景等方面,既有对《罗密欧与朱丽叶》和《裘利斯·凯撒》等名剧精彩细腻的文本分析,又有自觉的中西文学比较层面的真知灼见,首次让当时读者对莎士比亚的基本面貌有了较之以往更具体、更详细的了解。朱东润是最早通过翻译引用莎士比亚戏剧原著进行莎评的莎学专家,他的评论注重艺术魅力的探讨,彰显了文本细读的可贵品格,又不失对作品思想价值内涵的揭示,体现出了客观务实、稳健执着的理性精神,对于读者以戏剧的形式管窥、认知莎士比亚具有重要价值,不仅标志着近现代中国学界从学术学理层面接受和研讨莎士比亚的开始,而且较早地探寻了文学创作不同体裁的差异特征与跨文化翻译接受规律,在中国莎士比亚接受史上具有开拓性和里程碑式的学术意义。

The publication of Zhu Dongrun’s Talks on Tales from Shakespeare in Pacific Journal in Shanghai in the early years of the 20 th century marked the beginning of the criticism on Shakespeare’s dramatic texts in the Chinese academia.The four articles of Talks on Tales from Shakespeare,which exceed over 20,000 words and fully demonstrate the author’s professional knowledge about Shakespeare,turn out to be the longest existing,the most elaborate,and the earliest independent and comprehensive Shakespearean commentaries.They touch upon various aspects of Shakespearean studies,such as his life,the achievements and shortcomings of his literary works,authorship,actors in his plays,and stage setting;they offer not only superb and meticulous textual analysis on well-known plays like Romeo and Juliet and Julius Caesar,but also conscientious and perspicacious insights into the comparison between the Chinese and Western literature;and for the first time they provided the readers at that time with a more specific and detailed understanding of Shakespeare’s basic features than ever before.Zhu Dongrun is the first Shakespearean expert who conducted his studies on Shakespeare by translating and citing the original texts of Shakespeare’s plays.His criticism focuses on the discussion of artistic charm,stresses the importance of the close reading of texts,and reveals the implication of ideological values in various plays.What we can learn from his articles is an objective,pragmatic,steady,persistent,and rational approach that has proven to be extremely valuable in helping the readers discover and understand Shakespeare through the art of drama.Evidently,the value of Zhu’s articles goes beyond merely signifying the initial acceptance of and scholarship on Shakespeare within the modern Chinese academia,because his articles also explore the different characteristics of genres in literature and the reception patterns in cross-cultural translation.In a word,the scholastic significance of Zhu’s articles is definitely pioneering and monumental in the history of Shakespeare’s reception in China.