书城文化中西合俎集
9029300000061

第61章 文脉、意脉与语篇阐释(3)

Fog everywhere.Fog up the river,where it flows among green aits and meadows;fog down the river,where it rolls defiled among the tiers of shipping,and the waterside pollutions of a great (and dirty)city.Fog on the Essex marshes,fog on the Kentish heights.Fog creeping into the cabooses of collier-brigs;fog lying out on the yards,and hovering in the rigging of great ships;fog drooping on the gunwales of barges and small boats.Fog in the eyes and throats of ancient Greenwich pensioners,wheezing by the firesides of their wards;fog in the stem and bowl of the afternoon pipe of the wrathful skipper,down in his close cabin;fog cruelly pinching the toes and fingers of his shivering little prentice boy on deck.Chance people on the bridges peeping over the parapets into a nether sky of fog,with fog all round them,as if they were up in a balloon,and hanging in the misty clouds.

Gas looming through the fog in diverse places in the streets,much as the sun may,from the spongy fields,be seen to loom by husbandman and ploughboy.Most of the shops lighted two hours before their time-as the gas seems to know,for it has a haggard and unwilling look.

The raw afternoon is rawest,and the dense fog is densest,and the muddy streets are muddiest,near that leaden-headed old obstruction appropriate ornament for the threshold of a leaden-headed old corporation-Temple Bar.And hard by Temple Bar,in Lincoln"s Inn Hall,at the very hea rt of the f og,sits the Lord High Chancellor in his High Court of chancery.

4.2 相比而言,这段文字之谋篇布局更为完满,无论是文局、题眼及指涉框架还是文脉的实现都是匠心独运,真正符合Halliday 关于语篇须具有total unity 这个特点的有关定义。【56】通观这四个段落,可以看出其文眼的接续递转情况如下:

(起)(承)(转)(合)

【1】【2】【3】【4】

→→→浓雾·泥泞→林肯大院→大法官

刘熙载云:“起承转合四字,起者,起下也,连合亦起在内;合者,合上也,连起亦合在内;中间用承用转,皆兼顾起合也。”【57】上图表明,就文局而言,这四个段落完全呈顶针回环结构,起承转合,以合为要,贯摄全文。揣摩原文,可以看出其布局如下:

1.文首:the Lord Chancellor/sitting/in Lincoln"s Inn Hall2.文中:Fog…Fog…Fog…

3.文末:in Lincoln"s Inn Hall,/at the very heart of the fog,/sits the Lord High Chancellor/in his High Court of Chancery文首及文末均出现了大法官(the Lord Chancellor)及其住处(Lincoln’s Inn Hall)的名字,但出现的顺序正好相反,中间靠文眼fog来穿针引线,及至文末呼唤文首的时候,内嵌的atthe very heart of the fog这个短语也还保证了意脉畅通、文脉相续,显然这是典型的顶针回环。作为一种语际文法,其与文脉之间的关系,上文(0.1) 曾引日本学者结城显彦《文章丛话》一书“顶针”一项的阐述。显然,这是因为C.Dickens 成功地运用了文脉展开的有关技巧,因此才取得了上述效果。

4.3值得注意的是,fog 在文中十分活跃,它既是文眼,又是回环的顶针,上下穿合,全篇照映,是本篇文脉沛然畅流的主要因素。不过正如韩愈《送孟东野序》成功地运用了文脉分层的有关技巧,既让“鸣”“天”分层,前字总扼题要,后字统摄题绪,二字相互照映涵摄,同时又让“天”字逐一分身(刘熙载云:“余谓贯一尤以泯形迹为尚。”),如草蛇灰线,若隐若现以穿合全篇一样,C.Dickens 也以fog 总扼题要,用最具文脉接续性质的句间文法形式—流水对【58】来统摄题绪,步步顶针,处处回环,依局而生,倚势而立,浑然成为一个密契无间的语言整合体。请看第二段,先以fog everywhere 总扼题要,然后分以叙之:

Fog up the river,where it…Fog down the river,where it…Fog on the Essex marshesfog on the Kentish heights

Fog ever ywher eFog creeping into the…

fog lying out on the…and hovering in the…

fog drooping on the…

Fog in the eyes and throats of…

fog in the stem and bowl of…

对仗极为工整,上下相续之间,前后应和之际,因作者巧谋行文,故有题绪统摄,文脉婉转。

其中尤以fog于人印象十分深刻。它共出场13次,作为回环之顶针,针针密缝,无疑是该文文脉得以朗畅贯注的重要生成机制,亦即所谓“眉目筋节”,因之而有篇成。

顶针回环的经典结构是“A—B.B—A”,因参差变化可有如下变式,如“A—B.B—C.C—A”或“A—B.B—A.B”。在经典句式中,前后两个A 形成回环,B 则是顶针。就文脉贯注、意脉酣畅的层面看,上述结构用于句间可有句间蝉联(联珠式或双承式,亦称顶真续麻体),用于节、章、篇则有相应的语际蝉联(连环式) 。此文之妙在于充分利用了流水对,遂使句间/ 语际蝉联俱备,以保文脉与意脉之“一脉相承”。比如上例,第一、二句中的“up the river,where it…”和“down the river,where it…”两个短语回环,第三、四句中的“on the Essex marshes”和“on the Kentish heights”两个短语回环,第五、六、七、八句中的“creeping into the…”、“lying out on the…”、“hovering in the…”和“drooping on the…”四个短语回环,第九、十句中的“in the eyes andthroats of…”和“in the stem and bowl of…”两个短语回环,中间全靠fog作为顶针,针针密缝,终使全篇圆润通融、天然浑成。类似的结构在文中第四段还多有所见,可见作者自出机纾、匠心独运,其为名篇,因文势沛然、文局通融、文脉贯注、意脉朗畅,的确不愧为大家手笔。

4.4基于上述讨论即可看出作者遣词造句谋篇布局全因“顾注”小说“题目”Bleak House 这二字而成,所谓“主脑即得,则制动以静,治繁以简,一线到底,百变而不离其宗,如兵非将不御,射非鹄不志也。”【59】 前引四段文首文末回环,上例十句句句回环,皆为照应House;至于顶针fog 以及文中围绕fog 所形成的语义场(如raw,dense 与muddy 等)则是为了照应Bleak, 正如刘熙载所谓“字句能与篇章映照,始为文中藏眼”,或可用以“揭全文之指”。另外,所引四段其实也是全文起笔,照刘熙载的说法“起笔无论反正虚实,皆须贯摄一切,然后以转接收合回顾之”,【60】对此,Halliday 也有类似的理论规定,验之于上述讨论也正好足以说明这个问题。由此可见,作为决定语篇关合相因之文脉以及相应的“眉目筋节”,其对意脉贯摄和语篇意义整合的确具有极为重要的阐释价值。

5结语