◇ 文| 田 東
唐詩,這座令后人仰望而著迷的文學(xué)山峰,奇峰突起又雄渾高絕,吸引人們不斷嘗試攀登。
西川,上世紀(jì)八十年代起活躍詩壇,是當(dāng)代最重要的詩人之一。他以新作《唐詩的讀法》開啟了又一個新鮮的嘗試,好比架設(shè)一臺具有X光功能的望遠(yuǎn)鏡,打開一條帶著他體溫的思考通道,讓耳熟能詳?shù)奶拼娙藦墓始埗牙锪⑵饋怼?/p>
Tang poems are like a fascinating literary pinnacle admired by later generations. It is not only splendid but also magnificent, attracting people to constantly conquer it.
Xichuan, who has been active in the field of poetry since the 1980s, is one of the most influential contemporary poets. He made a new attempt with his new book How to Read Tang Poems as if setting up a telescope with X-ray function, building a path of thinking with his own characteristics and making those famous Tang Dynasty poets more real and vivid.
西川有自己的野心,或者說堅持。本書中,他沒有羅列多少李杜等人的生活秘聞,而是通過對整個唐詩文化的重新審視和打量,希望從理論上就給我們一個全新的,甚至可以是顛覆式的閱讀和理解通道。
比如,他一上來就拋出唐詩縮小閱讀論、進(jìn)士文化論,安史之亂對唐詩的影響論,還有針對杜牧李商隱的“窩囊”論,可以說是傳統(tǒng)的唐詩解讀中不多見甚至沒有過的。
只是,書名雖是要談“讀法”,但理論的言說遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)大于細(xì)節(jié)的陳列,幾乎沒有對一首具體的詩作進(jìn)行具體的解讀,這對于大多數(shù)普通讀者來說,不啻為一條坎坷的險路了。西川似乎在用一個詩壇大腕、詩詞高手的境界,衡量和要求所有詩歌寫作者乃至愛好者。
Xichuan has his own ambition, or persistence. In this book, he did not focus on introducing the secrets of life of Tang Dynasty Poets, including Li Bai and Du Fu.Instead, he re-examined and looked at the entire culture of Tang poems, hoping to theoretically give us a brand-new and even subversive reading and understanding channel.
For example, at the beginning, he started to present theories of Tang poems narrow reading quantity, Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examination) culture,the influence of the Rebellion of An Lushan and Shi Siming on Tang poems, and the ‘cowardliness’ of Du Mu and Li Shangyin. This is rare or even absent in the traditional interpretation of Tang poems.
However, although the title of this book is meant to talk about ‘How to Read’, the introduction of theories is far more than descriptions of the details. There is almost no concrete interpretation of a specific poem. This is tough for most average readers. Xichuan seems to evaluate and require all poetry writers and even amateurs with a standard of professional and talent poet.境秘府·南卷》“論文意”篇的話給出了答案——“凡作詩之人,皆自抄古今詩語精妙之處,名為隨身卷子,以發(fā)興也?!?/p>
什么是隨身卷子?同書引名為《九意》的隨身卷子來告訴你:《九意》者,“一春意;二夏意;三秋意;四冬意;五山意;六水意;七雪意;八雨意;九風(fēng)意。”“春意”條下有一百二十句,如“云生似蓋,霧起似煙,垂松萬歲,臥柏千年,羅云出岫,綺霧張?zhí)欤t桃繡苑……”“秋意”條下有一百四十句,如“花飛木悴,葉落條空,秋天秋夜,秋月秋蓬,秋池秋雁,秋渚秋鴻,朝云漠漠,夕雨蒙蒙……”
發(fā)現(xiàn)了嗎?“隨身卷子”原來就是唐人寫詩的“參考教材”,像極了今時的“XXX寫作寶典”。西川將此稱之為唐人寫詩的技術(shù)性秘密,它的普及將唐詩寫作從題材到意蘊都類型化,也提高了唐詩寫作人群的基本水平。
However, when Xichuan analyzed how we read Tang poetry and how the Tang poets became creative, some interesting details that made it easier for us to understand what he said are revealed.
He wrote that the poems of the Tang Dynasty were very atmospheric, covering almost all the life scenes.Almost all the people of that time can write poetry in any scene: farewells, feasts, excursions, promotions and demotions... Countless Tang poems contain the poets’dreams and ambitions or the sad feelings.
But not everyone is as good at writing poems as Li Bai and Du Fu. It is said that Li Bai can write many poems after drinking a little wine. Du Fu can write a good poem in a very short period of time. How did they write poems?
不過,西川在分析我們?nèi)绾伍喿x唐詩以及唐朝詩人如何獲得創(chuàng)造力時,道出了一些有滋有味的細(xì)節(jié),讓我們更容易理解他的言說。
他寫到,唐朝詩歌氛圍濃厚,幾乎所有的生活場景,唐人都會寫詩:送別、宴飲、郊游、升貶……無一不詩。大唐疆土上林立的詩墻、詩板布滿了大大小小詩人的理想抱負(fù)或悲春傷秋。
但不是每一個人都強如李杜,斗酒詩百篇,下筆千言倚馬可待,他們怎么寫詩?西川援引唐時日本學(xué)問僧弘法大師在《文Xichuan gave us an answer by referring to the words of the Japanese master of the Tang dynasty--- Konghai in his article On the Meaning: “Every person who writes poetry draws on the excellence of ancient and modern poems.These merits are all collected in the handbook of writing poems, which is aiming to help poets to write poems.”
