閱讀〈琵琶行〉：詩歌批評及接受史視野下的蔣士銓《四絃秋》雜劇

Reading Pipa Xing: The Qing Drama Sixian Qiu as a Work of Poetry Criticism

清代學者早已指出蔣士銓戲曲的語言風格與古典詩歌的密切聯繫。其實，蔣士銓戲曲與古典詩歌之關聯，還在於接受乃至批評的層面。本文擬從詩歌接受史及詩歌批評史的角度重讀《四絃秋》，指出這部改編自白居易〈琵琶行〉的雜劇，不僅是文學文本，更別具特殊的批評性。通過重探／構〈琵琶行〉的評論史，本文指出《四絃秋》對道德倫理之關注，實則上承北宋以降〈琵琶行〉的批評脈絡而來。在從敘事詩到雜劇的文體轉譯過程中，身兼讀者和作者雙重身分的蔣士銓以一種實踐性、創造性的方式，就白居易其人其詩予以批判性的詮釋。《四絃秋》不但呈現出迥異於原詩的悲劇意涵，其「知音不可得」的主題與蔣士銓力圖「翦劃詩中本義」的行為更形成一種悖論的關係。

Qing scholars have already pinpointed the stylistic affinity between classical Chinese poetry and Jiang Shiquan’s plays. In this article, I further show that the affinity is also manifested in Jiang’s effort to critique Bai Juyi’s poem Pipa Xing through his play Sixian Qiu. From the perspective of the history of literary criticism and reception, I argue that this late imperial play, which is a literary adaptation of Bai’s Pipa Xing, is not only a literary text but also a work of literary criticism. By placing the play in the context of the history of poetry criticism since the Northern Song dynasty, I show that Jiang, as a reader and an author, interprets Bai Juyi and his poem in a transformative way through literary production. As a result, Sixian Qiu is infused with a sense of tragedy quite different from that of Pipa Xing. Lastly, I show that there is an implicit paradoxical relationship between the theme of Jiang’s play and his act of interpreting the original meaning of the poem.