珠樹投大荒——《山海經》與柳宗元的謫居歲月

The Pearl Tree Cast Away in the Great Wilderness—Classic of Mountains and Seas and Liu Zongyuan’s Time in Exile

明清學者即肯定柳宗元的〈永州八記〉有明顯沿襲《山海經》的地理空間模式，甚至是子厚山水散文的原型結構。《山海經》的神話空間是子厚謫居歲月的精神依歸家園。其他文章中徵引的畢方、息壤、天吳等意象，見出子厚在生命困頓中將《山海經》抄本隨身攜帶的日常，像似蠻荒生活寶典。詩中更以《山海經》中的珠樹自況，屢屢流露被擲大荒的悲愴心情。《海經》中舜帝埋葬之所的蒼梧、九疑即是子厚所在的永州。詩中反覆徵引，正是子厚深沉的恐懼，堯天舜日是只可憧憬的神話烏托邦，而現實情境的永州也將成為子厚永恆的埋骨之所？《山海經》的行文結構有一個中心―方位―距離模式，在子厚的詩文中，帝都／帝王之側則為中心，充滿故園之思，被貶謫的帝國邊緣則是蠻荒。年少才高的柳宗元，被貶謫永州長達十年之久，時間上的遲滯、空間上的隔絕，都是一種凌遲，所以《山海經》的想像世界，成為心靈的依託。蠻荒經過多年構築，珠樹自是珠樹，子厚的詩文或又有了中心，因此，〈永州八記〉之後的〈遊黃溪記〉表現出在謫居歲月中的自得其樂。柳宗元以自身的生命經驗結合《山海經》的書寫，間接的展示了《山海經》在唐代文人群體中的受容情況。

scholars in the Ming and Qing dynasties recognized that Liu Zongyuan,“Eight Records of Excursions in Yongzhou”clearly derived its spatial model from the Classic of Mountains and Seas, so did the prototype structure of the Zihou (Liu’s courtesy name) Shanshui prose. Liu in exile found his spiritual home from the mythological space of the Classic of Mountains and Seas. The images of Bifang, Xirang and Tianwu cited in his other literary works show how Liu often carried the copy of the Classic of Mountains and Seas with him during the difficult time, treating the Classic like a piece of treasure in the wilderness. In his poems, he referred himself as a pearl tree of the Classic of Mountains and Seas, expressing the sorrow of being cast away in the great wilderness. Jui Yi (a.k.a. Cang Wu), where Emperor Shun was buried according to the Classic of Mountains and Seas, became Yongzhou, Liu’s place of exile. The repeated citation in the poems reflects Liu’s profound fear: as the days of Yao and Shun were the mythological utopia people can only long for, would Yongzhou in the real world become his final resting place? There is a center-direction-distance model in the writing structure of the Classic of Mountains and Seas. In Liu’s literary works, the capital and the side of the emperor was the center, which was filled with yearning for his home country, whereas the edge of the empire he was exiled to was the wilderness. Young and gifted Liu, being exiled to Yongzhou for ten long years, suffered terribly for an extended period of time from seemingly stopped flow of time and spatial isolation. Therefore, the imaginary world of the Classic of Mountains and Seas became his spiritual haven. He expressly compared himself with a pearl tree, and this pearl tree was cast away in the dung of the South. As a result, the Classic of Mountains and Seas was the reading material Liu in exile carried with him. After working on the wilderness for years, Liu, being a“pearl tree,”owned a center again in his poetry and prose. In the“Records of Excursions in Huangxi,”which came after“Eight Records of Excursions in Yongzhou,”Liu regained his joy and content during the time of exile.