Chapter 36 "One divided into two" to Jin Shengtan

According to research, Hu Shi naturally had to deal with Jin Shengtan. Jin Shengtan was a famous literary critic in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. ①After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, due to the development of the commodity economy, new economic factors sprouted, and the ideology of the citizen class was reflected in the field of literature, and some literati's literary concepts were more enlightened than before.Jin Shengtan was also affected and put forward some bold opinions.After Li Zhi and Yuan Hongdao, he elevated the status of novels and operas, and once listed it as the "fifth book of talented scholars" in the world, giving him a high evaluation. He did three major things specifically for it: 1. He wrote three prefaces and One reading method; two, wrote a lot of comments, and revised the text; three, deleted all the chapters below 70.After his comments, deletions and revisions, since the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, it has been the best and has been popular for three hundred years. Many people don't even know that there are other versions.

When Hu Shi was a child, the first novel book that was bitten by a mouse was the "Fifth Talented Book" edited by Jin Shengtan.From then on, Hu Shi had a good impression of Jin Shengtan and admired Jin's talent. In 1920, with the support of Hu Shi, Shanghai Yadong Library published a "sorted out" new-style punctuation edition. Although Jin Shengtan's preface and comments were all deleted, Hu Shi wrote "Water Margin Textual Research" specially for this book. However, he still admires Jin Shengtan's opinion on "Water Margin", and still insists on the analytical attitude of "one divides into two".

Jin Shengtan is a complex character.Gossip about his character has been debated for hundreds of years and is still unresolved.At the beginning of Hu Shi's "Textual Research", he said that Jin Shengtan was a "big eccentric".The words of these three words are quite reasonable and decent.Hu Shi also spoke highly of Jin Shengtan's boldness in promoting "Water Margin", saying: Jin Shengtan was a great eccentric in the 17th century. He was able to boldly declare in that era that "Water Margin" had the same literary value as "Historical Records" and "National Policy", and that Shi Naian, Dong Jieyuan, Zhuang Zhou, Qu Yuan, Sima Qian and Du Fu had the same literary value in the history of literature. Occupying the same position, he said: "There is no article in the world that is right in "Water Margin", and there is no gentleman in the world who is right in Mr. Shi Naian!" What kind of vision! What courage! ②Jin Shengtan has a son named When Shi Gong was just 10 years old, Sheng Tan read it to him, and wrote a special preface for it, thinking that the way to teach children "should be the same", which is quite a bit of rebellious spirit.Hu Shi also appreciated this very much, saying that Jin Shengtan's "this kind of view still frightens many old and young gentlemen today, let alone three hundred years ago?"

However, why did they delete all of Jin Shengtan's comments when they published the "sorted out" new version of "Water Margin"? This is obviously inseparable from Hu Shi's views on Jin's comments.Although he also affirmed that Jin Shengtan's comments on the first 11 chapters of "Water Margin" were "no big mistakes"; he also said that Sheng Tan thought "Water Margin" was to write "chaotic self-survival", which was also "very good".However, Hu Shi thinks—— Jin Shengtan's "Water Margin" review not only has the style of stereotyped selection, but also the style of Mr. Neo Confucianism.

This "eight-legged qi" and "Confucianism qi" should be said to have hit the main drawback of Jin Shengtan's comments. ③ In the Ming Dynasty when Jin Shengtan lived, Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism still dominated the field of ideology and culture, stereotyped essays were rampant, and it was the most popular era for those "selectors" who specialized in stereotyped essays.Influenced by the ethos of the times, Jin Shengtan commented on stereotyped essays with the eyes of "chosen writers" at that time, and chopped up a famous literary work Ling Chi into a model of stereotyped essays with eyebrows and comments.For example, Jin Shengtan’s most proud criticism is that he wrote 18 consecutive “whistle sticks” in Jingyanggang section and 14 consecutive “curtains” and 38 laughs in Zishi Street section, saying that this is the “grass snake gray line method”.Jin Shengtan summarized as many as 15 kinds of this method and that method in "Reading the Calligraphy of the Fifth Talented Scholar". ④ Hu Shi pointed out, "This kind of mechanical literary criticism is the poison of stereotyped writers. Not only is it not beneficial to read it, but it is very harmful to develop a stereotyped literary concept."This is the "eight-legged qi" of the golden batch.

