「桃李不言而成蹊」──《文心雕龍》作家論探析

“Peaches and Plums Make Paths Naturally”–A Study on the Theories of Writers in Wen-Hsin Tiao-Lung

《文心雕龍》以〈體性〉論述作家才性與作品風格；以〈才略〉、〈程器〉倡言作家的才具與器識，而內附於文學批評，並未專設作家論；雖然如此，但劉勰的作家論其實徧及全書五十篇，時間含蓋上古至劉宋的作家，內涵評述他們的才學際遇、作品利病、比較異同，及在文學史上的地位與評價，並建構評論作家的方法與標準。可以說《文心雕龍》的文學理論與批評，都賴由論述作家與作品來鋪展完成，其重要性可謂「桃李不言而成蹊」，為後人研治相關範疇走出一條坦途。
本文試由評論方法、作家特質論、作家才性論、作家養成論、作家環境論、褒貶之作家類型、與六朝文論匯合分流八項，期能建構《文心雕龍》作家論的體系，足證此書不僅是研究先秦至六朝時期作家的重要文獻，其籠罩面之深廣，評論方法之交叉比對，亦為前後文論家難望項背；而藉由劉勰全面地品評作家，掎摭作品利病，亦可提供後人評論文學作家的模式，並確切掌握《文心雕龍》文學理論的落實與應用；此外，諦觀劉勰作家論與六朝文論的匯合分流，則突顯其具有追躡六朝文學批評潮流、藉以奠立文論基石、反映作家批評之焦點議題、建構以時代作家為經、作家風格為緯的文學發展史觀、據以改正版本訛誤，及肯定神怪詭異對作家創作效益等文學意義，劉勰論作家切合時代脈動，持論有故，不妄下貶譽的態度，由是可知。

The Book Wen-Hsin Tiao-Lung comments, in terms of genre, on the characteristics of writers and the styles of works and states the talents and abilities of writers by means of wits and rules, which are implied in the literary criticism, without arranging a theory commenting on writers. Even thus, the theories of writers of Liu Hsieh spread all over the fifty chapters of the Book, with writers ranging from the far ancient to the Liu Soong Dynasty, with contents stating the literary coincidences, the weakness of works, comparisons of similarities and differences, the positions and appraisal in the history of literature, establishing the methods and standards for criticizing writers. In other words, the literary theories and criticism of the Wen-Hsin Tiao-Lung are set up by the works of commentary writers. The formation of the literary theories and criticism is similar to that of the situation that “Peaches and Plums Make Paths Naturally”, setting a smooth way for the scholars doing research on the related fields to follow.
The research intends to analyze the theories from eight categories: methodology of commentary, the theories of writers' characteristics, the theories of writers' talent quality, the theories of writers' education, the theories of writers' environments, the types of writers with merits and demerits, and the theories of works of the Six Dynasties. All these are arranged to construct a theory of writers for the Wen-Hsin Tiao-Lung. The research will serve as a very important document for doing research on writers between the period before the the Chin Dynasty and the Six Dynasty. The range it covers is very wide. The methods it uses in criticizing works and contrasting masterpieces are unprecedented and can’t easily be reached by commentary writers either in the past or in the future. Through the overall comments of Liu Hsieh on writers, evaluating the strong points and the weak points of works, Liu submits a model for commenting on literary writers for people in the following ages, making the best use and application of the theories contained in the Wen-Hsin Tiao-Lung.
Besides, in consideration of the interflow and the distribution of Liu Hsieh's Theories of writers and the Commentaries from the Six Dynasties, Liu Hsieh's theories surpassed the Commentaries from the Six Dynasties, setting up a cornerstone in literature, reflecting the focus topics of criticism of writers. The research constructed the viewpoints of the development of literary history, based on the writers at Liu's age as longitude, based on the genres of writers as latitude. By doing so, the research corrected the mistakes of the editions and affirms that the supernatural and the weird are beneficial to the creations of writers. Liu Hsieh's commentaries meet the trend of the times and his comments are made with very scrupulous attention. This is very obvious.