NEW LITERARY MOVEMENT Its Tendency and Future: Fading Vogue of the Unintelligible (III)新文學運動的發展趨勢與未來：正在消逝的晦澀時尚（下）

A great writer

偉大的作家

Before entering into discussion of the third school of thought， it will do well to give a brief mention of Lu Sin， the greatest of the new writers. In his works， we find an apt representation of future of pei hua both in literary style and in thought. He， though being also influenced much by western literature， writes in a style that is easy， elegant， natural， and forceful—a style which is accepted by the majority to be the model. He has written numerous stories that have to do with the rural life in the interior， including the famous “True Story of Ah Q，” and many volumes of collected essays which lead the thought of the younger generation. His sympathy is with the proletarian. His piercing satire and stinging irony， his attack on the corruption and degeneration of the “feudal” society are much dreaded. He is now the most influential writer of the “Leftist School.”

在討論第三個思想流派之前，我們不妨先簡要介紹最偉大的新派作家——魯迅。魯迅的作品無論在文體上還是在思想上都恰如其分地展現了白話文的未來。魯迅雖然也深受西方文學的影響，但其寫作風格輕松、優雅、自然、有力，被大多數人奉為典范。魯迅寫下了許多有關內地農村生活的故事，其中包括著名的《阿Q正傳》，以及多卷引導年輕一代思想的雜文集。魯迅同情無產階級。他尖銳辛辣的諷刺筆觸以及對“封建”社會腐敗墮落的抨擊，令人心生畏懼。可以說，魯迅現在是“左派”中最具影響力的作家。

The Leftist School is the third and， in recent years， the most influential one. The swing to the Left was not much in force until 1928 when the Nationalist Revolution stirred up a revolutionary zeal in the literary world. Since that year， the cry of “proletarian literature” and “revolutionary literature” has nearly drowned the voice of other schools. It is true， as some critics observe， that the works produced by that school of writers are not quite as proletarian as they claim to be， and that those of a special group who styled themselves “Revolutionary Literati” have merely ornamented their rather commonplace writings with certain slogans. Nevertheless， the influence of the Left Wing writers， in spite of the severe censorship of the government and bitter criticism of the so-called “bourgeois authors，” continues to grow. The self-styled “Revolutionary Literati，” we know， fell not long after their rise. But this by no means implies that the Left Wing is weakened. In fact， the two have little to do with each other though they are often mistaken as one.

左派是第三個思想流派，也是近年來最有影響力的。直到1928年國民革命在文壇激起革命熱情，左傾傾向才越來越明顯。從那一年起，“無產階級文學”“革命文學”的呼聲幾乎淹沒了其他流派的聲音。誠然，正如一些評論家所指出的那樣，左派作家的作品并不像作家本人所聲稱的那樣具有無產階級性質，那些自稱“革命文人”的特殊群體只不過是用某些口號來裝飾他們相當普通的作品。然而，盡管受到政府的嚴格審查和所謂“資產階級作家”的嚴厲批評，左派作家的影響力仍在不斷增長。我們知道，自封的“革命文人”在崛起后不久就垮臺了，但這絕不意味著左派作家的勢力有所減弱。事實上，左派作家與“革命文人”之間基本沒什么關聯，但卻經常被誤認為是一個陣營的。

Besides these three schools， a new school has begun to attract public attention. This school may be called the “Humourists.” Since the birth of the New Literary Movement， there have been incessant “pen wars” which give rise to satirical writings. But not until very recently did the Humourists grow to the size of a school. Last year witnessed the publication of a magazine exclusively devoted to satirical articles. It has proved to be a success. There is possibility that similar periodicals will appear in a short time.

除了這三種流派，另一種新流派也開始引起公眾的關注。這一派可稱為“幽默派”。新文學運動誕生以來，“筆戰”不斷，諷刺文學隨之興起。但直到最近，幽默派才發展成一種流派的規模。去年出版了一本專門刊載諷刺文章的雜志。事實證明，這本雜志是成功的。類似的雜志有可能在短時間內出現。

Future of the movement

新文學運動的未來

Having briefly discussed the tend-ency of the New Literary Movement， the present writer ventures to forecast what its future will be. There are several points which may throw some light on the forecast. In the first place， language is essentially a medium of expression. Therefore， in order to be able to give full expression to a world that is progressing by leaps and bounds， language must needs be adequately enriched. The Chinese language， both classical and vernacular， is an old language. It is still nearly the same language that was used long ago. It is inconceivable how a language that is so remote from the present age can ever do justice to it without reinforcement and adaptation. Of course， few Chinese would be so ridiculous as to cry “Back to Han or Tang.” But， there are some who obstinately maintain that we must not change， that we must ignore the foreigner and his works and return to the way of our grandfathers. But everyone knows that it is impossible. Consequently， it is equally impossible to resist the change. Then， it logically follows that pei hua must adjust and readjust itself considerably before it is fit for use.

