令洛阳纸贵的左思

左思的《三都赋》洋洋逾万言,具有超凡的艺术感染力,写得相当精彩。洛阳城中豪贵之家竞相购买纸笔传写誊录,一时竟使纸价上涨。

The "Shu Capital Rhapsody", the first of zuo Si's rhapsodies on the three capitals of the Three Kingdoms Period, described the city of Chengdu and the surrounding area. The work was so highly renowned and frequently copied upon its release that the price of paper in Luoyang is said to have risen as a result. This later gave rise to the popular Chinese idiom "Paper is Expensive in Luoyang", today used to praise a literary work.

左思(约公元250-305),字太冲,齐国临淄(今山东淄博)人,西晋时期重要作家。左思家世儒学,父左雍从小吏起,官至殿中侍御史。左思小时候并没显示出过人的才华,曾学琴艺和书法,都没有成就。他的父亲很无奈地对朋友说:“左思知道的东西,还不如我小的时候呢。”据说左思长相也不太受看,而且口吃,但却极富文采,史称“貌寝口讷,辞藻壮丽。”或许就是这些因素,促使他将人生的全部热情都倾注在文学写作中,以手中之笔抒发内心种种感怀。

晋武帝泰始(公元265-274)年间,左思的妹妹左芬被选入宫,他遂移家京城洛阳,求得秘书郎的官职,能充分阅读官家各种藏书,由此开始了《三都赋》的构思和写作。此前东汉时的班固有《两都赋》,张衡有《二京赋》,分别铺写西安、洛阳的自然景物、宫苑建筑及风土人情,并以此成为汉赋的重要代表作品而享名文坛。左思的《三都赋》则是要分别铺写魏、蜀、吴三国的都城。据《晋书・文苑传》记,他“构思十年,门庭藩溷,皆著笔纸”,在家中很多角落,甚至厕所都放置了笔和纸,以便随时记录脑海中出现的言词,最终以超出常人的恒心和坚忍不拔的毅力,完成了《三都赋》的写作。赋成之后,左思担心自己身份卑微不利于作品流传,就请当时名位崇高的皇甫谧、张载、刘逵为之作序和注解,而后又得到了当时文坛宿将司空张华的盛誉。张华读后赞叹道:“班、张之流也。使读之者尽而有余,久而更新。”言下之意是《三都赋》可与汉班固和张衡的作品相媲美。

当初在京城做官的江南氏族名流陆机也准备写类似的作品。他听说左思抢先了一步,不禁抚掌而笑,在给其弟陆云的信中颇不以为然地说:“这里有个凡夫俗子,要写什么《三都赋》,等他写成后,也就是用来盖酒坛子罢了。”不料左思的《三都赋》洋洋逾万言,具有超凡的艺术感染力,写得相当精彩。自视甚高的陆机看过后,也不得不叹服而搁笔。于是洛阳城中豪贵之家竞相购买纸笔传写誊录,一时竟使纸价上涨。“洛阳纸贵”的成语便由此而来。

左思不光《三都赋》写得好,其实今天看来,他的诗歌创作成就更大。如果说《三都赋》通过宏大篇幅描写魏都、蜀都、吴都,并以赞美魏都表现出这位山东文人对国家统一的自豪、对国事人生的关注,那么他的诗歌创作则更加注重发抒内心的情感,个人的自尊、自信与自我伤感在诗歌中都有深刻的表现。在西晋平庸的诗坛上,这位卑微而有些口吃的诗人以其风格质朴刚健的作品赢得了后人的美誉。

左思今存诗14首,主要作品有《咏史》8首、《招隐士》和《娇女诗》等,而以《咏史》8首影响最大。钟嵘的《诗品》将其列为“上品”,认为其诗:“文典以怨,颇为精切,得讽谕之致”,并称之为“左思风力”。左思诗歌以抒发人生的丰富关怀为主。《咏史》表达出作者不同人生阶段的思索与追求,所谓“文典以怨”的“怨”,是指诗歌具有强大的感发力量。其诗歌语言不刻意追求艳丽,情感丰富,语句中流淌着一种深沉感人的力量。而当时西晋文坛的代表作家陆机、潘岳等人的诗歌写作崇尚辞采,风格华丽,讲究语言形式对仗齐整,写作方式多以模拟古人作品为主。颇值得玩味的是,左思并非具有代表性的主流作家,其创作方式、艺术风格皆与当时的主流文学相左,却凭借卓越的诗歌创作成为西晋诗歌成就最高的作家。

