第二章 投入修辞法

夏目漱石Ctrl+D 收藏本站

本章所要论述的,和上文所说的“投出修辞法”,其路径完全不同。也就是通过对外物的联想来解释自己。这里将如此完全相反的两者,同时并置为文学的修辞手段,其可行性是无可怀疑的。我相信“投出修辞法”是文学的手段,而“投入修辞法”也是文学的手段,这两者看上去似乎是背道而驰,而其目标却是一致的。需要对此加以论述,以释读者之疑。

“投出修辞法”就是人将自己投射出去,附于他物,这一点上文已有论述。若说把自己投出,便不能不产生这样的疑问:把自己的什么投出去呢?是情,是意,还是知性呢?征之前章所举诸例,或泛考古今文学,最多的似乎是“老天哭了”之类,其次似乎是“星星眨眼”之类。哭,近乎我们的情之语;眨眼则近似我们的动作之语。若用前篇所论述的“文学性材料”这一术语来说,哭,就属于“人事的材料”;眨眼,从视为我们的动作这一点看来,便属于“感觉的材料”。可见,所谓“投出修辞法”,就是以人事的或感觉的材料,来说明其他的事物。从狭义上说,虽然同是人事的、感觉的材料,只有足以打动更多的人,才能说明人事材料之意义。再狭义一点,不妨也可以说,用最能动我情的材料即人事的材料,来说明一切其他材料者,就是所谓“投出修辞法”。因而,若以最正确的、最标准的表述而论,可以认为“投出修辞法”是人事的材料对第一、第三、第四种材料的联想法。利用人事的材料,可以使第四种材料等增加更多的文学色彩。然而,正如前篇所说,感觉的材料往往是最占优势的,有时候竟能超过人事的材料。倘若人事的材料与其他材料联结起来,而赋予它们更多文学性的话,那么感觉的材料也会有同样的效用,这是无需多说的。因而我们可以从人事的材料配以其他材料而产生的联想中,选出一部分,赋予其文学性,并称之为“投出修辞法”。同时,为方便起见,我们也不得不以感觉的材料为本位,配之以别的材料,而用前者来说明后者,这样就形成了另一种修辞方式,即是“投入修辞法”。

“投出”与“投入”两者似乎背道而驰,互不相容,但同样都能强化文学性,因而我们不能不承认它们存在的价值。而两者之中应取何者,这除了由时间场合而定,此外无需多说。但也有一些作家,固执于自己的癖性爱好,喜欢顾此而失彼,这是例外的问题了。要而言之,根本要领就是以优势的材料,来补救其他较弱的材料,所以最好能够灵活运用。就比方战争,战场上或以骑兵掩护炮兵,或以炮兵掩护骑兵,不可拘泥于一端。只有第四种材料,即知性的材料,其性质上仿佛辎重部、兵站部,所以始终受掩护而不会掩护他人。如有人怀疑我的话,请读下面一段文字:

“God is present by His essence;which because it is inf inite, cannot be contained within the limits of any place;and because He is of an essential purity and spiritual nature, He cannot be undervalued by being supposed present in the places of unnatural uncleanness.”

— Jer Taylor, Holy Living, chap. i.

不妨把这一节看作是超自然的材料,或者知性材料。除了有强烈宗教信仰的人以外,其他读者读过之后,其感受应是极其稀薄的吧。然而再读下一段:

“God is everywhere present by His power, He rolls the orbs of heaven with His Hand; He f ixes the earth with His foot; He guides all the creatures with His eye, And refreshes them with His inf luence; He makes the powers of hell to shake with His terrors, and binds the devils with His word, and throws them out with His command; and sends the angels on embassies with His decrees.”

— Ibid.

看了这几行文字,就会明白同样的材料,由于有了投出修辞法的支持,其效果大为提高了。我想,基督教赋予神以人格,使基督代表神,看上去神也以我们人类这样的口气执祈祷之礼,这都是发挥了“诗之真”。且不论其教义合理与否,我只是说,他们的手法,无论是故意或偶然,与诗的目的是一致的。若站在这一角度看,宗教也不过是一种诗而已。由于宗教改革,基督教多少失掉了诗的光彩。可以认为,宗教改革是在其进步的过程中,在第一阶段上,让诗向科学投降,此后宗教更与哲学结合,更接近于科学,所谓“文艺之真”就更接近“科学之真”了,从而最终导致诗之灭亡,这也是未可逆料的。

知性的材料不必说,就是超自然的材料,也需要修辞上的支持,才能生动起来。而给予这种支持的“投出修辞法”,上文已有论述,在此不赘。而论述与“投出修辞法”相并立的“投入修辞法”,是本章的目的。

我这里所谓的“投入修辞法”,归根到底是指为了使人类行为状态的印象更加明晰,而把外物投入进去,这与利用人事的材料来理解外物的“投出修辞法”是互为争雄的。这一点由上文的解释,应该大体清楚了。试举“投入修辞法”的例子如下:

“They that stand high have many blasts to shake them.”

