楊誠齋黥妓面事

因看周作人的〈關於俞理初〉，查引文出處時，又偶然讀到：

「楊誠齋帥某處，有教授（學官名。即楊之下屬）狎一官妓，誠齋怒，黥妓之面，押往謝，辭教授，是欲愧之。教授延入，酌酒為別，賦〈眼兒媚〉：鬢邊一點似飛蛾，莫把翠鈿遮（莫以翠鈿遮之也）。三年兩載，千潤百就，今日天涯（分隔也）。楊花又逐東風去，隨分落誰家。若還忘得，除非睡起，不照菱花（鏡也）。楊誠齋得詞，方知教官是文士，即舉妓送之。」

－南宋張端義《貴耳集》

不知真假，但心內難免起了疙瘩。畢竟我是很欣賞楊萬里詩的，且及於人。其〈新柳〉云：

「柳條百尺拂銀塘，且莫深青只淺黃。未必柳條能蘸水，水中柳影引他長。」

詩懷寬容如此。故也有點難想像，其人會有這樣苛酷的一面。是寫筆記者誤記杜撰，還是當時的時俗、官俗使然（宋代官員嚴禁狎妓），就不得而知了。

10/7/2026

韓愈的〈釋文〉

因讀周作人的〈厰甸之二〉及於韓愈文，於是又把他那篇〈釋文〉看了一遍。前半的內容大略如下：

有人告訴韓愈，說有人向宰相進讒，說韓愈說宰相壞話。 

韓愈寫了一大段回應，其辯解邏輯大致為：

1.你（宰相）對我咁好，我怎會說你壞話？

2.我咁廢，又憑甚麼說你壞話？

3.不過我咁廢你都依然對我咁好，咁都足以證明我廢極有限耳……（潛台詞） 

所以說，韓愈的文章，其實很值得心理分析……（儘管文格明顯不高）。因它多少或能反映中唐以降的政治現實（或氛圍？），文學的權力運作，人際的階級攀聯關係，以至某種士子底普遍心理。 

那些對白、那些人物，一個眼花，還以為是從Henry James小說中走出來的…… 

又按：讀到其結尾云：「既而讒言果不行。」那種似曾相識的古文斷言（assertion），那「勿謂言之不預」的語氣和得色……不知怎的，忽又想到很多年前看過的一單詩壇八掛…… 

事緣當時有位叫藍海文的詩人，事情始末不大清楚了，光從文章看，大概，是有人批評了他詩一點甚麼吧，於是他便親身下場寫評論回應了…… 

而那篇文章的題目，是叫〈藍詩立於不敗之地〉。 

我只得承認自己對人性的理解很有限，到今天也未搞清楚這是甚麼回事……

4/7/2026

革命性的耳朵

很好笑。那種conceit。聽不懂入聲字，則代表「耳朵必然是革命性的」。很想得開。

其實有段時間，我也一直以為這帳戶的文章是AI生成的。

題外話： 

不拘泥平仄是一回事。不懂又是另一回事。在如今Formosa的觀念裏，現代漢語，就退化到只是國語嗎？自己聽不懂，就等同是整個現代也聽不懂且遺失了嗎？上一代詩人如瘂弦、周夢蝶者，其對於詩的節奏、語感拿捏，以至終能在文字上獨樹一幟，「只此一家」，恐怕也是得力於其本身說話時語言方音的雜糅，和更重要的，是對此的敏銳感知，亦即其國語「未夠標準」處。 

坦白說，對比上一代人，你們如今這代人的中文，是寫得更有辨識度了嗎？

30/6/2026

原帖出處：（https://www.facebook.com/Enkarypoetry/posts/pfbid039CfRteg58dekbQiPoD6vEMdJdaMknPpdQ6xSEKcrHUYBSDTLAmZXxFWvz5ygyqql）

記pdf搬運告竣

終於搬得七七八八……大有將自己私人書櫃公諸於世之感。（其實泰半都是防疫時遺留，拜防疫所賜。搬了近兩個月，恐怕也是一場小小的「景觀」了……） 

知堂老人在《書房一角》序有云：「從前有人說過，自己的書齋不可給人家看見，因為這是危險的事，怕被看去了自己的心思。這話是頗有幾分道理的，一個人做文章，說好聽話，都並不難，只一看他所讀的書，至少便顛出一點斤兩來了。」 

