引言
一九四八年六月,《談藝錄》由上海開(kāi)明書(shū)店印行,明年七月再版而止。海外盜版勿絕,好事者賞示二本,均誤脫百出,不堪思適,聊勝于無(wú)耳。自維少日輕心,淺嘗易足,臆見(jiàn)矜高;即億而偶中,終言之成理而未澈,持之有故而未周,詞氣通侻[m1] ,亦非小眚[m2] 。壯悔滋深,藏拙為幸。故余后來(lái)論文有作,未嘗稍及此書(shū)。一九六五年,北京中華書(shū)局忽謀重印,二三京滬出版社亦相繼慫恿,余胥[m3] 遜謝。暨乎《管錐編》問(wèn)世,中華數接讀者來(lái)函,以《談藝錄》罕覯[r4] 為言,因申前請。固辭不獲,乃稍刪潤原書(shū),存為上編,而逐處訂益之,補為下編;上下編冊之相輔,即早晚心力之相形也。僧肇《物不遷論》記梵志白首歸鄉,語(yǔ)其鄰曰:“吾猶昔人、非昔人也?!逼潉t猶昔書(shū)、非昔書(shū)也,倘復非昔書(shū)、猶昔書(shū)乎!援據漢籍,多請馬蓉女士、欒貴明君檢核,援據西籍,多請薛鴻時(shí)、董衡巽、馬力三君檢核。西班牙瑪麗亞-里維斯女士(SenoraMaria Perez Ribes)、西德莫妮克博士(Dr MonikaMotsch)、美國汪榮祖教授皆遠貽新刻,濟吾所乏。審定全稿者,為周君振甫。當時(shí)原書(shū)付印,君實(shí)理董之,余始得與定交。三十五年間,人物浪淘,著(zhù)述薪積。何意陳編,未遭棄置,切磋拂拭,猶仰故人。誦“卬[r5] 須我友”之句,欣慨交心矣。
一九八三年五月
Foreword
In June, 1948, On the Art of Poetry (Tan Yi Lu,談藝錄) was published by Shanghai Kaiming PublishingHouse, and was reprinted in July of the following year. Since then,there was no further official publication of the book whereasoverseas piracy printing never ceased to end. A few warm-heartedmen had shown me two of such books in which I found plenty ofprinting errors and omissions. These un-authorized copies wouldfail for certain to survive any careful reading, and be merelyclose to better-than-nothing. The book was written in my earlyages, a time when I was casual and arrogant in jumping intoconclusion with inadequate grounds. Even though some of the viewsmight accidentally be on the target, it would be partial in itsreasoning, and incomplete by its nature. Furthermore, the words andtones used in the book were somewhat rash in general, which couldnot be only referred to as small mistakes. Consequently, I feltincreasingly remorseful about writing this book when growing inage, and deemed it fortunate if it could be hidden from publicreview ever after, which explained why I had nevertouched upon it again in my later writings. In 1965, Beijing ChinaPublishing House suddenly raised its intension to reprint it, andseveral other publishers in Beijing and Shanghai urged to it aswell, but I gratefully declined them all. At the time afterLimited Views – Essays on Ideas and Views (Guan Zhui Bian,管錐編) was published, China Publishing Housereceived quite a few inquires from readers saying that it was waytoo difficult to find On the Art of Poetry, so the publishercame to me again asking for permission to reprint. I endeavored toresist but in vain, leaving me no choice but to moderately deleteand embellish the original edition, which became first part ofbook, and to add new content where appropriate, which formed into asecond part. The combination of the two can be views as marriagebetween the thoughts of my early age and that of the later. SenZhao’s Wu Bu Qian Lun tells a story about Fan Zhi, whoreturned to hometown at his old days and made a remark to theneighbors, “I’m like the ME before, but I’m no longer thatman.” Likewise, it is fair to say that this book is like the onebefore, but is no longer that one; but if you consider it a newbook, then it still resembles the one before. I would like to thankMs. Ma Rong and Mr. Luan Guiming for checking up my citing ofChinese literatures, and thank Mr. Xue Hongshi, Mr. Ma Hengxun andMr. Ma Li for checking up my citing of western literatures. Ms.Senora Maria Perez Ribes of Spain, Dr. Monika Motsch of WestGermany and Prof. Wang Rongzu of the States all sent me from afarnewly-published books to relieve me from the hunger of resources.Mr. Zhou Zhenfu is the one who carefully read and examined thewhole book. When the manuscript was sent for print, he underwent astrict process making sure it was in good order, a process throughwhich we became very good friends ever since. 35 years has flownpast since the first On the Art of Poetry came to print, atime during which many people came and left, and loads of bookswere written and piled up. Therefore it is to my surprise that myold book has not been forgotten and tossed away. It is all thanksto my old friends that this humble book is picked up and presentedto readers again. With the poetry “me, here waiting for myfriends” echoing in my mind, I sigh with happiness for suchprecious friendship.
May, 1983
[m1]侻
tuō
<形>
簡(jiǎn)易的。指性情坦率和易,不拘小節。如:侻順(簡(jiǎn)易而順情)
輕率的
[m2]眚
shěng
<名>
過(guò)失
眚,過(guò)也?!?a target="_blank" >廣韻》
孤之過(guò)也,大夫何罪?且吾不以一眚掩大德?!?a target="_blank" >左傳·僖公三十三年》
[m3]胥
xū
<副>
都;皆
爾之教矣,民胥效矣?!?a target="_blank" >詩(shī)·小雅·角弓》
[r4]覯
gòu
遇見(jiàn):罕~(不常見(jiàn))。