水之喻与中国文学批评

中国文学批评史上,存在一种“以水喻文”的批评范式。古代先哲在对水的自然特性的观审中,产生了各种微妙的审美体验和联想,铸就了东方文论独特而丰富的内涵。主要包括三个方面内容：第一,先贤对水之“清”的感悟,逐渐形成古典文论中的“清”“清浊”等系列范畴。大量与水相关的词语如“源”“流”“深”“浅”“渊”“浮”“润”“溢”“淡”“游”“清淡”“清秀”“清疏”“清逸”“清华”等也进入文学批评领域,这从一个侧面证明“水”与古代文学批评的密切关系。第二,水之“源流”启发了文学流派批评,古人一方面以“流派”为喻,阐释学术门类、文学风格的不同;另一方面则寻源溯流,阐释文学发展中的传承与创新关系。第三,“水无常形”催生了“文无常法”的文论观。宋代苏洵、苏轼父子或以“水机”喻“文心”,或以“风水相激”喻指创作中的“情文相激”,或以水之“随物赋形”喻指“自然成文”。“吾文如万斛泉源,不择地皆可出,在平地滔滔汩汩,虽一日千里无难;及其与山石曲折,随物赋形而不可知也。所可知者,常行于所当行,常止于不可不止。”（苏轼《文说》）已经将“以水喻文”阐释得淋漓尽致了。总之,“以水喻文”折射的是基于中国本土的、活生生的审美经验和诗性智慧。此种批评范式的产生既受到中国象喻批评传统、汉字表征效应的影响,又与历代对“以水喻文”批评的阐释和接受相关。深入发掘中国文学批评的“水之喻”,对于古典文论的创造性转化、创新性发展都极具借鉴意义。

Metaphor of water and Chinese literary criticism

In the history of Chinese literary criticism, there is a criticism paradigm of "using water as a metaphor". In the examination of the natural characteristics of water, the ancient philosophers produced various subtle aesthetic experiences and associations, which created the unique and rich connotations of oriental literature, mainly in the following three aspects. First, the sages'' perception of the "qing" of water gradually formed a series of categories such as "qing" and "qingzhuo" in classical literary theory. A large number of water-related words, such as "yuan", "liu", "shen", "qian", "yuan", "fu", "run", "yi", "dan", "you", "qingdan", "qingxiu", "qingshu", "qingyi", and "qinghua", have also entered the field of literary criticism, proving the close relationship between "water" and ancient literary criticism. Second, the "source stream" of water inspired the criticism of literary schools. On the one hand, the ancients used "genre" as a metaphor to explain the differences in academic categories and literary styles; on the other hand, it traces the origin and the relationship between inheritance and innovation in the development of literature. Third, "water impermanence" gave birth to the literary concept of "literary impermanence". In the Song Dynasty, Su Xun and Su Shi either used "shui ji" as a metaphor for "wen xin", or "feng shui xiang ji" to refer to "qing wen xiang ji" in creation, or water "sui wu fu xing" to refer to "zi ran cheng wen". Su Shi''s "Wenshuo" has explained "water metaphor" incisively and vividly. In a word, "water metaphor" reflects the living aesthetic experience and poetic wisdom based on China''s local culture. The emergence of this criticism paradigm is not only influenced by the Chinese figurative criticism tradition and the representation effect of Chinese characters, but also related to the interpretation and acceptance of the criticism of "water metaphor" in the past dynasties. Deeply exploring the "metaphor of water" in Chinese literature criticism is of great significance for the creative transformation and innovative development of classical literary theory.