「劍南詩稿」に於ける詩人像 : 「狂」の詩人 陸放翁

Abstract

Lu You, an important poet in the Nan-Sung 南宋 dynasty, is known generally as a patriotic poet. However, if we would only go through his works anthologized in the Chien-nan-shi-kao, we should realize that the lavel of patriotism was too simplistic to give an impartal view of the poet. When we deal with his poetry, the most important aspect is not his political attitude, but rather his self-portrait as a poet. Though he wished to fight against foreign intervention, failures in advocation for war in Hsing-yuan 興元, the frontier against the Chin 金, had crashed all his dreams to become a warrior. He therefore remained a bitter poet who could only chant of the sorrows and frustrations he met in Hsing-yuan. Assuming that half of Lu You's life had been spent under such circumstances, I should proceed to analyzing his self-portrait in his poetry. The most important and striking quality was undoubtedly "kuang 狂". The word kuang literally means madness, but in his context, it would be more appropriate to understand it as an abnormal or distorted existence. Lu You, whose patriotic spirit was strong and steadfast, repeatedly referred to himself as the "kuang" man. He was very conscious of the harsh reality he had to confront as well as the insanity surrounding the Sung society. In this sense, the title "poet of patriotism" was not a fair and impartial description. Patriotism was only one aspect in his works. The Chien-nan-shi-kao had other transcedental illusionary dimensions made up of such vivid images as dreams, butterfly, the unyielding warrior and the montage of young and old age. As an alienated madman his existence was marginal, but he established his identity as a poet under these insane circumstances. Lu You was perhaps the only poet who repeatedly described his life in the rural area as a kind of "tai-ping 太平 (peaceful)" existence. To most people of his time, the notion of peace could not be attained until the country restored its integral territory used to be dwelt by the whole Han 漢 race. As Lu You protrayed himself as a "madman" who deviated from social norms and values, he could therefore create a kind of peace which became his own reality.