汤显祖与莎士比亚比较研究在中国

汤显祖与莎士比亚比较研究在中国

中国戏曲学会汤显祖研究分会会长　周育德

今天在美丽的山城遂昌参加汤显祖-莎士比亚文化交流合作高峰论坛，我感到无比的荣幸。我想以“汤显祖与莎士比亚比较研究在中国”为话题，介绍一些情况。

这应该是属于“比较文学研究”的题目，而我不是“比较文学研究”圈子里的人士。门外汉说的话当然是肤浅的，很不专业的。但是，站在门外的观察，得到的印象却往往是真实的，所以认识虽然肤浅也可以说一说。

莎士比亚和汤显祖是辉映在东西方天空的两颗明星，他们本来是不相干的两个人物，但是，他们离开人间的年代那么相近，莎士比亚和汤显祖都是在公元1616年去世。也许正是这种偶然的巧合引起学者们的联想和兴趣，于是才把他们拉在一起做专题研究，于是比较文学研究的“平行研究”领域中就多了一个题目。随着人们对莎士比亚和汤显祖研究不断深入，随着国际文化交流的不断深化，有关汤显祖与莎士比亚的比较研究日渐活跃，居然形成了中国比较文学研究学科的一个亮点。

第一个把汤显祖与莎士比亚相提并论的，是日本学者青木正儿。他在《中国近世戏曲史》中，感叹汤显祖与莎士比亚“东西曲坛伟人，同出其时，亦一奇也”。仅此而已，他并未在这一点上作进一步深究。

上世纪三四十年代，留学西洋归国的文化人，把比较文学研究也带回中国，人们的视点也接触到了汤显祖与莎士比亚。赵景深先生写过一篇《汤显祖与莎士比亚》，举出二人有五个共同点：他们的生卒年相近，都是戏剧大家，都善于取材于他人著作，都不太遵守剧作的清规戒律，他们的剧作都哀怨动人。赵先生的论说尽管尚未深透，但观点已经明晰。

1949年以后，中国大陆的比较文学研究有过相当一段时间的沉寂和停滞，直到上世纪七十年代末，改革开放以后，比较文学研究才重新有了拓展，有关的论著才有面世的机会。

在那一段特殊的学术沉闷期，我的老师徐朔方先生倒是写了一篇重要论文《汤显祖与莎士比亚》。这篇论文在1963年春天已经写成，可是直到1978年才发表在《社会科学战线》上。这是我接触到的有关汤显祖与莎士比亚比较研究的最重要的论著之一。

徐先生选取汤显祖的《牡丹亭》和莎士比亚的《罗密欧与朱丽叶》为例，深入剖析，指出汤显祖与莎士比亚的剧作在文体、演出方式、观众和他们本身的社会地位等方面的差异，涉及到中国和欧洲社会制度与文化传统的区别，涉及到莎士比亚所处的文艺复兴晚期和汤显祖所处的明代晚期的文化思潮，涉及到中国人和欧洲人的悲剧与喜剧的美学观念的差异。也指出这两位戏剧大家的作品的共同点，他说莎士比亚和汤显祖的剧作都是借古喻今，不自己编造故事。这是因为汤显祖的时代作家不便无顾忌地揭露现实，莎士比亚时代言论也不自由，两位剧作家只能不自觉地借用古代传说。

徐先生在论文结束时说了这样几句重要而正确的话：“与其说本文已经就汤显祖与莎士比亚作了比较，不如说只是对他们之所以成为汤显祖、莎士比亚的各种条件作了极其肤浅的解释。我深信只有对自己民族文化具有不可动摇的自豪感的人，才能充分评价别民族的伟大成就而不妄自菲薄。一个最有信心的民族也一定最善于向别的民族学习，而不骄傲自满。如果这篇文章能有助于人们心中这种情操的滋长，那就是我的意外收获了。”