The book Nine Images is a typical example of this kind of handbook. Nine Images include the images of spring,summer, autumn, winter, mountain, river, snow, rain and wind. There are one hundred and twenty phrases about the images of the spring, such as thick clouds in the sky,hazy and ethereal fog, evergreen pine trees, thousandyear-old cypress trees, clouds near the top of the mountain, colorful clouds covering all the sky, pale pink peach blossoms and so on. There are one hundred and forty phrases about autumn images, such as withered flowers and trees, fallen leaves, autumn nights, autumn lotuses,autumn ponds and wild geese, cloudless sky in autumn morning, drizzles in autumn evening and so on.”
See? This kind of handbook was an original reference material for Tang people to write poetry, functioning as some Writing handbook of the present. Xichuan called this the technical secret of Tang poetry writing. Its popularity modifies Tang poetry creating from subject matters to implications, and it also raises the basic level of Tang poetry writing.
扒出“寫作寶典”,唐詩似乎更多了一份親和力。西川說:“古人并非高不可攀,我們從當(dāng)下出發(fā),只要能夠進(jìn)入前人的生死場,就會發(fā)現(xiàn)前人的政治生活、歷史生活、道德麻煩、文化難題、創(chuàng)造的可能性,與今人的狀況其實差不了多少。”
為此,西川又讓我們了解了詩人們的交友趣事。比如,詩歌高地的兩大主峰李白杜甫,是可以“互懟”的朋友,但他倆卻無法進(jìn)入當(dāng)時詩壇的主流朋友圈。
當(dāng)時的詩壇朋友圈,大約王維是“群主”。他信奉佛教,講究沉郁涵泳,與走道家一路、性格張揚想象奇絕的李白是談不到一塊的。事實上,兩人基本沒有什么詩詞往來,甚至還互相瞧不上。李白的“時人見我恒殊調(diào),聞余大言皆冷笑”是否有明指還真不好說。
再如韓愈和白居易。公元822年的一場春雨之后,韓愈邀張籍、白居易等同游曲江。白居易是個愛玩的人,也沒啥要緊事,可他就是沒去。韓愈于是寫下《同水部張員外籍曲江春游寄白二十二舍人》:
漠漠輕陰晚自開,青天白日映樓臺。
曲江水滿花千樹,有底忙時不肯來?
接到韓愈的詩后白居易回了一首,《酬韓侍郎張博士雨后游曲江見寄》:
小園新種紅櫻樹,閑繞花行便當(dāng)游。
何必更隨鞍馬隊,沖泥踏雨曲江頭。
你看,說得很不客氣呢。知道了這些事兒,再讀唐詩,想必你會和我一樣,別有一番滋味在心頭。
The handbooks of poems let Tang poetry no longer seem so mysterious and obscure, as Xichuan said, “The ancients can be surpassed. As long as we set out from the moment to understand the living conditions of the ancients, we will find that the ancients’ political and historical life, moral and cultural problems and the ability of creation are almost the same as that of modern people.”
To this end, Xichuan told us about some anecdotes between poets and their friends. For example, the two leading figures in the field of poetry, Li Bai and Du Fu,were friends who could criticize each other, but both of them did not belong to the mainstream friend circle in the poetry at that time.
Probably, Wang Wei was the one in charge of that friend circle. He believes in Buddhism and pays attention to implicitness and introspection. He is much different from Li Bai, who believes in Taoism and has an untamable personality and rich imagination. In fact, the two basically did not have a clash in terms of poetry. Moreover, they even look down upon on each other. Li Bai once wrote:“Earthlings say that I am always bragging and unrealistic.They all sneer at my lofty ideals and ambitions.” There is a good chance that the earthlings include Wang Wei.
Another example is Han Yu and Bai Juyi. After a spring rain in 822 AD, Han Yu invited Zhang Ji and Bai Juyi to travel along the Qujiang River. Bai Juyi has always been a playful person. He did not have anything to do on that day, but he did not show up. As a result, Han Yu wrote a poem A Poem Written to Bai Juyi.
Clouds and haze dispersed in the evening,
Blue sky with sunshine shining down the gazebo.
Flowers and trees dotted the banks of the Qujiang River,
What have you been so busy with that you never showed up?
After receiving the poetry of Han Yu, Bai Juyi also returned him with a poem named A Poem in Reply to Han Yu.
I just planted some cherry blossom trees in my yard,
Rambling in it and enjoying these flowers were a spring tour for me.
It is not necessary to go out with the crowd and horses;
And to walk on the muddy road in the rain along the Qujiang River.
You see, it is very straightforward. After knowing these interesting things, I guess you would have a different feeling of Tang poems when reading them again just as I did.