文人咏史之作,最早始于班固。至左思《咏史》诗,始将自己的人生热情、和切身感受借歌咏古人的方式表达出来。也就是说,左思借助咏史以抒怀,咏史之作实为咏怀之作。当左思举家迁入洛阳,接触了上层社会的各色人物,经历了人生的许多坎坷起伏之后,逐渐冷静下来,情感变得深沉复杂。面对京城中的竞夸豪奢的贵族,这位来自山东的寒族文人内心依旧保持着平民的自尊与文人的冷静:“高眄邈四海,豪右何足陈!贵者虽自贵,视之若埃尘。贱者虽自贱,重之若千钧。”(第六首)“贱者”的自尊胜过千钧之重。与之相应的是,诗人内心又增加了粪土王侯权贵的激烈情绪。这种抨击王侯的诗句或许启发了唐代大诗人李白“安能摧眉折腰事权贵,使我不得开心颜”(《将进酒》)的诗句。

在朝政日渐混乱的西晋,左思甚至产生了退隐的想法:“自非攀龙客,何为来游?被褐出阊阖,高步追许由。振衣千仞冈,濯足万里流。”(第五首)诗人坦言并非攀附贵族之人,已经厌倦了京城中庸俗、令人窒息的生活。他要迫不及待地离开京城,追寻古代著名隐者许由。

当时主流社会欣赏的是那种姣好阴柔之美,如一代名臣何晏傅粉补妆、顾影自怜,卫孱弱多病、竟被众人围观致死等等。显然在此背景下,山东大汉的阳刚、健硕就不受待见。其实左思的胞妹能被选入皇宫中,长相自不必说,兄妹之间不可能相差太大。

左思晚年在冀州病死。由于远离了朝廷的政治争斗,他成为西晋文坛少有的得以善终的文人。

Zuo Si (250 - 305), courtesy name Taichong, was a writer and poet of the Western Jin Dynasty (265-316).

Zuo was born to an aristocratic family of Confucian scholars in Linzi. His mother died young. His father, Zuo Yong, was promoted to imperial official in charge of the imperial archives. Zuo Si would often play word games with his sister, Zuo Fen, who later became famous in her own right as a writer and a concubine of Emperor Wu of Jin.

In approximately 280, Zuo wrote the "Shu Capital Rhapsody", the first of his rhapsodies on the three capitals of the Three Kingdoms Period. The Shu Capital Rhapsody described the city of Chengdu and the surrounding area. This work features the earliest surviving reference to Mount Emei. The work was so highly renowned and frequently copied upon its release that the price of paper in Luoyang is said to have risen as a result. This later gave rise to the popular Chinese idiom "Paper is Expensive in Luoyang", today used to praise a literary work.

Zuo described his rhapsodies on the three capitals as derivative of similar works by Zhang Heng and Ban Gu. However, Mark Edward Lewis has written that Zuo's rhapsodies marked the end of the Han Dynasty ideal of the ritually perfect capital, because they describe three simultaneously existing, contemporary capitals, suppressing the ritual and historical evolution that structured the previous works. Zuo argued for accuracy as the basis of poetry, in contrast to the fantastic writings of Han poets. In his preface to the three rhapsodies, he wrote that while writers of lyric verse "sing of what their hearts are set upon", writers of descriptive rhapsodies "praise what they observe".

Zuo's poetry, particularly his poem Summoning the Recluse, is regarded as representative of the medieval Chinese "poetry of seclusion" or "poetry of the recluse." Unlike earlier poems, which encouraged readers to leave the wilderness for the official life, Zuo advocates a return to the wilderness. Gaul and Hiltz attribute this change in perspective to the replacement of Shamanistic beliefs with Confucian ethics and Daoist religion.

Zuo Si's work has continued to be resonate with later scholars. The Qing Dynasty scholar Yuan Mei wrote that Zuo Si's Singing of History "uses past deeds of historical characters to express what is in one's own heart", and is an example of the first of the three types of historical verse. The Tang Dynasty poet Wang Ji paid homage uses Zuo's Summoning the Recluse as a model, but departs from it by focusing on the recluse's way of life, rather than the natural surroundings. In addition, unlike Zuo, Wang does not completely abandon the pursuit of honor and glory in officialdom.