徐先生是有预见性的学者，他的期望已经实现。

此文发表后，在学术界引起巨大的反响，一个对汤显祖与莎士比亚作比较研究的潮流迅速兴起。这个潮流的出现与莎士比亚在中国的走红有关。

改革开放以来，莎士比亚以最辉煌的姿态走上了中国戏剧舞台。1985年，中国的北京、上海和其他城市同时举办“莎士比亚戏剧节”。前国际莎士比亚协会主席、前英国莎士比亚中心主任、前莎士比亚研究所所长菲利普·勃劳克班克先生参加中国第一届莎士比亚戏剧节后，回到英国对他的助手罗杰·普林格尔先生所谈的“访华观感”的第一句话，就是“莎士比亚的春天在中国”。

莎士比亚是不朽的，他属于全人类，属于所有的世纪。莎士比亚研究是一个世界性的学问。在纪念伟大的莎士比亚的时候，中国人当然不会冷落我们自己民族的戏剧大师。我们自然会想起我们的关汉卿，我们的汤显祖。于是，对汤显祖与莎士比亚作比较研究的论著层出不穷。

徐朔方先生1986年发表《汤显祖·莎士比亚·戏曲的前途》，1987年发表《莎士比亚和中国戏曲》，都是在比较文学研究领域的重要论著。与此同时，南北各地戏剧学界以汤显祖与莎士比亚比较研究的论文不断涌现，蔚然而成大观。今天在互联网上以“汤显祖与莎士比亚”为关键词“百度一下”，立刻就会查到七百多条，其中有的属于学术和文化信息，但是也有相当大的一部分是有分量的学术论文。现在的中国人研究汤显祖和莎士比亚，研究的方向已经不限于戏剧文学的比较研究，学术视野大为扩展。扩展到心理学、生理学、性别学、女性问题等等，真正是百花齐放。

当然，在对汤显祖与莎士比亚比较研究中，出于对东西方这两位伟大戏剧家的尊敬之情，有人说汤显祖是“中国的莎士比亚”。我想这只是一个饱含热情的比喻，生活在不同社会文化背景中的汤显祖和莎士比亚之间是不能划一个数学的等号的。我想今天我们在遂昌展开这个论题，没有人会在他们之间划等号。

今天我在遂昌之所以更多地谈论徐朔方先生，是因为徐先生在明代文学研究、汤显祖研究以及汤显祖与莎士比亚比较研究这些领域居于学术领先的地位，而且做出过突出的贡献。徐朔方先生对遂昌的感情也很深。1995年清明节，遂昌汤显祖纪念馆开馆的时候，我曾陪同徐先生来遂昌。2001年，我们在遂昌举行汤显祖学术研讨会的时候，徐先生又抱病参加，那是老先生最后一次来遂昌。今天在2011中国遂昌汤显祖和晚明文化国际学术研讨会暨汤显祖－莎士比亚文化交流合作高峰论坛上，我不禁想起了我的老师徐朔方先生。

在这里我还是想引述徐先生的话作为我发言的结语。徐先生说：“以汤显祖为代表的中国戏曲和莎士比亚戏剧在艺术形式、创作和演出上的比较，以及莎士比亚戏剧和中国戏曲两者同希腊戏剧对照中所显出的某些相近的趋向，正如两者之间的差异，必将给我们以启发，引导我们去作新的探索。”

我们今天的探索已经远远超出徐先生当年想象的空间。我相信我们的新的探索必将有更大的收获。

我预祝2011中国遂昌汤显祖文化节圆满成功！我相信来自英国的朋友们有了“走近遂昌、走近汤显祖”的体验，一定会感到“莎士比亚的春天在遂昌”。

A Comparative Study of Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare in China

by Zhou Yude, Director

Tang Xianzu Research Society · China Drama Association

It is my great honor today in Suichang this beautiful mountain town to attend　of Tang Xianzu-Shakespeare Cultural Exchange and Cooperation Summit Forum.　I would like to talk about the topic of Comparative Researches on Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare in China.

This topic should be classified into the subject of comparative study of literature, but I don’t belong to that circle. As a layman in the field of litterary studies, my opinion is by no means profound and professional. My observations and impression I have gained, however, are true and worth discussing.

Shakespeare and Tang Xianzu are two bright stars shining in the sky of the eastern and western world. They seemed irrelevant with each other, yet the dates on which they passed away were so close, both died in the year of 1616. It is this coincidence that attracted the interest and imagination of scholars, who started to do comparative researches on them. As a result, a new subject is brought into the field of “parallel study” in the comparative literature. With the deepening of international cultural exchanges, a great deal of researches have been carried out into comparative studies of on Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare, which has already become a highlight in the field of comparative literature researches in China.

