陸雲｢兄への書簡｣ : その文學論的考察

Abstract

There still remain more than 30 letters which Lu Yün 陸雲, (262-303), a man of letters in the Western Chin dynasty 西晉, sent to his brother, Lu Chi 陸機 (261-303), one of the most outstanding writers in the Wei, the Chin and the Six Dynasties 魏晉六朝. In these letters we find comments on literature based upon his own literary theory. The letters, which are very difficult to read due to the disorder of the text, show a contrast both in form and substance with those he sent to people other than his brother, whose style is orderly and in which there are few comments on literature. Lu Yün did not place such a high value on the epitaphs and the inscriptions of Ts'ai Yung 蔡邕 (132-192), a master of the Later Han dynasty 後漢, nor on the poems and the Fu (賦 : a form of extended prose poem) of Wang Ts'an 王粲 (177-217), one of the so-called Seven Masters of the Chien-an era. Lu Yün commented that the works of Lu Chi, such as epitaphs, inscriptions, poems, Fu and laments, are more excellent than the above writers' and, furthermore, praised Lu Chi highly as the greatest author. On closer observation, Lu Yün estimated highly his brother's works for their lack of conventional or hackneyed expressions and for their originality and novelty, while he referred to and criticized Lu Chi for such defects as complication, wordiness and loquacity. That is to say, he regarded brevity or conciseness as important. The foregoing draw the inference that Lu Yün assessed literary works on "clearness", which turned to be novelty in quality and conciseness in quantity. He used Chinese compound words made of "ch'ing (淸 : clearness)", such as "ch'ing-hsin 淸新" and "ch'ing-sheng 淸省", as technical terms. Needless to say, "ch'ing" was used not only in comments on literature but also in many other ways, among which it was often a characteristic of "Talk of the World 世說新語" and the standard dynastic histories such as "Hou Han Shu 後漢書", "San Kuo Chih 三國志", "Chin Shu 晉書" and "Sung Shu 宋書". One will find many phrases made from "ch'ing", such as "ch'ing-kui 淸貴 (貴 : noble)" and "ch'ing-yüan 淸遠 (遠 : profound)", which are used to comment on characters of these books. In the history of Chinese literary criticism, this characteristic Chinese character, "ch'ing", first came into currency with Lu Chi in "Essay on Literature 文賦" and Lu Yün in the above-mentioned letters, and was used increasingly thereafter. "ch'ing" is part of the spirit of the times through the Later Han dynasty to the Six Dynasties. This is one of the strongest things which affected Lu Yün in his coming to place a high value on literary clarity, or clearness in general, and another seems to have been clearness of his own temperament. He was poor at the embellished and florid style and was more suited to a concise and logical style, because of his strict value for cleanliness or clarity. In this sense, it can be said that these letters show Lu Yün himself at his best as a critic.