刘麟生序
Liu Linsheng's Foreword
概要
Summary
刘麟生是《骈文概论》这本书的约稿者。他作序，先讲约稿的事情，然后说作者希望通过这本书让读者能够欣赏、了解和运用骈文。
Liu Linsheng contacted and asked the author to write the book A Brief Introduction to Couplet Writing. In his foreword, he first talked about how he invited the author. Then he said that the author hoped that readers could learn to appreciate, understand and use couplet writing with this book.
之后讲作者，说到他谦虚谨慎和言之有物的写作态度。又说作者对骈文的理解是，骈文是汉唐时期最繁盛的文学，不必定义成绝对的概念。还说到作者的骈文修养来自三个晚清时期的重要学者王闿运、李慈铭、王先谦。
After that, he gave information about the author, writing about his modesty and prudence and the attitude of focusing on substance in writing. He also explained the author's own understanding on coupling writing that it was the most flourishing literaturary genre during the Han and Tang Dynasties. And it was not necessary to define it as an absolute concept. Then he mentioned that the authors accomplishment in couplet writing come from three important scholars in the late Qing Dynasty, Wang Kaiyun, Li Ciming and Wang Xianqian.
理解
Understanding
刘麟生作为约稿者，做序时认真地评价了作者和本书写作。作者的写作目的，写作态度，作者对主题的独到见解，作者与主题相关的学术素养，都是作序者极力赞赏的。这样也就间接地肯定了全书的价值。
As his contact, Liu Linsheng earnestly commented the author and his writing of the book in his foreword. He spoke very highly of the author's purpose and attitude of writing, his distinctive insight to the theme, and his academic accomplishment related to the theme. Thus, he gave an indirect affirmation to the value of the book.
评价
Comments
序言里讲到，希望作者可以选更多诗文，另作一部别裁文学史。正规的文学选本，需要以基本的学术研究视角，体现出文学史的整体样貌。这样的选本是说明文学史的完备、详细的文学作品实例集合。
In his foreword, Liu also said that he hoped that the author would select more poems and articles to compose a selection on literary history. A regular literary selection needs to display the overall landscape of literary history in the fundamental perspective of academic research. Such a selection is a complete and detailed collection of examples of literary works for explaining literary history.
而所谓别裁，包含了分别和剪裁，应该是更突出作者自己的理解和创见，不以完备详细为目标。读者看到的是作者自己体会最深，感受最明确的文学作品。《骈文概论》的写作思路就是这样的。其实更类似夏承焘、叶嘉莹等等诗词研究家的文学讲座，适合普通读者看。
And the word "selection" implies both to distinguish and to extract. It should highlight the author's own understanding and insights and should not aim for a complete and detailed presentation. Readers will see in it literary works on which the author has the deepest understanding and the clearest feeling. This is the conception of writing of A Brief Introduction to Couplet Writing. In fact, it is similar to the lectures given by researchers on Chinese poetry, such as Xia Chengtao and Ye Jiaying. The book makes a good reading for common readers.
问题
Questions
文学选本中的作品，需要能反映作者和作品在文学史中的地位。从大量的作家作品中选择几十上百篇来展现文学或者一种体裁的面貌，并不是一件容易的事情。作者还要充分的体现自己深入研究后的创见，这一点更难做到。
Works in a literary selection need to reflect their and their authors' status in literary history. It is not something easy to select several dozens of or about a hundred articles from a large amount of works written by many authors to represent the landscape of literature or a certain genre. The author also needs to fully present his or her insights established through in-depth study, which is even more difficult.
写作者总是受到自己所处的时代、接受的教育、生活环境的限制。即便学术修养很高，文学经典中仍然有他无法理解的地方。另外，不同时代人的主要思潮，本来就存在差异。前人见解上的问题，正是现在人需要认真思考和辨别的。
A writer is always limited by the time that he lived in, his or her education and life environment. Even if he or she has very high academic accomplishment, there is still something that he or she could not understand in a literary classic. Besides, there are always substantial differences between the main trends of thought of the people in different times. The problems in the viewpoints of the scholars in the past are just what contemporary scholars need to think about and discern.