Aoki Masaru, a Japanese scholar, was the first person who related Tang Xianzu with Shakespeare. In Chinese Drama History, he said that Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare were “great men in the circle of world drama, and amazingly, they lived in the same age.” At this point, he did no further exploration.

In the 30s and 40s of the last century, intellectuals returning from the western world brought comparative literature research into China, which aroused people to pay attention to studies on Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare. Mr. Zhao Jingshen listed five similarities in his paper Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare: they lived in the same age; they both were great playwrights; they were all good at extracting materials from others’ works; they challenged the conventions in drama creation; their plays were all plaintively moving. Mr. Zhao’s paper didn’t illustrate his

views comprehensively, but his points was clear and well understood.

The comparative literature research witnessed a long period of stagnation from 1949 to the late 1970s in China. After the reform and open-door, China’s comparative litterature research restarted its development, and publications of journals, papers and books were possible.

During that period of academic stagnation, Mr. Xu Shuofang, my teacher, did write an important paper entitled Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare, which, as one of the most important journal papers on a comparative study of Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare, was completed in spring of 1963, but not in print in Social Science Front until 1978.

Comparing Tang Xianzu’s Peony Pavilion with Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Mr. Xu deeply analyzed the differences in aspects of style, performance form, audience and their social status, concerning the differences existing in social systems and cultural traditions in China and Europe, the ideological trends in their respective age as well as the aesthetic concepts on tragedy and comedy. Besides, Mr. Xu also pointed out the similarities of their works. For example, in their age, both of them didn’t have the freedom to make up stories to reveal the nature of reality. Instead, they chose to borrow the ancient legend to criticize the reality.

Mr. Xu concludes his paper with these words, important and true:“This paper is not so much a comparative study on Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare as a superficial explanation on conditions making Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare both great men. I firmly believe that only those who are proud of their own culture can fully appreciate others’ achievement without undervaluing themselves. It is expected reward for me if this paper can help people cultivate this kind of sense.”

Mr. Xu is a scholar with great insight and his expectation has come true.

The publishing of this paper attracted great attention in academic circle, which contributes to the flourishing of comparative researches on Xianzu Tang and Shakespeare. As a matter of fact, the emerging of this trend is related to the popularity of Shakespeare in China.

After the reform and open-door, Shakespeare made his entry to Chinese drama stage. In 1985, Shakespeare Festival was held in Beijing, Shanghai and other cities in China. Returning to Britain from participating in The First Shakespeare Festival in China, Mr. Philip Brockbank, the former chairman of International Shakespeare Association, former director of British Shakespeare Center and Shakespeare Research Institute, said to his assistant Roger Pringle: “Shakespeare’s spring is in China.” Shakespeare is immortal and he belongs to all human beings and all centuries. Research on Shakespeare is an international subject. When commemorating Shakespeare, we Chinese peaple would certainly not forget our Chinese famous playwrights, such as Guan Hanqing, Tang Xianzu, etc. That is why a lot of journals and books have been published on comparative researches into Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare.

Journal papers written by Mr. Xu Shuofang, such as Tang Xianzu, Shakespeare and the Future of Drama published in 1986 and Shakespeare and Chinese Drama in 1987, served as important works in the field of comparative literature. At the same time, there also emerged many other papers on this subject in circle of Chinese drama. Today, if we search Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare on internet, we could get more than seven hundred pieces of results, among which some are academic and cultural information and some are important academic papers. In fact, researches on Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare in China are not confined within the field of comparative literature. Instead, people make researches on this subject from the perspectives of psychology, physiology, gender studies, female issue, etc. It is really a hundred flowers in bloom.

Of course, when doing researches, people would call Tang Xianzu as “Shakespeare in China” out of respect to these two famous playwrights, which I believe is just a metaphor, because we shouldn’t draw equal sign between them who lived in different social and cultural environments. Today we discuss this topic in Suichang and nobody would draw equal sign between them either.

