令洛陽紙貴的左思

左思的《三都賦》洋洋逾萬言，具有超凡的藝術感染力，寫得相當精彩。洛陽城中豪貴之家競相購買紙筆傳寫謄錄，一時竟使紙價上漲。

The \"Shu Capital Rhapsody\"， the first of zuo Si's rhapsodies on the three capitals of the Three Kingdoms Period， described the city of Chengdu and the surrounding area. The work was so highly renowned and frequently copied upon its release that the price of paper in Luoyang is said to have risen as a result. This later gave rise to the popular Chinese idiom \"Paper is Expensive in Luoyang\"， today used to praise a literary work.

左思(約公元250-305)，字太沖，齊國臨淄(今山東淄博)人，西晉時期重要作家。左思家世儒學，父左雍從小吏起，官至殿中侍御史。左思小時候并沒顯示出過人的才華，曾學琴藝和書法，都沒有成就。他的父親很無奈地對朋友說:“左思知道的東西，還不如我小的時候呢。”據說左思長相也不太受看，而且口吃，但卻極富文采，史稱“貌寢口訥，辭藻壯麗。”或許就是這些因素，促使他將人生的全部熱情都傾注在文學寫作中，以手中之筆抒發內心種種感懷。

晉武帝泰始(公元265-274)年間，左思的妹妹左芬被選入宮，他遂移家京城洛陽，求得秘書郎的官職，能充分閱讀官家各種藏書，由此開始了《三都賦》的構思和寫作。此前東漢時的班固有《兩都賦》，張衡有《二京賦》，分別鋪寫西安、洛陽的自然景物、宮苑建筑及風土人情，并以此成為漢賦的重要代表作品而享名文壇。左思的《三都賦》則是要分別鋪寫魏、蜀、吳三國的都城。據《晉書·文苑傳》記，他“構思十年，門庭藩溷，皆著筆紙”，在家中很多角落，甚至廁所都放置了筆和紙，以便隨時記錄腦海中出現的言詞，最終以超出常人的恒心和堅忍不拔的毅力，完成了《三都賦》的寫作。賦成之后，左思擔心自己身份卑微不利于作品流傳，就請當時名位崇高的皇甫謐、張載、劉逵為之作序和注解，而后又得到了當時文壇宿將司空張華的盛譽。張華讀后贊嘆道:“班、張之流也。使讀之者盡而有余，久而更新。”言下之意是《三都賦》可與漢班固和張衡的作品相媲美。

當初在京城做官的江南氏族名流陸機也準備寫類似的作品。他聽說左思搶先了一步，不禁撫掌而笑，在給其弟陸云的信中頗不以為然地說:“這里有個凡夫俗子，要寫什么《三都賦》，等他寫成后，也就是用來蓋酒壇子罷了。”不料左思的《三都賦》洋洋逾萬言，具有超凡的藝術感染力，寫得相當精彩。自視甚高的陸機看過后，也不得不嘆服而擱筆。于是洛陽城中豪貴之家競相購買紙筆傳寫謄錄，一時竟使紙價上漲。“洛陽紙貴”的成語便由此而來。

左思不光《三都賦》寫得好，其實今天看來，他的詩歌創作成就更大。如果說《三都賦》通過宏大篇幅描寫魏都、蜀都、吳都，并以贊美魏都表現出這位山東文人對國家統一的自豪、對國事人生的關注，那么他的詩歌創作則更加注重發抒內心的情感，個人的自尊、自信與自我傷感在詩歌中都有深刻的表現。在西晉平庸的詩壇上，這位卑微而有些口吃的詩人以其風格質樸剛健的作品贏得了后人的美譽。

左思今存詩14首，主要作品有《詠史》8首、《招隱士》和《嬌女詩》等，而以《詠史》8首影響最大。鐘嶸的《詩品》將其列為“上品”，認為其詩:“文典以怨，頗為精切，得諷諭之致”，并稱之為“左思風力”。左思詩歌以抒發人生的豐富關懷為主。《詠史》表達出作者不同人生階段的思索與追求，所謂“文典以怨”的“怨”，是指詩歌具有強大的感發力量。其詩歌語言不刻意追求艷麗，情感豐富，語句中流淌著一種深沉感人的力量。而當時西晉文壇的代表作家陸機、潘岳等人的詩歌寫作崇尚辭采，風格華麗，講究語言形式對仗齊整，寫作方式多以模擬古人作品為主。頗值得玩味的是，左思并非具有代表性的主流作家，其創作方式、藝術風格皆與當時的主流文學相左，卻憑借卓越的詩歌創作成為西晉詩歌成就最高的作家。

