摘要
Along with the eastward expansion of Western culture in the early 20th century, China began to get acquainted with Western-style concepts of the history of literature, and the composition of literary history became popular. As the cradle of Western literature and philosophy, Greece was well known for its myths and epics, the very fountain of its literature. It is an established custom that when you speak of Western literature, you begin by speaking of myths and epics. But this convention, though consonant with Western literary phenomena and enshrined as the necessary background for understanding the history of literature, runs into trouble as soon as it is applied on Chinese soil, for in ancient Chinese texts one finds no genre similar to epic or even references to such a genre. Even myths can only be found in fragmentary form in histories and the work of ancient philosophers. What can explain such a fact？ I believe the interpretive problem that arises from observing Chinese literary history against the backdrop of Western literary conventions has troubled a good many scholars of Chinese literary history. This disquiet will be referred to here as ＂the epic problem.＂ This article aims to sort out this century-long scholarly concern by reviewing different explanations and arguments and thence examining the very rationality of the ＂problem＂ itself. The ＂epic problem＂ is nothing but the problem of the origin of literature. The questions then naturally arise of whether this is a rational framework for explaining the origin of Chinese literature, and whether there were not ideological factors not directly connected with academic research underlying this ＂epic problem＂ that for so long plagued research into the literature of remote antiquity？ Sorting out the ＂epic problem＂ in ancient Chinese literature may provide an answer to these questions and offer us new insights into the origin of Chinese literature.
本文探讨了二十世纪一直为学界争论的汉语"史诗问题"。一个世纪以来,为解决这个在西方文学起源的视野下而产生的问题,前辈学人提出了许多看法。可是在仔细检视之下即可发现,各种假设和解释均不具有切合事实本身的充分真实性。这件学术公案是学者们在西风东渐的大背景下,将西方文学的起源模式移至中土,解释中国文学的起源而产生的。本文认为,将西方文学史的起源模式当作具有普世性的文学史起源的解释框架,以史诗作为解说中国文学源头方案的合理性是可以质疑的。因为其学术意识并非源自对事实和材料本身的深切了解,而它背后存在的对西方话语不加反省的盲从,也应引以为鉴。
