詩意的追尋：林庚文學史論述與"抒情傳統"說

中國文學抒情傳統論是一個非常值得關注的課題。相關論述以陳世驤之說最有影響，而其說又與北京大學的學統關系極大，與林庚先生的中國文學史觀亦屬同一脈絡。上世紀三十年代清華大學的林庚與北京大學的陳世驤同時於北平文壇活動。從林、陳之關系及師友淵源，可知二人論述同調，並非無因。陳世驤提出"整體而言，中國文學傳統就是一個抒情傳統"。林庚也認為中國文學史在宋以前的重心離不開詩歌；宋元以後雖然小說戲劇當道，但其中還是存有許多的"詩意"；因此中國文學史"事實上乃是一個以詩歌為中心的文學史"，中國文學的貢獻是"以十五國風代表的抒情傳統"。由此觀之，林庚的文學史論述可說是陳世驤等人的"中國文學抒情傳統"論的先聲。
The concept of "Chinese lyrical tradition" was proclaimed by Chen Shixiang in 1970s and has henceforth exerted immense impact on the study of Chinese literature. It is noteworthy that this concept is comparable to Lin Geng’s exposition on Chinese literature. Lin and Chen were in fact fellow members of a group of young writers in Beiping in 1930s. Both were mentored by the same group of scholar-critics active in the time, and shared the same cultural milieu. Lin later asserted that poetry or poeticality is the most important characteristics throughout the history of Chinese literature. Based on the common conviction that poetry was the predominant literary genre before the Song Dynasty, Lin found that even narrative genres embrace a kind of "poeticality" in China. These findings coincide with what Chen Shixiang emphasized in his writings on "Chinese lyrical tradition." It is therefore reasonable to regard Lin Geng as one of the predecessors of this influential concept in the modern study of Chinese literature. Copyright © 2010 北京大學.