Chien Chung-shu 錢鍾書

Chinese scholar and writer whose erudition and scholarly achievements are practically unrivaled in 20-th century China.

Qian attended missionary schools in Suzhou and Wuxi while receiving English and classical Chinese training under the tutelage of his father. A student of the Department of Western Languages and Literature, he graduated from Tsinghua University in 1933. He taught at Guanghua University in Shanghai for two years before entering Exeter College, Oxford, where he received a bachelor’s degree in 1937. He briefly studied French literature at the Sorbonne before returning to China in 1939 to teach. He taught at several colleges and universities and worked as chief compiler of the Foreign Languages Division of the National Library in Nanjing. He became a senior research fellow of the Institute of Literature of Peking University in 1953 and a member of the Academic Council of the Philosophy and Social Sciences Division of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1955.

Qian’s prose includes Xie zai rensheng bianshang (1941; “Written on the Verge of Life”), a small volume of essays; Ren, shou, gui (1946; “Men, Beasts, and Ghosts”), a collection of short stories; and Weicheng (1947; Fortress Besieged), a novel. Although it was widely translated, Qian’s novel did not receive much recognition in China until the late 1970s. It became a best-seller in China in the 1980s and was made into a television drama series in 1991.

Qian’s scholarly works were greeted with critical acclaim as soon as they came off the press. Such was the case with the new edition of Tanyilu (1948; “Reflections in Appreciation”; revised and enlarged in 1983), Songshi xuanzhu (1958; “Selected and Annotated Poems of the Song Dynasty”), and the four-volume Guanzhuibian (1979; Limited Views, a partial translation). The latter work contains comparative studies in literature and culture in general, many of which involve several languages and a good number of authors and their creative or scholarly works, both ancient and modern. In 1986 a volume of revisions and addenda was included in volume 4 of the work. Qian’s other writings include Jiuwen sipian (1979; “Four Early Articles”) and Qizhuiji (1984), a collection of scholarly pieces. He served as vice president of the Chinese Academy of Social Science during 1982–93 and was retained as its senior adviser until his death.

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《中國大百科全書 中國文學》

現代文學研究家﹑作家。字默存﹐號槐聚﹐曾用筆名中書君。1910年11月21日生。江蘇無錫人。

錢鐘書是古文家錢基博的長子﹐自幼受到傳統經史方面的教育。1929年考入清華大學外國語文系﹐又廣泛接受世界各國的文化學術成果。1933年大學畢業。1935年和作家﹑翻譯家楊絳結婚。同年考取了英國退回庚子賠款留學名額﹐在牛津大學英國語文系攻讀兩年﹐又到法國巴黎大學進修法國文學一年﹐於1938年歸國。先後擔任過西南聯大外文系教授﹑湖南蘭田師範學院英語系系主任﹑上海暨南大學外語系教授﹑中央圖書館英文總纂﹑清華大學外文系教授等。1953年起﹐任文學研究所(原屬北京大學﹐後屬中國科學院哲學社會科學學部﹐現屬中國社會科學院)研究員﹔1982年起任中國社會科學院副院長。

錢鐘書深入研讀中國的史學﹑哲學﹑文學經典﹐同時不曾間斷過對西方新舊文學﹑哲學﹑心理學等的閱覽和研究。《談藝錄》(1948)在溝通中西﹑廣征博引的基礎上﹐包含著對中西詩論中貌異實同的詩心的精微辨析﹑比較和闡發。它不僅是中國最早的豐富而詳贍的中西比較詩論﹐而且提出了許多前人不曾提出過的問題。以中國古文論而言﹐有關佛學對中國詩文論的廣泛影響的研究﹐《談藝錄》可以說是首創。以西方文學理論而言﹐有較大影響的俄國形式主義文學理論家許克洛夫斯基﹐以及丹麥哲學家克爾愷郭特﹑法國詩人瓦勒利等的理論﹐在《談藝錄》中﹐也是首次被運用於中國古文論的研究﹔對克羅齊直覺說的批評﹐也是該書最早提出的。《談藝錄》出版後﹐作者頗感有“言之成理而未徹﹐持之有故而未周”(《談藝錄》引言)之處。1984年中華書局再版時﹐除對原書稍作刪潤作為上編外﹐又將近年補訂的與原書規模相當的部分作為下編。後者不僅於中國古文論中的精華多所鉤稽﹑辨析和闡發﹐而且對於西方文論﹐特別是西方當代興起的新學科﹑新理論(包括詩禪說﹑結構主義﹑拆散或譯解體結構主義﹐以至接受美學等等)﹐也有進一步的﹑豐富而精審的聯類﹑辨析和比較。他的另一部學術著作《管錐篇》(1979)﹐富有辨偽和辯證精神﹐對《詩經》﹑《易經》﹑《老子》﹑《左傳》﹑《史記》﹑《楚辭》﹑《太平廣記》﹑《全上古三代秦漢三國六朝文》等古籍﹐不僅突破了許多人文學科的領域﹐不株守陳見地作了許多新的考釋﹐而且披沙揀金﹑鉤玄提要﹑刊謬鉤沉﹑辨析毫芒﹑熔古鑄今﹐做了許多富有創見的賡揚﹔並將中西文化和文學做了許多有意義的比較和研究。融廣博的知識和精卓的見解於一體。這是他的所有學術著作的一個共同的特點。《宋詩選註》(1958)提出了新的選詩原則﹐在註釋上既保持了傳統選本的一些基本特色﹐又突破了傳統選本止於註解﹑疏證的局限﹐對詩歌創作中的許多問題﹐貫通中西﹐做了精見迭出的闡發﹐對隨後的選本產生了一定的影響。

錢鐘書的學術著作除上述幾種外﹐尚有《十六﹑十七﹑十八世紀英國文學裡的中國》(1943年《北京圖書館刊》英文版)﹑《舊文四篇》(1979)﹑《也是集》(1984)等。他的許多著作在國內外學術界都享有很高的聲譽。

錢鐘書同時還著有散文集《寫在人生邊上》(1941)﹐短篇小說《人‧獸‧鬼》(1946)﹐長篇小說《圍城》(1947)等。無論他的散文或小說﹐都具有機智雋永的特點。特別是他的諷刺性長篇小說《圍城》﹐更能夠顯示他的獨特的風格﹐才情橫溢﹐妙喻連篇﹐刻畫人物維妙維肖﹐具有獨特的藝術特色。《圍城》已被譯成多種外文。