神性、美育與色魘：論沈從文1940年代的精神困境及寫作

Abstract

1949年是沈從文生命中異常重要的一年，大致上標誌了他作為文人或是文物研究者的分界。同年三月沈從文試圖自殺，自殺失敗之後進入精神病院療養，並重新思索個人寫作與國家的關係，終於「沉默歸隊」。關於沈從文的瘋狂與自殺，學界已有不少討論，論者援引的脈絡與論述的框架也各不相同。本文試圖提出另一種討論方式，以沈從文的《七色魘集》為核心，並繫連其他相關的書寫，探討作家的思想演變與困境。以《七色魘集》為核心的主要原因在於，沈從文的瘋狂與自殺的脈絡，基本上奠基於中日戰爭的影響與1940年代的思想轉折，而《七色魘集》正是相關話題的集大成。集中的關鍵話題在於「現象」與「抽象」的辯證，沈從文將生命的象徵意義與救贖的可能性，寄託於穿透「現象」之後所展現的「抽象」境界，而此「抽象」境界的最終體現，即是沈從文筆下最為難解的語彙：「神」。 1940年代以來，沈從文在個人生命史與思想、寫作上所遭遇的難題，基本上都不外於「抽象」與「神」的思索。故本文試圖以此為主軸，詮釋「抽象」與「神」的議題如何在其書寫中展開，其與作家生命經驗又有何關聯。論文主要從三個面向著手：其一是「神」的概念的演變。沈從文早在1929年前後的苗族故事中就舖展了相關的線索，「神」的概念與「湘西現代性」息息相關，既是個人情感的啟蒙，也是全新政治秩序的想像；因此，1930年代的湘西書寫，是探問沈從文筆下的「神」的重要線索。其二是「神」的概念如何在1940年代被轉化為關於「抽象」的思索，此部分的討論以「愛欲傳奇」與「色魘」書寫為主。本文試圖藉此追問：當沈從文將「現象」作為追索「抽象」的起點時，如何混淆了重要的啟示與瀕臨極端的風險，最終成為導致作家的瘋狂的線索。其三是推展前文所提及的啟示與危機，重新疏理沈從文的思想脈絡。聚焦討論1949年前後沈從文在極端的精神狀態底下與「自殺事件」前後，過去學者較少注意的幾篇文章，藉此探討沈從文在新中國成立前後的特殊姿態，以及其「抒情」的可能與不可能。

In 1949, Shen Cong-Wen gave up his original vocation which was being a literatus and became an archaeologist. In the same year, Shen attempted suicide; however, he survived. Because of Shen’s reputation about writing, his attempting suicide may be a confusing issue. By close reading Shen’s works in 1930’s and 1940’s, this thesis offers a view of exploring how Shen Cong-Wen was mentally ill and recovered from it. In brief, Shen’s tragic suicide was caused by his extreme writing experiment began in late 1930’s and the political pressure from left-wing literati in late 1940’s. To address this issue, this thesis starts with Shen’s extreme writing experiment. Shen committed to discover a brand new and more effective writing skill after his “Border Town”(邊城) made achievements. Shen wanted to create a writing style which could capture the uncertain abstract beauty. However, this experiment about abstract writing didn’t work well, so Shen’s mental state swung between elation and despair. Alone with the Second Sino-Japanese War and snowballing Chinese Civil War, Shen’s liberalism was challenged and his writing experiment was blamed by left-wing literati. At last, through the mentally ill and suicide in late 1940’s, Shen transformed his abstract writing style into ‘abstract lyrical’(抽象的抒情) which could resolve the conflicts between new nation and individual.