What does "Lixue Qi" refer to? Jin Shengtan used the so-called "subtle words and great righteousness" in "Spring and Autumn" to comment, thinking that Shi Naian blamed Song Jiang for using "Spring and Autumn Brushwork" everywhere.For example, in Chapter 21, after Song Jiang killed Yan Poxi, he and his younger brother Song Qing fled and went out. When they parted, they "farewell to their father, and saw that Song Taigong couldn't help crying, and then paid: You two have a bright future, don't worry about it. "This is a general description of the parting of father and son, and it has no deep meaning. Sheng Tan criticized:

Where there is no one, it is written that the grandpa shed tears, and where there are people, it is written that Song Jiang is crying.Seeing through with a cold eye, and writing with a cold pen, scholars all over the world, be careful not to say that "Water Margin" has no skin and yangqiu. Then he wrote that the Song Jiang brothers "pay the big and small farmers, serve the grandpa diligently in the morning and evening, and stop teaching and eating if there is a lack of food."This is also a general description without deep meaning, but Sheng Tan criticized: People also have a saying: Raise children to guard against old age.It is written by Pili Yangqiu that Song Jiang pays Zhuang customer service to serve the grandpa. ⑤

That is, Chunqiu's brushwork, accusing Song Jiang of being unfilial.Jin Shengtan so deeply seeks "Water Margin"'s "subtle words and great righteousness" He regarded Shi Naian's compliments to Song Jiang as Spring and Autumn brushwork, scolding Song Jiang, and persuading him, which is as pedantic as Mr. Neo Confucianism.Therefore, Hu Shi said: "Sheng Tan often scolded the pedants of Sanjia Village for not knowing the 'historical brushwork', but he didn't know that Sheng Tan knew too much about the history writing techniques, so his pedantry is more disgusting than the Sanjia Village pedants!"

Since Jin Shengtan's comments were so pedantic and stereotyped, the new version of "Water Margin" published by Yadong was completely deleted, allowing readers to read directly without having to read what "Water Margin" was hanging in Jin Shengtan's mind. "'s "historical writing method"; enables readers to directly appreciate the literature studied, without having to worry about the "back powder method" and "grass snake gray line method" of stereotyped writers in the 17th century! There have also been many debates about Jin Shengtan's half-cutting for meritorious service, and so far there are mixed opinions.Hu Shi also made a reasonable analysis on this.On the one hand, from a literary point of view, he fully affirms that Jin Shengtan can see that the text below 70 chapters of "Water Margin" is far inferior to the first half. This kind of literary vision is very rare among the ancients.As a writer, Jin Shengtan is extremely intelligent and remarkable.So Hu Shi said:

In these three hundred years, 70 chapters of the book have become the final version of the book.In all fairness, it is well deserved that 70 chapters should enjoy this honor. On the other hand, Hu Shi explored the social and ideological reasons for Jin Shengtan's severance from the perspective of the times.He pointed out: Sheng Tan was born in an era when thieves spread all over the world, seeing Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng like robbers spreading poison all over the country, so he felt that robbers should not be advocated, and should be "punished with words and pens". ... Sheng Tan also witnessed the bandits at the end of the Ming Dynasty who surrendered to officers and soldiers, and then rebelled again, so it was out of control.Therefore, he was very dissatisfied with Hou Meng's request to pardon the envoy of Song Jiang to discuss Fang La in "History of the Song Dynasty", so he tried his best to refute him, saying that he "made eight mistakes in one word".So he strongly commended the 70 chapters that did not have any future events.In fact, this is the influence of the times.

