「敘述」界義──兼論敘述、敘事與描寫

Towards A Definition of Narrative and Its Relation to the Concepts of Narration and Description in Chinese Perspective

本論文首先試圖重建中國古典文化傳統中有關「敘事」文類的光譜及其展示的書寫模式。至於論題與論述鋪展的參照點，則主要是援引當代論述場城所揭示的「敘述」概念，藉此就「敘述」、「敘事」與「描寫」這三個概念提出初步對應性的操作型定義，並且提供討論。簡單說，「敘述」這個語詞或可用來指稱一般以「小說」做為代表的一種文類概念，也可用來泛指包括神話、民間故事、傳奇、自傳或傳記、歷史以及心理分析等以至現「事件」或講述「故事」為主的書寫方式。至於「敘事」與「描寫」這兩個語詞或概念，則用以指稱包含在「敘述」活動中兩種不同的行文或書寫的特質：「敘事」的重點在於強調對事件進行的刻畫，而「描寫」則強調了對於人物的特質或狀態的至現。基本上，「敘事」與「描寫」是屬於「敘述」的範疇，兩者可以在敘述的活動中交互運用，只是彼此各自有偏重的聚焦點。另外，「敘述」活動中也可運用「議論」或「說理」等評斷的手法，藉以至現或傳達敘述者個人的視角與立場。循此，本文把討論的重點放在解讀古典文化傳統開展中一個歷史起點的問題，亦即是舉例勾勒《左傳》一書在行文與聚焦點上所可能展現的書寫特質，畢竟，《左傳》乃是古典思想文化傳統在敘述文類上的歷史起點文本。透過這兩個面向及其相關議題的討論，本文希望能重建「中國文化史中敘述傳統」的內蘊及其在未來發展的可能性。

The aim of the present paper is to provide a tentative and yet feasible definition of narrative within the perspective of the classical Chinese literary tradition. Following Scholes and Kellogg’s suggestion in The Nature of Narrative, the term “narrative” is here designated as a metacode that includes those kinds of writing other than the novel, which are based on the practice of “story-telling,” such as myth, epic, drama, history and biography. In other words, the novel is regarded as only one of a number of narrative possibilities. Guided by such a conception, the present paper intends to establish the term “narrative” as the basic yet principal term among the catalogue of related terms referring to the production of narrative and narrativity. Therefore, the term “narrative,” in both its usage and connotations, is distinguished from those of “narration,” “description,” “exposition” and “argument” – since the latter terms point to the different kinds of technique, or text-type, of narrative production or discourse. Moreover, in view of the further inquiry into the narrative mode and model in the field of Chinese literature, both classical and modern, the present paper examines three episodes from the Zuozhuan (the Spring and Autumn Annals) by discerning some patterns and variants concerning the representation of certain historical events and figures. Those events and figures that come up for discussion are meant to illustrate two kinds of literary representations that are identical with narrative; that is, narration and description, and even argument or judgment, within the Chinese context. Narration in its strict sense concerns the literary representation of actions and events, whereas description points to the representation of objects or characters. However, according to Gerard Genette, these two kinds of representation, when put into execution, are often closely intermingled and in variable proportion. Against such a contestation of the notion of narrative, I therefore propose to outline a viable theoretical framework for our next project, which will examine certain continuing or recurring elements in classical Chinese narrative art.