今天当如何纪念金庸
2019-01-09吴秀明
吴秀明
他在武侠叙事时,很好地使用带有典雅隽永、沉潜蕴藉、灵性诗性特点的中国方块字,向世人充分展示汉语的独特魅力。这只要读过金庸作品,我们便会倍有所感。甚至最惨烈的武打、互骂斗殴耍贫场面,也写得意趣盎然。
金庸是谁?谁是金庸?这个问题看似简单,实则不易回答。
金庸是文化名流,是政治活动家,是新闻工作者,是武侠小说家,也曾是浙江大学人文学院院长。借用美国学者卡林内斯库所写的一本书的标题《现代性的五副面孔》来形容,金庸也有五副“面孔”即五种“身份”。所以,谈起金庸来,多少给人以“说不尽金庸”之感。
当然,金庸最主要的“面孔”还是武侠小说家,其他的“面孔”也在武侠小说家那里得到投射,彼此形成一种互文关系。就这个意义而言,金庸是极具个性化、不可复制也无法复制的。如果我们只是从一般的武侠小说家的“面孔”来看他,可能会忽略了他的特质,至少评价失之简单粗糙。
(一)
一代大侠飘然而去,宣告一个时代的结束,一个金庸时代的结束——我在15年前的一篇文章中,以金庸为叙述主线,曾提出“前金庸”“金庸”“后金庸”这样三个时代。我的意思是说,21世纪或再早一点,其实,武侠小说已由“金庸”时代进入了“后金庸”时代:“金庸热”已退潮,金庸范式开始逐渐被新的一代作家的新的范式所取代(如浙江大学毕业的沧月),读者尤其是年轻一代读者可能也更喜好新的范式,如“穿越”、“盗墓”,全民阅读的语境变了,口味也变了。这一点,只要浏览一下今天图书市场,网上广告及其订书,已无二三十年前“金庸专柜”、人们疯狂抢购之盛况,就不难获知。而在港台地区,这种由“金庸”时代进入的“后金庸”时代,事实上来得更早,在上个世纪70年代就出现了。只是由于种种原因,港台地区与大陆在金庸及武侠小说传播接受上的这种“时间落差”,被我们有意无意地忽略了,我们不少人以为在20世纪八九十年代,港台地区与大陆一样,金庸还在继续扮演着“有水井处必有金庸”的“超级神话”。
这样说金庸,可能使人感到有点沮丧,但我要说,这是合乎文学发展规律的。须知,文学总是以否定之否定的形式向前推进的,这是“常态”——“一代有一代之文学”嘛。如果永远停留在“金庸”时代,那倒是不可思议的,也不利于武侠小说创新发展。
那么,在“后金庸”时代,我们到底应该怎样评价金庸呢?立足历史评价的立场,也是从当下武侠小说境遇及其存在问题出发,我以为有以下三点有必要值得关注,这也是我们今天纪念金庸武侠小说的深层原因和要义所在:
首先,金庸武侠小说虽有通俗文学难以避免的类型化、符号化的局限,但无论如何,我们不得不心悦诚服,他的15部作品为我们创造了林林总总的一系列人物形象,如黄蓉、灭绝师太、欧阳峰、老顽童周伯通等,其中有的已成为典型进入文学史,如郭靖、令孤冲、乔峰、岳不群、韦小宝,已家喻户晓,深入人心。
这是很了不起的,是我们需要向金庸“致以崇高敬礼”的,也是包括“典型”理论在内的传统经典的文学观,值得尊重乃至值得推崇的地方。自然,恰恰亦是当下“穿越”、“盗墓”小说,包括金庸之后的温瑞安、黄易的武侠小说,推而广之,还包括各种名目繁多的现代主义小说的一大致命局限。它们注重隐蔽幽深意象、观念、心态、情绪的创作,固然为我们打开了另一个空间,并由此实现了将文学“由外向内”的转移,但却给我们留下了形象()模糊空疏的历史性局限。不管是什么文学,没有形象或者缺少鮮明有力形象()支撑的文学,它的意义和价值终究是有损害的,这是金庸武侠小说留给我们的一个宝贵经验,也是他对当下创作的一个启迪。
其次,是形象背后用以支撑的精神蕴含及其人文情怀,用金庸自己的话来讲,就是“侠之大者,为国为民”,他就是以此作为“立侠”即确立侠义精神及其载体武侠英雄形象的“阿基米德点”,并把“侠”摆在“武”之上。
金庸这样的武侠叙事,是建立在对人的理解、对人的价值的确信的判断基础之上,可以说包括西方文学在内的古今中外文学,都是坚持以大写的人为核心的人学观的,这也是古今中外文学创作的一个前提。而当下包括武侠小说在内的文学,由于西方非理性思潮的影响,对这样一个构成和支撑人物形象尤其是英雄形象的人学核心基本点产生了怀疑。所以,文学应有的理想主义和乌托邦式微,人变成了非人或准非人,其欲望及其个我一面被无限放大。像有些“后武侠小说”所写的侠客一样,一碰到一点麻烦就拔腿开溜、逃之夭夭,对此,我们虽不能简单否定,需要放在文学史上给予历史的评价,但不得不承认它存在着严重局限,尤其是当它成为带有倾向性的现象时,需要引起警惕。将金庸武侠小说放在这样的背景下观照,可能对其意义和价值有更准确把握。尽管金庸后来由“立侠”向“疑侠”“反侠”转换,甚至像《鹿鼎记》中对韦小宝这样的人物也在相当程度上给予认同,并且在侠义中融入了现代人文的元素,使之与五四文学相融通,但他并没有否定对人的信念及其应有的精神质量。
再次,是他的充溢着中国元素、汉语魅力和金氏印记的创造性与想象力,由此,在给人们带来极大观赏性的同时,对推广和扩大中国文化与汉语魅力产生了不可小觑的影响。从这个意义上,金庸是中国文化和汉语的形象的“使者”,他的意义已超越了文学及其中国国界。金庸是属于世界的,至少是属于汉文化圈的亚洲的。
(二)
回到创造性与想象力的话题上来,这里所说的“中国元素”,是指大至儒道佛(),从武功招式的命名,到谈剑、论箫、品茶、说酒,下棋、菜肴、中医草药、文房四宝,尤其是神秘的内功,以其博学及其卓尔不凡的笔力,将中国文化的神秘性写得摇曳多姿,令人神往。这里所说的“汉语魅力”,指他在武侠叙事时,很好地使用与“中国元素”或中国文化相适的,带有典雅隽永、沉潜蕴藉、灵性诗性特点的中国方块字,向世人充分展示了汉语的独特魅力。这只要读过金庸作品,便会让我们倍有所感,为他深厚的语言功底及其古文素养所折服。甚至最惨烈的武打、互骂斗殴耍贫场面,也被他写得意趣盎然。这对我们今天只重内容或形式创新而不注重语言表达,特别是语言叙述粗糙化、粗鄙化,甚至视丑为美、嗜痂之癖,无疑具有警示意义。
所谓的“金氏印记”,是指他与个人经历及文学觀、历史观、价值观有关的独特性,与当时的梁羽生、古龙以及此前此后乃至今天相异的东西。除了上面提到外,如选择重大的历史事件作为背景,追求武侠叙述历史化与历史化的武侠叙述;浓烈的政治情结,挥之不去的政治情怀;倾心倾情地写男女纯洁无瑕、不为世俗所拘的痴情、爱情;叙述过程中经常穿插和安排带有“狂欢”特征的场面,等等。如此,使其武侠小说显得既开阔大气、富有历史感,又细致入微、生动有趣。
在结束这篇短文的最后,我想呼吁在对金庸进行深入研究的同时,加强有关史料的收集和整理。这不是说以前没有进行这方面工作,而是说现在和日后要更加自觉地从史料学的高度认识之、实践之,包括年谱、版本、撰论、访谈、口述、回忆、演讲、影视改编等。
在这方面应该发挥浙江的、浙大的独特优势,可以为金庸及武侠小说研究做出为别人或其他地方所无法取代的贡献。我希望有更多与金庸有接触交往的人文学院同仁来撰写这方面的追忆文章,从各个方面、层次和维度来“还原”金庸,用这种方式来纪念金庸。
It seems hard to define Jin Yong (Louis Cha, 1924-2018), though a definition looks deceptively simple. Take a look at his career and life, one can easily say that he is a cultural celebrity, he is a political activist, he is a journalist, and he is a Wuxia novelist. However, first of all, he is a Wuxia novelist. All other identities of his can be traced back to his being a Wuxia novelist. In this sense, Jin Yong is a unique phenomenon. If we considered him just an ordinary Wuxia novelist, we would risk overlooking some of his best qualities. Such a negligent overlook can lead to overly simplified misunderstanding.