Today I talk about Mr. Xu Shuofang a lot, because Mr. Xu has taken a leading position in the field of researches on the literature of Ming dynasty, Tang Xianzu studies as well as comparative researches between Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare,　and he made a great contribution to this subject. As a matter of fact, Mr. Xu had a deep affection for Suichang. On the Tomb Sweeping Day in 1995, I accompanied Mr. Xu to the opening ceremony of Tang Xianzu Memorial in Suichang. Sick as he was Mr. Xu took part in the Academic Seminar on Tang Xianzu in 2001, which actually was the last time that Mr. Xu had been in Suichang. Today in this forum, I can’t help thinking of my teacher, Mr. Xu Shuofang.

I’d like to conclude my speech with Mr. Xu’s words: “It is enlightening for us to do a comparative research on Chinese drama and Shakespeare drama from the perspective of artistic form, creation and performance. Studies should also be carried out on the similarities and differences existing among Shakespeare drama, Chinese drama and Greece drama, which would guide us to new exploration.” In fact, our researches and exploration today have already been far beyond Mr. Xu’s expectation. I believe that our exploration would be more rewarding in future.

Here I’d like to wish 2011 Tang Xianzu Cultural Festival a great success! I believe that having the experience of “Approaching Suichang, Approaching Tang Xianzu”, friends from Britain would surely have the feeling that “Shakespeare’s spring is in Suichang”.

Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare:Two Theatrical Cultures in Global Perspective

Tan, Tian Yuan

School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London

The 2011 Suichang “Tang Xianzu–Shakespeare Cultural Exchange and Collaboration Summit Forum” is a very special and significant occasion for the scholarly and cultural exchange between China and the United Kingdom. Over four hundred years ago, the Chinese and the English stage produced two great writers, Tang Xianzu (1550—1616) and William Shakespeare (1564—1616). Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare were not only literary giants of China and England in the late 16^th and the early 17^th century, but they also remain close and relevant to us in the 21^st century and their works continue to touch the hearts of contemporary readers and audience.

Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare are often taken as emblems of Chinese and English drama, or more broadly, as emblems of Chinese and English cultures or eastern and western cultures. Created in the respective milieus of the late Ming in China and the Renaissance in England, one may say that their works represent two distinct and independent theatrical cultures. Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare did not have access to each other’s works in print or in performance. During their times, there was not yet any direct interaction or influence between Chinese and English theatre. But this did not stop Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare from becoming well known throughout the world in the next few centuries with increasing number of translations of their works in multiple languages and performances in various media. From this perspective, Shakespeare not only belongs to the English readers and audience, just as Tang Xianzu does not only belong to the Chinese people. The drama of Tang and Shakespeare are canonical works to which scholars from all over the world unceasingly devote their attention, and which are universally appreciated by readers and audience worldwide. One can observe in academic associations, research teams, conferences and performances that the scholarship on Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare has become increasingly internationalised in the 21^st century. One gets to meet Tang Xianzu scholars across continents in international conferences on Tang. Similarly, the World Shakespeare Congress regularly gathers Shakespearean scholars from multiple countries. Building on this foundation, I believe this Summit Forum can take Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare studies towards a new global perspective. By using the term “global perspective”, my emphasis is no longer on internationalisation in terms of the scholarship on individual playwright, but rather, on the cross-cultural approach in research and on the interaction and dialogue between the two scholarly communities of Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare.

The year 2016 will mark the 400^th anniversary of the deaths of Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare. This provides an opportunity for us not only to commemorate the two playwrights, but also to consider new directions in which we may further promote the cultural legacy of Tang and Shakespeare and the theatrical cultures of both China and the United Kingdom. This cultural exchange and collaboration between the local governments, academic institutions, research organisations, trusts, and performance troupes of China and the UK initiated by the Suichang Municipal Government is therefore of tremendous significance.

In this collaboration, the role of School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, is to build a cultural bridge between China and the UK. Such a role exemplifies the belief that SOAS has always embodied in its teaching and research. It also demonstrates the unique characteristics of SOAS. SOAS is the only Higher Education institution in the UK specialising in the study of Asia, Africa, and the Near and Middle East. The Department of China and Inner Asia also has the largest number of academic staff specialising in classical and modern Chinese literature among all universities in the UK.

