“左手右手”繞不過的愁

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Article | Tian Dong

2017年12月14日，89歲的詩人余光中帶著淡淡的鄉(xiāng)愁離去。余光中離世這天，浙江文藝出版社推出了電子版《凡?高的向日葵——余光中散文》，我在余光中曾寄身的重慶，擁衾而讀，不禁感懷。

On December 14, 2017, the 89-year-old poet, Yu Guangzhong left us with a touch of nostalgia. That day, Zhejiang Literature & Art Publishing House came out with an electronic version of“Van Gogh’s Sunflower - Yu Guangzhong’s Prose”.I read the book in Chongqing where Yu has stayed,embracing the quilt, and I can hardly contain oneself for melancholy.

左手右手“Left Hand” and “Right Hand”

自序里，余光中說：“散文與詩，是我的左右手，我曾戲稱自己的散文是‘左手的繆斯’。我開始寫散文，比開始寫詩雖然晚了三年，但是‘左手的繆斯’比起‘右手的繆斯’來，卻成熟得較早?！?/p>

余光中的散文和他的詩歌一樣，飲之欲醉。梁實(shí)秋曾經(jīng)贊嘆，“余光中右手寫詩，左手寫散文，成就之高一時(shí)無兩?！币灿性u論認(rèn)為，余氏散文的功力和成就，不在其詩歌之下，甚至還要高那么一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)。

比如《石城之行》中寫，“正午的太陽以四十余度的斜角在南方的藍(lán)空滾著銅環(huán)，而金黃色的光波溢進(jìn)玻璃窗來，撫我新剃的臉。我深深地飲著飄過草香的空氣?！薄赌咸防?，“我沿著紅磚砌成的人行道走過去，走進(jìn)十七世紀(jì)?！边B名字也詩意盎然的《聽聽那冷雨》中寫，“就憑一把傘，躲過一陣瀟瀟的冷雨，也躲不過雨季。連思想也是潮潤潤的?！?/p>

In the preface, Yu Guangzhong said, “Prose and poetry are like my right hand and left hand, and I called my prose the ‘Muse of left hand’. I began to write prose three years later than poetry, but‘Muse of left hand’ came out more mature than‘muse of the right hand’”.

Like his poems, Yu Guangzhong’s prose also fascinates readers. Liang Shiqiu once praised,“Yu uses right hand to write poetry, left hand writing prose, and the achievement in the two are likely the same.”, yet some critics argue that Yu’s achievements in prose are no less than his poetry, even higher.

For example, in “The Travel to Stone City”, Yu writes “the midday sun hanging in the southern blue sky with a slope of forty degrees, golden light comes through the glass window and touch my newly shaved face. I breathe the fresh grass smell in the air.” In “Nantucket”,“I walked along the red brick sidewalk and into the seventeenth century.” Even the prose “Listen to The Cold Rain” got a poetic name. “With an umbrella, I can avoid cold rain but not a rainy season. Even my thought is moist.” writes the author.

“一點(diǎn)”散文“A Little Bit” of Poetry

詩人自敘，“我一向認(rèn)為，抒情散文切忌一味抒情而到濫情的程度……另一方面，我又覺得文學(xué)評論不宜過于古板以致無情……也就因此，我的散文里有一點(diǎn)詩，而論文里有一點(diǎn)散文?！?/p>

“一點(diǎn)”是多少？讀過本書的朋友一定對數(shù)量單位的定義會(huì)有新的認(rèn)識。

我也必須自我糾正一下，對余光中光動(dòng)輒僅稱詩人是不準(zhǔn)確的，必須加上“散文家”。自序中，散文家余光中將散文分為六類——情、理、意、事、景、物。若各加一字，則是“抒情、說理、表意、敘事、寫景、狀物”。六項(xiàng)之中，前三項(xiàng)抽象而帶主觀，后三項(xiàng)具體而帶客觀?！笆闱槲慕谠?，敘事文近于小說，寫景文則既近于詩，亦近于小說。所以詩人大概兼善寫景文與抒情文，小說家兼善寫景文與敘事文?！?/p>