Hu Shi's analysis was basically in line with Jin Shengtan's thoughts and the actual social situation at that time.The preface to the third chapter of "Water Margin" in the gold edition is signed "February 15th, the 14th year of Emperor Chongzhen".It was about this year that Jin Shengtan succeeded in deleting and modifying, that is, 1641 AD.It was this year that Zhang Xianzhong, who had "falsely surrendered officers and soldiers", captured Xiangyang and killed Zhu Yiming, the king of Xiangyang; three years.It is in such a "background of the times" Next, Jin Shengtan, with "contemporary worries", ⑥ deletes the content of Zhao'an in less than 70 chapters; And he made up a passage of Lu Junyi's "Nightmare", describing Lu Junyi's dream of a man who called himself "Ji Kang" Some people came to arrest him, but he was weak and captured. Song Jiang and other 17 people pretended to surrender, hoping to save Lu's life.Immediately afterwards, Jin Shengtan wrote: I saw that man (press, referring to Ji Kang, real shadow Zhang Shuye) scolded at the desk: "Thousand-death mad thief, you have committed a heinous crime. The imperial court has come to arrest you many times. You openly refused to kill countless officers and soldiers. Today But come here to beg for mercy, trying to escape the sword and axe! If I forgive you today, how can I rule the world in the future? Besides, the wolf's ambition is exactly what I believe you can't do! So one hundred and eight heroes were all beheaded.When Lu Junyi woke up, he saw a plaque on the hall with the words "Tianxia Taiping" written in large letters.Jin Shengtan criticized himself here again: "The theory of immortality can break the fallacy of continuing to pass on Zhao'an"; he also criticized many times what "true auspicious words" are.This "nightmare" was originally a plot text fabricated by Jin Shengtan, but he used the habit of self-correction and self-criticism to criticize plausibly: Later generations deleted this festival again, exaggerated and called for safety, and made sure that the crime was attributed to the court and the credit to the robbers, and even the word "loyalty" was used to crown it. It shows that Jin Shengtan's cutting of "Water Margin" is not in favor of Zhao'an. He dreamed that there would be a Ji Shuye who came to kill Song Jiang and others.Therefore, Hu Shi said, "If you don't understand the chaos of the bandits in the late Ming Dynasty, you don't understand why Jin Shengtan's views on "Water Margin" are so pedantic."It should be said that it is quite insightful and profound to explore the root of literary opinions from the background of the times and social struggles. However, Hu Shi also fell into the trap of Jin Shengtan, believing that Shengtan did have a 70-chapter "ancient version", and defended the so-called "ancient version" that Shengtan pretended in many ways. ⑧Later, Lu Xun, Yu Pingbo, Li Xuanbo and others all disagreed with Hu Shi’s opinion. They argued that Dingjin Shengtan did not have any “ancient version”, but he only cut off the last 30 chapters based on the 100-chapter version, so the 70-chapter version was the latest to be published. .Hu Shi was still modest, acknowledging the mistakes in his assumptions and correcting his own conclusions, showing the valuable character of a scholar who upholds the truth and corrects mistakes. ①Jin Shengtan once commented and deleted and revised.This section is mainly based on Hu Shi's evaluation of Jin's criticism of "Water Margin", and the author inevitably has some right and wrong, but it is not a comprehensive evaluation of Jin Shengtan's novel theory. ② "Water Margin Textual Research", see "Hu Shi Wencun", Shanghai Yadong Library, August 9, 1926, Volume 3, pages 81-82.All quotations from this text below in this section shall not be otherwise noted. ③ Lu Xun had similar criticisms of Jin Shengtan.In the article "Talking about Jin Shengtan", he said: "His reputation after the middle of the Qing Dynasty was also somewhat wronged. He raised the legend of the novel and juxtaposed it with "Zuo Zhuan" and "Du Poems". Moreover, after his criticism, the honesty of the original work is often turned into a joke, and the structure and writing are all dragged into the practice of stereotypes. This shadow has caused a group of people to fall into confrontation and so on. , always looking for the bottom line, picking at the flawed quagmire." ("The Complete Works of Lu Xun", Beijing People's Literature Publishing House, 1981 edition, Vol. 4, p. 527) It can be said that it coincides with Hu Shi's opinion. ④Jin Shengtan's "Reading the Calligraphy of the Fifth Talented Scholar" said: "There are many grammars that are not found in other books." A total of 15 types are listed, and their names are as follows: inverted interpolation method, clip narrative method, grass snake gray line method, Big falling ink method, cotton needle and mud puncture method, powder spreading method on the back, drawing method, otter tail method, positive violation method, slight violation method, extreme inefficiency, extreme inefficiency, longitudinal method for wanting to match, horizontal cloud and broken mountain method, Luan glue continuous string method.Kim has explanations and examples for each method.This kind of method was obviously influenced by the stereotyped essays at that time; there were also many formalistic things in the comments. But Jin Shengtan has a sharper artistic sensibility, and sometimes there is no lack of vigilance and inspiration. ⑤ See "The Fifth Talent Book Shi Naian Water Margin", Zhongzhou Ancient Books Publishing House, March 1985 edition, Volume 1, p. 357. ⑥In the second preface written by Jin Shengtan, with the subtle words and great meaning of "Spring and Autumn", he said that Shi Naian's inscription of his book "Water Margin" was "too evil, to the extreme, and not the same as China" to Song Jiang and others; therefore , Sheng Tan deleted the word "loyalty" added by Li Zhi, and said: Those who cut loyalty and still keep the water margin, so the book of Nai'an is a small matter, so the ambition of Nai'an is a big matter.Although in barnyard officer, there are worries in the world.The respectful and prudent gentleman of the later generations, Gou can understand my ambition, and it is difficult for me to say what I say. ⑦Refer to the general commentary of the 70th chapter of "The Fifth Talent Book Shi Naian's Outlaws of the Marsh", and the last paragraph of the text and comments.Zhongzhou Ancient Books Edition, Volume 2, p. 1113, p. 1123-1124. ⑧Refer to "Water Margin Textual Research" and "Water Margin Post-Textual Research", see "Hu Shi Wen Cun" Volume 3, pp. 115-131; pp. 171-177. ⑨Refer to "The Preface to the Hundred and Twenty Chapters of the Loyalty of the Water Margin", see "Three Collections of Hu Shi's Wencun", Shanghai Yadong Library, June 1931, 3rd edition, Volume 5, pages 613-624 and 654-657.