Qing Dynasty scholar Zhang Xuecheng's "Wenshi Tongyi" in "Shi De" and "Wen De"

In the process of specifically giving the meaning of Shi De and Wen De, Zhang Xuecheng advocates the integration of literature and history, and the coupling of writing and commentary, so that the value of "Literature and History Tongyi" not only stops at the elaboration of historical concepts, but also involves the interpretation of literary theory, which is the virtue of literary authors and the virtues of literary critics contained in Shi De and WenDe.

In this book, the Qing Dynasty scholar Zhang Xuecheng not only criticized the literature and historiography in history, but also put forward the idea of writing literature and history. In addition to inheriting Liu Zhiji's argument that "history has three longs, talent, learning, and knowledge, and the world is rare, so there are few historians" ("New Book of Tang, Liu Zhiji Biography"), Zhang Xuecheng also established the terms "Shi De" and "Wen De" (Zhang Xuecheng and Ye Ying's annotation "Wen Shi Tongyi" Zhonghua Bookstore 1985 edition) to highlight the historical issues that talent, learning, and knowledge cannot cover. In the process of specifically giving the meaning of Shi De and Wen De, Zhang Xuecheng advocates the integration of literature and history, and the coupling of writing and commentary, so that the value of "Literature and History Tongyi" not only stops at the elaboration of historical concepts, but also involves the interpretation of literary theory, which is the virtue of literary authors and the virtues of literary critics contained in Shi De and WenDe. Following the principle of Zhang Xuecheng's "Shi De" and "Wen De" word making, the critic's virtue is "Xie De", that is, some principles that should be observed when interpreting the text.

The mind should be right

The acceptance of a work is sometimes opposed. The acceptance of "The Tale of the West Chamber", "Jin Ping Mei" and "History" is quite representative. "The Tale of the West Chamber" was quite controversial in the history of its dissemination: "Those who write see it as a text, and those who fornicate see it as adulterous." ("The Chronicle of the Supplement to the Golden PingXiXiang", Zhonghua Bookstore, 1916 edition) This acceptance also appears in the book "Jin Ping Mei": "(Jin Ping Mei) is full of ugliness in the world. He also did not delete Zheng and Wei's will?...... Those who do not know are obscene books, but they do not know the purpose of the author, but they also unjustly do not know the hearts of those who are popular. (Twenty Gong", "Jin Ping Mei Bao", Ding Xigen edited "Preface to ancient Chinese Novels" (in Chinese) People's Literature Publishing House, 1996 edition) Whether it is the statement that "the writer sees it as a text, and the adulterer sees it as an adulterer", or the banner of "the ancestors do not delete Zheng and Wei's will", they are all statements that flow into phenomena, and have not risen to a convincing theoretical defense. Today's interpretation of works allows for pluralism, but it is a matter of judging the nature of the work, and pluralism is sometimes not necessarily tolerance.

Zhang Xuecheng's proposal in defending the "Records of History" as a non-"slanderous book" is correct, which has a certain theoretical value. In his view, the "slander book" is the "historical knowledge" added to the "Historical Record" due to the reader's unhappiness, rather than the "Historical Record" itself has the nature of a "slander book". In other words, the "History of History" as a "slander book" is a misreading of the reader, that is, "Shi Qian did not dare to slander the Lord, and the reader's heart was uneven." Why does a reader's upset lead to a misreading? Zhang Xuecheng expounded from both ends of "qi" and "emotion", arguing: "Literature is not qi, but qi is more expensive than flat"; "Literature is not deep, but affection is more precious than righteousness." The atmosphere is calm, the interpretation of the text will tend to be rational, and if it is done in the text, the text is peaceful. On the contrary, if the anger is out of favor, it is easy for Wen to fall into extremism, arrogance and indulgence. Therefore, the mind of interpretation must be just flat, so as not to make criticism far from objective fairness because of one's own anger and bias.

As far as the "Records of History" is concerned, although there are records of the unkind things of the Han family, "the words are gentle and windy, and none of them deviate from the famous religion", so it is true that the "Records of History" is called "slanderous books" by "recording the unkind things of the Han family". Similarly, when interpreting "The Tale of the West Chamber" and "Jin Ping Mei", only indulging in Zhang Junrui's climbing over the wall and Ximen Qing's pleasures, and ignoring "may there be lovers in the world who will eventually become dependents" and "some thorns", then the acceptance of the reflection must be one-sided or even wrong.

Pro-Text Lord

The mental technique correctly points out the coddled or drowning caused by the partiality of qi, and does not clearly point out the specific criteria for what is positive. In the entry "Wende", Zhang Xuecheng proposed "Linwen Lord", which made up for this logical defect. The "text" of "Linwen Lord" refers to "all words". The attitude toward Weiwen, due to the immortal inner constraint of "li yan", makes most traditional literati hold a cautious and cautious reverence. Jia Dao's "Dream of the Red Chamber" of "Yin'an a word, twisting off several stems and whiskers" and "The characters seem to be blood, ten years of hard work is unusual", the sweetness of creation shows the intransigence of the traditional literati "Linwen".