As I said in my discussion published in in 2003, the beginning of the 21st century probably the last few years of the 20th century marked the beginning of a post-Jin-Yong era. The mania about his novels has ebbed on the mainland. He is being replaced by a new generation of writers. And younger readers prefer other genres of adventures. In fact, the popularity of Jin Yongs novels on the mainland raged in the 1980s and the 1990s, about one or two decades later than they were popular in Taiwan and Hong Kong, for example. The post-Jin-Yong era started somewhere much earlier than it did on the mainland. It would seem frustrating to examine Jin Yong and his influence this way. The waning popularity is inevitable. And it is inevitable that a new generation of readers have their preferences. This gives rise to a new question: how do we evaluate Jin Yong in the post-Jin-Yong era?
I believe we need concern ourselves with the following three considerations.
First, though his Wuxia novels cannot avoid limitations, these masterpieces create characters that are very much alive in our culture. This is a great achievement to which we must pay our homage and which we must respect if we want to be consistent with ourselves and if we still respect the classics promoted in traditional literary theories. In comparison with Jin Yongs novels, some new novels by contemporary novelists look good, but they have failed to give us some characters that will go on living in our culture. These new novels and new genres dont stand up to scrutiny if we examine them closely and rigorously.
Second, Jin Yong emphasizes the value upheld by Wuxia. Wushu routines and stunts they are able to perform are always secondary to the beliefs and values they uphold. Jin Yong states that the greatest of Wushu masters put national and public interests before everything else. His Wuxia novels deliver his understanding of human nature and his judgment of human value. His heroes are much better than some anti-heroes in many trendy novels in the post-Jin-Yong era.
Third, his novels are full of Chinese cultural elements, highlight the beauty of Chinese language, and showcase his imagination and creativity in plotting a story and characterization. These novels not only entertain readers but also promote Chinese culture and Chinese language. In this sense, Jin Yong is an ambassador of Chinese culture and Chinese language. He is more than his novels or his being a Chinese nationality. He is a global figure and at least a big name in the cultural circle of Chinese language in Asia.
I hereby call for a better collection and study of historical information on his life, book editions, editorials, interviews, oral narratives, memoirs, speeches, and film and television adaptations. Zhejiang Province and Zhejiang University can play a unique role in this aspect and make irreplaceable contribution to the study of the novelist and his novels. I hope more colleagues at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of Zhejiang University who knew Jin Yong personally write their stories so as to enable us to better understand who Jin Yong is.