從情書到遺書：中國二十世紀初書信言情文學的修辭情境轉變

From Love Letters to Last Words: Early 20^(th)-Century Epistolary Literature in China and the Rhetoric of Emotion

李馥名(Fu-ming Lee)

《中國現代文學》 37期 (2020/06) Pp. 41-64

摘要

本文從發語－受話衍生的修辭感染力（pathos）角度解析清末至五四時代的書信文學，關注向來沉默的受話者／讀者（第二人稱的「你」），以重讀被學界視為第一人稱敘事起始的近代文學史。以林紓的書信文體論為中心，旁及同時期其他文人對西方修辭學的引介，本文首先論證書信如何由單方面的「抒發」轉化為作者－讀者的「情境式」溝通。後兩節進而討論由林紓譯作《巴黎茶花女遺事》所開啟的書信文學風潮，由修辭效果的角度解析如徐枕亞《玉梨魂》及包天笑《冥鴻》等作品，以凸顯讀者在書信情境裡的矛盾身份，其次跨度到五四以後的女作家馮沅君及石評梅，聚焦時人風靡「遺書」的文學及社會現象，論證發語-受話的敘事架構如何臻於成熟。

關鍵字

書信文學 ； 遺書 ； 修辭學 ； 敘事角度 ； 溝通

並列摘要

This paper re-evaluates the putative beginnings of first-person literature in modern China by turning to the mute addressee (the reader or second-person ＂you＂), in order to examine the rhetoric of emotions (pathos) directed at this audience. Focusing on epistolary literature from the late Qing dynasty to May 4^(th) period, I analyze the communicational tension between addresser and addressee to show how this literary trope challenged how literary critics viewed the function of the author-reader relationship. My discussion begins by contrasting Lin Shu's (1852-1924) critical remarks on letter writing with Western views introduced by his contemporaries. I argue that, in modern China, the epistle transformed from a genre that ＂expresses＂ the author's personal feelings to that ＂communicates＂ the author and reader in specific contexts. My paper closes with a textual analysis that traces the epistle's historical formation, led by Lin Shu's seminal translation of Alexandre Dumas' The Lady with the Camellias (La dame aux camélias); and later iterated and developed by Xu Zhenya's The Jade Pear, Bao Tianxiao's ＂Letters to the Underworld,＂ and later works by the May 4^(th) female writers Feng Yuanjun and Shi Pingmei. This textual history of epistles matures and culminates in a rhetoric in which the letter writer leaves behind ＂last words＂ prior to death-the lasting effects of affect, immortalized by the power relationship between addresser and addressee.

並列關鍵字

epistolary literature ； last words ； rhetoric ； narrative perspective ； communication

參考文獻

包天笑，〈冥鴻〉，收於吳組緗、端木蕻良、時萌頁合編，《中國近代文學大系》，上海，上海書店出版社，1992。。

石評梅著，山西省地方誌辦公室編，《石評梅全集》，太原市，山西人民出版社，2014。

宗廷虎，《中國現代修辭學史》，杭州市，浙江教育出版社，1997。

林紓，《春覺齋論文集》，北京，人民文學出版社，1959。

徐枕亞，《玉梨魂》，收於董文成、李勤學合編，《中國近代珍稀本小說》第十冊，瀋陽，春風文藝出版社，1997。