在当今短视频充斥日常生活的时代,纯语言文字似乎不断被淡化甚或遗忘。不禁要为之作一呼喊。语言是人类思想的基础。我们的思考、思想,是每时每刻在大脑中以字句语言形式连绵进行,图片、场景只为辅助或衍生品。文字是人类文明最重要的奠基。曾记得在首博,其镇馆之宝之一是西周班簋。年代久远青铜器固然难得,但最宝贵的不是其造型工艺或材料,而是在这公元前~1000年的器物上,有198字的铭文,记载了有关周成王(武王之子)时代遣毛伯伐东夷国之事,成为文明早期的宝贵记实。中西文明,都有诗 – 语言的精华 – 为源头:中华有诗经,西方有伊利亚特奥德赛。在现实生活中,一切受物理规律限制、规范。但文字的思想,可以瞬息纵横寰宇、糅合古今。超光速的,只有思想。
中华文明有几千年的沉淀与优秀文字产出,我们沁润其中并为之骄傲。容易忽略的是,西方文化同样有很多瑰丽的语言文字作品,其内容、形式都极其吸引。而西方的想象力与激情,更多有独到超越。同作为人类文明的伟大成果,一样值得我们去欣赏借鉴珍惜。
西方文字天花板级的代表,当属莎翁。爱默生(Ralph W. Emerson)对其描述,很是传神到位:“Shakespeare possesses the power of subordinating nature for the purposes of expression beyond all poets. His imperial muse tosses the creation like a bauble from hand to hand, and uses it to embody any caprice of thought that is uppermost in his mind. The remotest spaces of nature are visited, and the farthest sundered things are brought together, by a subtle spiritual connection…All objects shrink and expand to serve the passion of the poet.” (这段本身就是完美文字。)
莎翁的十四行诗,很多绮丽而又深邃。比如下面一首劝慰美好的人,周围的诟病不过是对大美无伤的点缀,不过是天堂甜美空气中飞过的乌鸦:
“That thou art blamed shall not be thy defect,
For slander’s mark was ever yet the fair.
The ornament of beauty is suspect,
A crow that flies in heaven’s sweetest air.”
又如下一首慨叹时光:
“Against my love shall be as I am now,
With time’s injurious hand crushed and o’erworn;
When hours have drained his blood and filled his brow
With lines and winkles; when his youthful morn
Hath travelled on to age’s steepy night,
And all those beauties whereof now he’s king
Are vanishing, or vanished out of sight,
Stealing away the treasure of his spring:
For such a time do I now fortify
Against confounding age’s cruel knife,
That he shall never cut from memory
My sweet love’s beauty, though y lover’s life.
His beauty shall in these black lines be seen,
And they shall live, and he in them still green.”
时光无情,会夺去最美好最爱的人的青春;但我要用文字捍卫。生命有限,但 “他的美会在这字里行间永现;文字永存,爱人在其中永如绿色之春。”
苏轼在前赤壁赋中,在劝慰感伤时逝的客人时,有段精彩的时空观表述:“客亦知夫水与月乎?逝者如斯,而未尝往也;盈虚者如彼,而卒莫消长也。盖将自其变者而观之,则天地曾不能以一瞬;自其不变者而观之,则物与我皆无尽也,而又何羡乎!...。” 在苏子这里,将小我融入宇宙万物,成为无限因果循环的一部分,已天人一体,无谓终息,也是正面乐观的。而在莎翁那里,我、物两分,但又有“人是万物之灵长”的定位责任,我命由我不由天的奋斗力量。正是这份力量,延伸到西方文艺复兴科学文化探索,延伸到马斯克的如科幻般的星际飞船。中西文明,本各有优势特色。相互借鉴,不停吸纳,方为人类文明共同进步之道。
岁月、生活繁琐。时间哪去了?希望有那么一部分,放在了阅读。