- 期刊
吳梅村〈琵琶行〉中之「南」與懺悔
The Image of the South and Confession in Wu Weiye's ＂Song of the Lute＂
摘要
清順治二年（1645）五月，南明弘光朝土崩瓦解，吳偉業（梅村，1609－1672）攜家人百口避難長洲礬清湖浹月，後逼於時勢，返里。三年季春，因緣和合，梅村作〈琵琶行〉，乃其於南明朝覆亡後「梅村體」敘事歌行之初試，而膾炙人口至今。由夜聽琵琶而及明崇禎朝覆亡之痛史，〈琵琶行〉乃梅村「史詩」之大手筆、「歷史創傷」（historical trauma）的展現。前賢論此詩，多著眼於其與唐白居易（772－846）同題名篇之異同，創獲已多。筆者細味梅村此詩，則發現其首段與末段首尾呼應，內含一南北對比的話語系統，大有探論的價值。於此對比系統中，梅村對晚明以來的江南音樂、文化、文人生活美學，作出耐人尋味的凝視與內省。愚意以為，〈琵琶行〉一詩，實乃梅村自我反省、批判、懺悔的詩性再現。
並列摘要
In mid-1645, as the Hongguang court of the Southern Ming dynasty crumbled into dust, Wu Weiye (Meicun, 1609-1672) took refuge with his whole family in Lake Fanqing, Changzhou. After two long, worrisome months, the Wu family returned home. In late spring of the succeeding year (Shunzhi 3, 1646), Wu wrote ＂Pipa xing＂ (Song of the Lute). Composed in Wu's celebrated ＂Meicun Style,＂ this narrative, lyrical and figurative poem in ballad form has been lauded as one of Wu's most important and successful poems. An engaging performance of the lute in a spring evening moved Wu to tears and to write ＂Song of the Lute,＂ which tells the sad story of the last emperor, Chongzhen, of the Ming dynasty. ＂Song of the Lute＂ is regarded as shishi (poetic history), infused with historical trauma. Much attention has been paid to the relationship between Wu's poem and the one bearing the same title by his predecessor, the Tang poet Bai Juyi. While this is enlightening, there are other aspects of Wu's poem that merit further examination. This paper argues that the first and the last sections of Wu's poem consist of a nuanced dialogue in which the doomed fate of the late Ming is played out in terms of the differences between the Southern and Northern cultures. Here in the poem, Wu muses on the music, culture, and living style of late-Ming Jiangnan, which are regrettably seen as elements contributing to the demise of the Ming house. ＂Song of the Lute＂ tenderly expresses a sense of self-criticism, and can be considered as a confession of guilt.