Why should Linwen be in awe? On the basis of invoking "welcome and reject, calmly observe" (Han Yu's "Reply to Li Yishu") and "do not dare to lose it lightly", "slacking off and easy", "being humble and doing", and "fainting out" (Liu Zongyuan's "Reply to Wei's Neutral Theory of the Teacher's Tao"), Zhang Xuecheng put forward the posture that should be taken as the text should be: "If you want its general purpose, the text will be respected, and the words will be covered." The Lord is calm, and the qi is taken, and the self-can change calmly to fit. "Peace of mind" can be positive, can be "fit", and "degree" is the normative standard. Han Yu stressed that "you can't not raise it." The path of benevolence and righteousness, the source of the poem and the book, there is no lost path, there is no source, and I am only alone." Liu Zongyuan believes that the "Poems" and "Books" have a gentle nourishing function for their writing: "The "Book" of the Ben seeks its quality, the "Poems" of the Ben seek its permanence, the "Rites" of the Ben seek its appropriateness, the "Spring and Autumn" of the Ben seeks its judgment, and the "Yi" of the Ben seeks its movement, so I take the original of the Tao." From this, it is known that Han and Liu used the Confucian scriptures as the source, immersed themselves in them, including Yingzuihua, erased their own "demure qi" and "dim qi", etc., so that their own texts were "hong-ranging and wanton" (Han Yu's "Jinxue Xie"). Therefore, the "respect" of "Respect for the Lord of Linwen" refers to the defense of the cultural theory that one holds, and "self-ability to change calmly and in harmony" is a skillful application of the cultural theory that one holds without exceeding the norms.

On the ancients will be forgiven

When the three kingdoms of Wei, Shu, and Wu became the object of historians' records, whether Ji Wei passed on Shu Wu or Ji Shu passed on Wei Wu, historians of different eras had different ways of writing. Chen Shou's Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms and Sima Guang's Zizhi Tongjian "Ji Wei and Wu Shu", While Xi Chisel's "Han Jin Chunqiu" and Zhu Xi's "Outline of Tongjian" "rise and be correct". A piece of historical events, the order of the record is different, and when interpreting it, the reader will also object to the practices of Chen Shou and Sima Guang: "The discussion of the land is mainly based on the Central Plains, and the theory is mainly based on the Liu family." The discussion is not as reasonable as the reasoning, so it is given to Wei with orthodoxy, and Sima Guang's "Tongjian" is also wrong. For those who are orthodox to Shu, the reason why Ziyang's "Outline" is zhengye. Chen Shou and Sima Guang wrote the history of the Three Kingdoms, which was criticized by Mao Zonggang, and Xi Chiseled Teeth and Zhu Xi "rose up and corrected" according to the principle of historical judgment of respect and neglect, so it was deeply recognized. This kind of historical knowledge is quite novel, related to the location of the capital cities of the Western Jin Dynasty and the Northern Song Dynasty and the cultural mentality of the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty that "lived in a corner" and regarded itself as orthodox. Mao Zonggang's so-called theory refers to the fact that the writers of history should have an orthodox consciousness.

How to comment on this historical phenomenon mixed with orthodoxy? Zhang Xuecheng put forward an interesting hypothesis: "All the sages are the same, and they may not be inferior to the pedantics of today." Yes, I do not know the world of the ancients, and we must not argue about the words of the ancients. Knowing its world, not knowing the location of the ancients, we cannot talk about its text. "Man is a person who lives in a certain time in the air, so the understanding of human behavior must not only have a certain sense of time and space, but also have the empathy of "all the sages are the same". The thesis should know its world, which is the traditional view, and the thesis should know the "place of the ancients", which is a major invention, which contains a certain sense of historical materialism and dialectical materialism. Knowing "where the ancients are", we will hold the "sympathy of understanding" to understand what they have done in history, which is what Zhang Xuecheng called "on the ancients must be forgiven": "On the ancients must be forgiven, non-tolerance is also said." ...... Those who are not tolerant can set themselves up for the ancients. If so, the comments around the writing of the history of the Three Kingdoms can get rid of the narrowness of "respecting reason and neglecting the land", so that "reason" has both an orthodox meaning and a "contemporary" situation in which the writer of history had no choice but to do so.

"Forgiveness! Do not do to others what you do not want. "On the Forgiveness of the Ancients" proposes to treat history with a commentary to give the ancients "sympathy for understanding"; "The heart should be correct" and "Linwen Main Respect" pointed out that only by deeply cultivating the Confucian classics can we keep and abandon. In the view of Han Yu and Liu Zongyuan, only by adhering to the traditional Confucian Taoist system can we avoid the disturbances caused by the complexity of the world, and only when writing articles and arguments will we not be blinded by "demure qi" and "dim breath".

Creation and interpretation are not arbitrary, and different "origins of the path" will have different adherences, and different adherences will also have different "degrees of conformity". The interpretation principles of "the heart should be correct", "the main respect of the pro-text" and "on the ancient must be forgiven" put forward by Zhang Xuecheng have a certain degree of rationality, but they are not perfect. In the specific development of "Shi De" and "Wen De", he stood on the Confucian standpoint, pointed out "literary history", and traced back to the ancients to seek the source, although the doctrine was full, it was difficult to hide the goodness of advocating the ancients. Looking back at the three principles of interpretation put forward by Zhang Xuecheng, "the mind should be correct" and "the main respect of the text" are related to the critical weapons and the corresponding positions. The weapon of criticism is biased, and the position will naturally be distorted. "On the ancients must be forgiven" means that "the present people" should return to the scene in ancient times, and it is not a frivolous argument that "the present people" are difficult to do when they are different from other places, but harshly demand that the "ancients" should be so supposed to be so not so frivolous. In this regard, although Zhang Xuecheng's interpretation principle has certain limitations, at present, the judgment of deconstructed history, nihilistic history, and phenomena such as sloppiness and mental irregularities that appear in the interpretation is not without certain reference value.

Original title: The Literary Theoretical Value of "Literature and History"

Source: China Social Science Network - China Social Science Daily

Author: Gao Jianwang

Disclaimer: The picture in this article comes from "Oriental Ic"