文人詠史之作，最早始于班固。至左思《詠史》詩，始將自己的人生熱情、和切身感受借歌詠古人的方式表達出來。也就是說，左思借助詠史以抒懷，詠史之作實為詠懷之作。當左思舉家遷入洛陽，接觸了上層社會的各色人物，經歷了人生的許多坎坷起伏之后，逐漸冷靜下來，情感變得深沉復雜。面對京城中的競夸豪奢的貴族，這位來自山東的寒族文人內心依舊保持著平民的自尊與文人的冷靜:“高眄邈四海，豪右何足陳!貴者雖自貴，視之若埃塵。賤者雖自賤，重之若千鈞。”(第六首)“賤者”的自尊勝過千鈞之重。與之相應的是，詩人內心又增加了糞土王侯權貴的激烈情緒。這種抨擊王侯的詩句或許啟發了唐代大詩人李白“安能摧眉折腰事權貴，使我不得開心顏”(《將進酒》)的詩句。

在朝政日漸混亂的西晉，左思甚至產生了退隱的想法:“自非攀龍客，何為來游?被褐出閶闔，高步追許由。振衣千仞岡，濯足萬里流。”(第五首)詩人坦言并非攀附貴族之人，已經厭倦了京城中庸俗、令人窒息的生活。他要迫不及待地離開京城，追尋古代著名隱者許由。

當時主流社會欣賞的是那種姣好陰柔之美，如一代名臣何晏傅粉補妝、顧影自憐，衛孱弱多病、竟被眾人圍觀致死等等。顯然在此背景下，山東大漢的陽剛、健碩就不受待見。其實左思的胞妹能被選入皇宮中，長相自不必說，兄妹之間不可能相差太大。

左思晚年在冀州病死。由于遠離了朝廷的政治爭斗，他成為西晉文壇少有的得以善終的文人。

Zuo Si (250 - 305)， courtesy name Taichong， was a writer and poet of the Western Jin Dynasty (265-316).

Zuo was born to an aristocratic family of Confucian scholars in Linzi. His mother died young. His father， Zuo Yong， was promoted to imperial official in charge of the imperial archives. Zuo Si would often play word games with his sister， Zuo Fen， who later became famous in her own right as a writer and a concubine of Emperor Wu of Jin.

In approximately 280， Zuo wrote the \"Shu Capital Rhapsody\"， the first of his rhapsodies on the three capitals of the Three Kingdoms Period. The Shu Capital Rhapsody described the city of Chengdu and the surrounding area. This work features the earliest surviving reference to Mount Emei. The work was so highly renowned and frequently copied upon its release that the price of paper in Luoyang is said to have risen as a result. This later gave rise to the popular Chinese idiom \"Paper is Expensive in Luoyang\"， today used to praise a literary work.

Zuo described his rhapsodies on the three capitals as derivative of similar works by Zhang Heng and Ban Gu. However， Mark Edward Lewis has written that Zuo's rhapsodies marked the end of the Han Dynasty ideal of the ritually perfect capital， because they describe three simultaneously existing， contemporary capitals， suppressing the ritual and historical evolution that structured the previous works. Zuo argued for accuracy as the basis of poetry， in contrast to the fantastic writings of Han poets. In his preface to the three rhapsodies， he wrote that while writers of lyric verse \"sing of what their hearts are set upon\"， writers of descriptive rhapsodies \"praise what they observe\".

Zuo's poetry， particularly his poem Summoning the Recluse， is regarded as representative of the medieval Chinese \"poetry of seclusion\" or \"poetry of the recluse.\" Unlike earlier poems， which encouraged readers to leave the wilderness for the official life， Zuo advocates a return to the wilderness. Gaul and Hiltz attribute this change in perspective to the replacement of Shamanistic beliefs with Confucian ethics and Daoist religion.

Zuo Si's work has continued to be resonate with later scholars. The Qing Dynasty scholar Yuan Mei wrote that Zuo Si's Singing of History \"uses past deeds of historical characters to express what is in one's own heart\"， and is an example of the first of the three types of historical verse. The Tang Dynasty poet Wang Ji paid homage uses Zuo's Summoning the Recluse as a model， but departs from it by focusing on the recluse's way of life， rather than the natural surroundings. In addition， unlike Zuo， Wang does not completely abandon the pursuit of honor and glory in officialdom.