在簡要討論了新文學運動的走向之后，在此我還想斗膽預測新文學運動的未來發展。對此，以下幾點或許能帶來一些啟示。第一，語言本質上是一種表達媒介。因此，為了能夠充分表達這個日新月異的世界，必須充分地豐富語言。漢語，包括文言和白話，是古老的語言。今天的漢語與很久以前使用的漢語差不多。很難想象，一種距離當今時代如此遙遠的語言，如果不經過強化和改變，如何能夠準確地表達這個世界。當然，很少有中國人會荒唐到喊出“回漢返唐”的口號。但是，也有人固執地認為我們不可以改變，甚至必須無視外國人和外來作品，回到我們祖輩的路子上來。但誰都知道，這是行不通的。因此，抵制漢語改革同樣是不可能的。那么，從邏輯上講，白話在適用前，必須反復對自身進行大調整。

In the second place， pei hua will continue to be influenced by western literature. With the various parts of the world brought closer together by modern means of communication， the East and West will mutually influence each other whether willingly or not. Pei hua， being still a suckling， will not grow into a vital language without imbibing the necessary nourishment both from native and foreign sources. But， it must not swallow anything that may cause indigestion.

第二，白話將繼續受到西方文學的影響。現代通信設備使得世界不斷融合，無論是否愿意，東西方都會相互影響。作為新生兒的白話，如果拒絕吸收本土和外國的養料，不可能發展成生機勃勃的語言，但也絕不能吞下導致消化不良的東西。

In the third place， the commonsense of usage by the people is bound to bring modification to the pei hua. At present， pei hua is as yet the language of the intellectual class which constitutes hardly ten percent of the Chinese population. But， though popular education has made rather slow progress in China， the number of persons able to read and write is increasing day by day. Being financially embarrassed， China is not in a position to make her teeming millions into published scholars of either western or classical training. It logically follows， then， that much of the present westernised， no less than classical language will remain Greek to the common people. In the past the people could not understand classical language and modified it into what is the present spoken language， pei hua. The same will happen if pei hua should become Greek. Many Leftists have declared their intention to bring about a true proletarian language. There are also other social workers such as Mr. Yen Yang-tsu （Jimmie Yen）， the promoter of popular education， Messrs. Kao and Tang who have been doing mass education work in Wusih. They all endeavour to teach a much simplified Chinese language to the illiterates. Of course， they all use pei hua， but it is simpler and quite different from the pei hua à la mode. We do not know what result their experiment will probably turn out， but one thing is certain—pei hua will have to stand the test of the great mass.

第三，人們使用語言的情況必然會給白話帶來改變。目前，白話還只是占中國人口不到10%的知識分子的語言。盡管中國的平民教育進展相當緩慢，但能讀寫的人數卻與日俱增。由于經濟窘迫，中國無法將廣大民眾培養成受西方或傳統教育的有著述的學者。因此，從邏輯上講，目前西化的大部分語言對于普通人來說，仍是晦澀難懂的，其難度不亞于文言文。過去人們看不懂文言文，就將其改為現在的口語——白話。如果白話也變得晦澀難懂，同樣的情況還會發生。許多左派人士宣稱他們打算創造一種真正的無產階級語言。還有其他社會活動者，如平民教育的倡導者晏陽初先生，以及一直在無錫從事大眾教育工作的高先生和唐先生。他們都致力于向文盲教授簡單得多的中文。當然，他們教授所用的語言也是白話，只是更簡單，與時下流行的白話有很大區別。他們的實驗結果如何，我們不得而知，但有一點是肯定的，那就是白話必須經受大眾的考驗。

【本文為廣東省哲學社會科學規劃2024年度一般項目《中國文學對外翻譯話語研究（1949—1966）》（GD24CWY16）階段性成果，2021年度教育部哲學社會科學研究重大課題攻關項目“20世紀以來海外中國文學評論中的中國話語與形象研究”（項目編號：21JZD051）子課題“英語世界的中國話語與形象研究”】

* 倪秀華，廣州大學外國語學院副教授，學術碩士導師和翻譯碩士導師，中國英漢語比較研究會社會翻譯學專業委員會理事。