— Richard III, Act I. sc. iii. l. 259.

这是将人的苦闷解释为风中乔木之苦。如仅仅以“人事的材料”来表现的话,无论如何也产生不出这样的感兴,而且也不会如此简洁。

   “And as a willow keeps

A patient watch over the stream that creeps

Windingly by it, so the quiet maid

Held her in peace.”

— Keats, Endymion, Bk. I. ll. 446-9.

写心灵的无形无色的平静,借助这样的“感觉的材料”,然后才会产生如此鲜明的印象。

尤其是在描写女人的容貌时,写多了则不得要领,欲得要领,便难以产生所期望得到的印象,所以诗人为描写美人而恰当地使用“感觉的材料”,或比于花,或比于月,或一切美的外物,这就是“投入修辞法”。

“Parting they seem’d to tread upon the air,

Twin roses by the zephyr blown apart

Only to meet again more close, and share

The inward fragrance of each other’s heart.”

— Keats, Isabella, st. x.

“There was a Woman, beautiful as morning.”

— Shelley, Laon and Cythna, Can. I. st. xvi.

“Be she fairer than the Day

Or the f lowery meads in May;

If she be not so to me,

What care I how fair she be!”

— George Wither[1] , Fair Virtue, Sonnet iv.

“morning”和“day”都是极其含糊的字眼儿,在明了、精致、细腻方面,远不如济慈的作品。然而在使用一个词而整体形容美人这一点上,不失为颇为可观的“投入修辞法”。虽然有过于单纯、缺乏委曲婉转之缺憾,也要比拖沓啰嗦、散漫、支离破碎要好得多。而况“day”以至“morning”,虽说不免有点陈腐,却把明眸皓齿的美艳,写得栩栩如生。(关于单纯的叙事方法与复杂的叙事方法的长短优劣,上文在论述文学家与科学家的态度时已有解说,在此不赘。)

“He was a lovely Youth ! I guess

The panther in the wilderness

Was not so fair as he;

And, when he chose to sport and play,

No dolphin ever was so gay

Upon the tropic sea.”

— Wordsworth, Ruth.

这里的青年和豹子、海豚的联想,不能说是很妥当吧。在东方,称武人为貔貅,认为其美不在外形,而在勇猛的性格,两者不可同日而语。西方人觉得如何我不得而知,但我不认为这种“投入修辞法”是成功的。

“Why, thou globe of sinful continents, what a life dost thou lead!”

— Henry IV, Act II. sc. iv. ll. 309-10.

这是亨利王子对于福斯塔夫所说的话,形容福斯塔夫的大腹便便,好似圆鼓,可以说是非常巧妙。下面一句,其夸张的联想,也不禁教人捧腹大笑:

“A highly respectable man as a German,

Who smoked like a chimney, and drank like a Merman.”

— Ingoldsby Legends, The Lay of St. Odille.

虽然有点冗长,最后还要举出持续的“投入修辞法”的一个好例,以结束此章。

“A man is a bubble (said the Greek proverb), which Lucian represent with advantages and its proper circumstances, to this purpose, saying: All the world is a storm, and men rise up in their several generations like bubbles descending from God and the dew of heaven, from a tear and a drop of man, from nature and Providence; and some of these instantly sink into the deluge of their f irst parent, and are hidden in a sheet of water, having had no other business in the world but to be born, that they might be able to die; others f loat up and down two or three turns, and suddenly disappear and give their place to others: and they that live longest upon the face of the waters are in perpetual motion, restless and uneasy, and, being crushed with the great drop of a cloud, sink into f latness and a froth; the change not being great, it being hardly possible it should he more a nothing than it was before.”(以下省略)

— Jeremy Taylor, Holy Dying, chap. i.

* * *

[1]乔治·威瑟(George Wither, 1588—1667),英国诗人,代表作有《牧人狩猎》、《哈利路亚》等。