余光中還頗有些得意的論斷：“六項(xiàng)功能，或許可以用來衡量一位散文家是‘專才’還是‘通才’。”言下之意，似乎是將自己歸為后者。畢竟自古以來，中國人對“通”“全”的景仰，是高于“?！钡摹?/p>

In the preface, Yu says, “I always think that lyrical prose shouldn’t be blindly lyric. On the other side, I also think that it is inappropriate for literary reviews to be heartless…. So there’s a little bit of poetry in my prose,and a bit of prose in poetry.”

How much is “a little bit”? People who have read this book must have a new understanding of quantity units.

I have to correct myself that it is not accurate to address Yu Guangzhong as a poet and “proser” must be added. In the preface, proser Yu Guangzhong classified prose as six categories, “expressing sentiment, arguing,expressing meaning, narrating, describing the scenery and objects”. Among the six, the first three are abstract and subjective while the latter three is concrete and objective.Lyrical prose is close to poetry, narration is close to novels, description is similar to poetry and also similar to novels. Therefore, poets are probably good at description and also good at lyrical prose and novelists probably do well in description and narration.

“Six functions may be used to measure whether an essayist is a specialist or a generalist.” claims Yu complacently. By implication, he classifies himself as the latter. After all, since ancient times, Chinese people’s admiration for generalists has been higher than specialist.

回歸“鄉(xiāng)”與“愁”“Homeland” and “Melancholy”

不管怎么分類，如何圓其說，有一點(diǎn)余光中是繞不過去的，那就是“愁”。余光中說鄉(xiāng)愁是一枚郵票，有意無意中，“愁”成了他身上的一枚標(biāo)簽。他的有些文字不明說愁緒，但字里字外，“愁”不絕于縷。

比如《書齋?書災(zāi)》一文中，他通篇講述藏書和讀書的趣事，幽默之處不禁莞爾?？晌哪?，筆端又回到他與吳望堯、黃用、王敬羲等人的故交往事。最后一句，“比起這些回憶，凌亂的書籍顯得整齊多了?！绷钊藨{生戚戚。

本書開篇之作《石城之旅》中，余光中沐浴著北美大陸的秋光，在愛荷華的山谷別墅里，和導(dǎo)師談?wù)撝绹嫾腋裉m特?伍德的生平往事，“草上已經(jīng)見霜，薄薄的一層，但是在我，已有十年不見了。具有圖案美的柏樹尖上還流連著淡淡的夕照，而腳下的山谷里，陰影已經(jīng)在擴(kuò)大。不知什么地方響起一兩聲蟋蟀的微鳴，但除此之外，鳥聲寂寂，四野悄悄。”如此惹人情思的氛圍里，余光中“想念的不是亞熱帶的島，而是嘉陵江邊的一座古城?！?/p>

No matter how the classification goes and how to justify himself, there was always melancholy that Yu Guangzhong cannot avoid. Unintentionally, “melancholy”became a label on him. Some of his words were not so clear about sadness but there was melancholy between the lines.

Like in the “Book Feast or Book Disaster”, Yu told us the fun in collecting and reading books, making readers smile, but at the end of the article, he recalled past time when he was friends with Wu Wangyao, Huang Yong and Wang Jingxi. The last sentence “comparing with my memory, messy books are in a better order.” makes readers melancholy.

In the first prose in the book “The Travel to Stone City”, Yu Guangzhong bathed the autumn light of the North America and talked about life story of American artist Grant Wood with his supervisor. He says, “The grass are white with a thin layer of frost and I haven’t seen such a view for ten years. The light of the sunset lingers on the top of cypresses which possess beautiful patterns while shadows in the valley under the feet are widening. The chirping of crickets came from somewhere and elsewhere is silent.” In such a loving atmosphere, Yu Guangzhong“did not miss islands in subtropical zone, but an old city by the Jialing River”.