Our undergraduates mostly come from the UK and other European countries, while the majority of our MA and PhD students are international students including many from Asia. Through what approach can we introduce Chinese literature to these students? I believe we should provide students with multiple perspectives and a global vision. Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare is a very good example. We often speak of Tang Xianzu as the “Shakespeare of the East”. Similarly, one may also say that Shakespeare is like the “Tang Xianzu of the West”. Of course, we need to be aware that there are many differences between Tang and Shakespeare, for example, in terms of their two theatrical cultures and milieus. If so, is there a need for us to compare the two playwrights, and what will be the significance of doing so? In my experience in teaching Tang Xianzu and his masterpiece, Peony Pavilion, to both undergraduates and postgraduates in the UK, I have found it both necessary and efficient to use Shakespeare as a means to introduce Tang Xianzu and his plays. For the undergraduates who most probably have only come across the name of Tang Xianzu for the first time, calling Tang the “Chinese Shakespeare” gives them a frame of reference immediately that would help them in exploring more about Tang Xianzu and the Late Ming world of theatre contemporaneous with Shakespearean theatre. As for the postgraduates, some of them are MA or PhD students who come from Asia and who are working on Chinese theatre. They are therefore familiar with Tang Xianzu and his works. Apart from a stronger emphasis on the western scholarship on Tang in class, I also encourage these students to learn more about theatre in another cultural tradition such as Shakespeare and English Renaissance drama. I do this not for the purpose of training them as students of comparative literature. The objective is not a simplistic comparison between the two writers, but rather, it is for them to use such comparisons to establish a cultural dialogue and mutual understanding. The aim of using Shakespeare to introduce or teach Tang Xianzu is for the students to enrich or review one’s own culture through the understanding of another cultural tradition or from a different perspective.

In order to have a comprehensive understanding of the state of the field of Tang Xianzu studies, one needs to be aware of the various scholarship and different viewpoints of researchers in China and from other parts of the world. The same applies to Shakespeare studies. With the internationalisation of academic scholarship, this has largely been achieved. The next question we need to ask, then, is whether and how the two fields of Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare studies can learn from each other? Professor Xu Shuofang, the eminent scholar in Tang Xianzu studies, wrote A Chronological Biography of Tang Xianzu early in his career and later followed up with a three-volume Chronological Biographies of Dramatists in the Late Ming, which is the standard reference book for anyone who wishes to study late Ming theatre. In his preface to Chronological Biographies of Dramatists in the Late Ming, Professor Xu Shuofang explains that the idea in developing his research on Tang Xianzu by doing a synchronic study of his contemporaries was encouraged by Professor Xia Chengtao’s Chronological Biographies of Lyricists from the Tang and Song Dynasties and was also inspired by an English scholar, E. K. Chambers, and his four-volume work, The Elizabethan Stage. Evidently, there are indeed no national or disciplinary boundaries in academic research.

Therefore, the significance of this collaborative project between China and the UK is not only about the commemoration of the two cultural giants, Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare, but more importantly, to build a platform to provide academics, researchers, and performers with more opportunities in cultural exchange and collaboration between the two countries. For example, SOAS and Zhejiang University have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on academic and research cooperation between the two institutions. The Faculty of Languages and Cultures at SOAS have also signed an agreement with the School of Humanities at Zhejiang University to jointly carry out a series of events in 2016 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the deaths of Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare. This collaboration project has made substantial progress. The first step is a volume of essays on Tang Xianzu in western scholarship which I am currently co-editing with Professor Xu Yongming from Zhejiang University. Together with our graduate students from both SOAS and Zhejiang University, we will translate these research articles into Chinese so as to introduce the western scholarship on Tang Xianzu to a wider circle of readers. Next, we also plan to develop other research projects such as the collection of rare editions of Peony Pavilion and other Tang’s plays kept in Chinese libraries and overseas repositories. In addition, Zhejiang Provincial Department of Culture, Suichang Municipal Government and Zhejiang Kunqu Opera Troupe will also be bringing a performance of Tang Xianzu’s drama to the hometown of Shakespeare this May.

I warmly congratulate the organisers for putting together such a successful conference and forum, and I sincerely hope that this meeting will take the cultural exchange and collaboration between China and the United Kingdom to exciting new heights.