Eulogy or Inscription Carved on a Stela
古代文體名稱,是為有一定成就或德行的逝者撰寫的篇幅短小的譽(yù)美性傳文。“誄”(音同磊)主要敘述逝者的德行,表達(dá)作者的哀傷,通常用韻文寫作;“碑”是刻在石碑上的文辭,一般分兩部分:前半簡要敘述逝者的生平,后半則用韻文贊美逝者的功業(yè)和品德。南朝劉勰認(rèn)為,誄碑立傳的對象,已經(jīng)由帝王逐漸延及普通人,立傳的目的是讓逝者的精神永遠(yuǎn)不朽。其寫作要求是,記載事跡要如實,故應(yīng)有所選擇;評述德行較虛,故可以多加譽(yù)美。誄文和碑文是生者緬懷逝者的情感需求,滿足每個人追求不朽的心理需求,也有弘揚美德、激勵后人的意義,因此要避免輕率為文、簡單臧否。
These constitute a genre of short rewriting in ancient times to sing the praise of a meritorious or virtuous deceased person. Such a eulogy, written in rhymed verse, was usually used to recount the deceased person's virtuous deeds and expressed one's grief over his death. The inscription carved on a stela has two parts, with the first part being a brief account of the life of a deceased person and the second extolling the person's merits and virtues. According to Liu Xie of the Southern Dynasties, this kind of writing was no longer only written for emperors and kings, but was extended to cover ordinary people. The text was written to see that the deceased person's noble character passes down to posterity. It should highlight the person's deeds truthfully and eulogize his fine deeds and virtue. A eulogy or an inscription carved on a stela was written to cherish the memory of the deceased and satisfy the need of those who were alive to seek eternal solace. It should also promote virtue and inspire later generations to excel. So, it should be discreet and proper in its assessment of the deceased person.
引例 Citations:
◎ 誄者,累也;累其德行,旌之不朽也。(劉勰《文心雕龍·誄碑》)
“誄”的意思是積累,就是羅列逝者的德行,加以表彰而使之永垂不朽。
Lei originally meant accumulate, so a eulogy lists a deceased person's meritorious and virtuous deeds and extols him to make him eternal. (Liu Xie: The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons)
◎ 夫?qū)俦w,資乎史才,其序則傳,其文則銘。(劉勰《文心雕龍·誄碑》)
寫作碑文,須有史家的才能。它前面的敘事相當(dāng)于史傳,后面的韻文相當(dāng)于銘文。
It requires a historian's talent to write a eulogy carved on a stela. Its first half is no different from a biography and its second half, written in rhymed verse, is like an epigraph. (Liu Xie: The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons)
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供稿:北京外國語大學(xué) 外語教學(xué)與研究出版社
責(zé)任編輯:錢耐安