作者 |
錢南秀(美國萊斯大學亞洲研究系)
摘要 |
本文陳述筆者嘗試以史帶戲、以戲代論、寫作古典戲曲劇本《李清照》的動機、目的、及相關問題的思考。
李清照作品為人,身前便多受評議。宋代以來,士大夫亟稱其才,卻因李氏再嫁之說,譏其晚節不終。影響及於近代,戊戌男性變法領袖猶謂李氏“有才無德”、“批風抹月”,謂婦女詩詞為浮浪,而與其時維新婦女以李氏為師的主張深相沖突。現代學者研究李氏亦有兩截觀念﹕ 批評其早年詩詞囿於個人情感,中年以後始“跳出了封建時代婦女生活的狹窄天地,發表了對社會、政治的一些見解”。對李氏評價如此跌蕩起伏,是男性中心社會以其既定主流價值系統省視李氏的結果。在這一過程中,省視者往往忽視李氏自身的價值體系。
認識論上的支離片面,在描寫李氏生平的電影戲劇中,亦有反映﹕一類側重李對其夫趙明誠的鶼鰈深情,使李的主體性,迷失在趙的生命脈絡中,不過是又一位貞烈寡婦,無法交待出一位千古獨步的女詞人,遑論對其主體情感思維的揭示與體認。同時,囿於傳統的貞節觀,為維護李氏形象及李趙愛情的完美,遂避開李氏再嫁及離異這節公案。另一類側重李對國家民族危亡的關切;因僅就李集中一二殘詩斷句,略作點染,且往往以現代愛國主義觀念,取代宋代女詞人對其時民族矛盾的態度,而無法與李氏的整體情感思維相溝通。
筆者以為,李氏個人經歷與世變勾聯交錯,又因其高才卓識,每與男權直接沖突,一生迭起波瀾。其間一以貫之,是她作為女人、學人、詞人,對家國文化及親人的摯愛與強烈責任感。筆者以戲曲創作代替作家作品論,以求更形象地建立起李氏的主體呈現,為公眾還原一位接近史實的李清照。在寫作過程中,依據最新學術成果及有關史料為外證,依據細讀李氏作品為內證,一切虛構部分,劇本中均有注解交代。
關鍵字 |
李清照、才德、愛國、婦女詩詞、主體性、 以戲代論
Title |
Visualizing Li Qingzhao (1084-c. 1155)
Author |
Nanxiu Qian(Department of Asian Studies,Rice University USA)
Abstract |
This paper explains why I wrote a traditional Chinese drama following on Li Qingzhao’s life. Li’s reputation as the best Chinese woman poet, and one of the most accomplished of all Chinese poets, has long been tarnished by her controversial personal life. Sincere and outspoken, Li often openly voiced her direct conflict with the leading male statesmen and literati of her time, on issues ranging from government affairs to questions of literary style. To most Chinese male intellectuals, Li’s intelligence was impressive but also subversive. Complicating matters was her remarriage after the death of her first husband, and then her divorce from the second. Later male scholars condemned her as “having talent but lacking virtue.”
This disparagement reached its high point during the 1898 reform era, when male reformers singled out Li Qingzhao as a negative example of women’s learning and dismissed poetic creation as outside the acceptable knowledge structure for women. Women, by contrast, admired Li Qingzhao for both her talent and her courage, valorizing her as the teacher of women.
Modern literary criticism tends to split Li’s life into two parts, criticizing her “self-indulgent youth” but acclaiming her “patriotic later years.” Yet this modern version of patriotism that places sovereignty before people’s well-being differs very much from Li’s. For Li, patriotism means first and foremost love for the land, the people, and the culture, and relentless criticism of a sovereign who fails to protect all this and, worse even, puts his people in misery. Li’s life was not an amalgamation of fragments, but a coherent whole permeated with such love.
Since the 1980s, China has staged four different versions of Li Qingzhao’s life. All of these versions, written by male playwrights, have portrayed Li primarily as her husband’s devoted wife, while neglecting her own subjectivity as a passionate poet who expressed in her poetry not only a deep affection for her family, but also a profound love for her country and her people.
This script is written, therefore, in an effort to portray a more authentic Li Qingzhao—one based on extensive archival research and up-to-date scholarship about her life and works.
Keywords |
Li Qingzhao, talent and virtue, patriotism, women’s poetry, subjectivity