自顧之下，斤兩自是全無。但心思，或說個人讀書的興趣、趣味所向（或者所擯斥的），有心人或可看出一點端倪。閱讀是很孤單的事，書海茫茫，若剛好有共同看過、喜歡的書，固然值得欣慰；但我私下、暗地裏更期待的，毋寧是有人因一時對「我」之好奇，而意外發現了某本素未謀面的書，或作者。（或說得好聽點：是因為對「你」的好奇，而成就了對他人的發現。） 

同時也讓自己感到：在存在感薄弱的現世，自己可能、隱約、似乎、彷彿還是有這點作用在內。

1/4/2026

《夏志清夏濟安書信集》讀後

《夏志清夏濟安書信集》（王洞、季進編）讀後
 
六百多封信，終於看完。兄弟間文辭摯誠，令人動容。而二人偶然對英語文學的談論心得（雖或只片言隻語），亦足教讀者如我獲益良多。書海無涯，讀書毋寧是「摸石頭過河」；故若一旦遇着一二牢靠的踏石，自也是令人心生慰藉的。此所以有感於夏氏兩位先生。
 
7/1/2025

Leon Sciaky, Farewell to Salonica: City at the Crossroads讀後

Leon Sciaky, Farewell to Salonica: City at the Crossroads讀後
 
偶然遇上的好書。文字溫瑩、細緻，如實記下一個人靜美的童年；亦側寫了巴爾幹戰爭前後，薩洛尼卡（即帖撒羅尼迦）作為一東西交會、文化族群混雜的港口城市，是怎樣在種種外來的壓迫、以至內部的人為盲動下，不可免地走向衰落。Truly widens one's horizon..
 
3/1/2024
 
書摘：
 
//We had been in the living room of the Little House for some time when the boom of the cannon announcing sunset rolled down from the tower of Yedi Kullé up on the hill. Like an answering echo, the tumult in the street increased in a happy greeting to the end of the fast. It rose to a roar for a while as vendors and shopkeepers, with renewed vigor, entreated the buyers and the stragglers hurried their steps toward home, where meals were waiting. Then gradually, like a storm that has spent itself, the hoarse voice of the city became a low rumble which slowly subsided into silence, a silence punctuated now and then by the sound of a store shutter being pulled down for the night.
 
The gold on the windows resolved itself into crimson, which glowed like a fire for a while. Then it faded away, and melted into dusk. A soft breeze came from the gulf, bellying and flattening the curtains like the peaceful breathing of slumber. Tia Gracia put down the cup of coffee she was still sipping, and with trembling fingers lit the kerosene lamp on the table. It shed a circle of yellow light, extending slightly beyond the table itself, while the rest of the room became bathed in the subdued greenish twilight cast by the lampshade. On the divan against the wall Grandfather sat by his mother, his strong shoulders contrasting singularly with the frail little woman with wrinkled face and bony hands.
 
In the quiet of this room an overwhelming sense of happiness came over me, a happiness so great that it brought a lump to my throat. For the first time I became conscious of being happy. Tears filled my eyes and the room became a tremulous green sea with a tiny golden island in its midst. Grandfather’s voice receded more and more until it reached me like a faint song, soft and caressing, like the murmur of the morning breeze through reeds and willows.//

Carson McCullers, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter 讀後

 Carson McCullers, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1940)讀後
 
自大學以來，斷斷續續讀外國文學也算有數年；從未遇過一位作者，是能像她那樣將「孤獨」寫得如此用心、透徹的。若單論書的頭兩章，恐怕是我暫時在英語文學裏讀過最完美的文字（是的，哪怕是James Joyce或海明威，大抵亦無過於此）。或如《紐時》某位評者謂：「She dignifed the individual, especially life's losers... She reflected the lonely heart with a golden hand.」「授予尊嚴」（dignified），不是指要演繹某種理想的人性假定；而是在於對人性缺陷一筆一捺的如實勾勒，以及對其一次又一次的扶正。而若說我在John Steinbeck的文字處仍時會感受到一點昔日的、左翼精神的餘痕，則McCullers在此書中顯現的，無疑已是種超越了純粹政治界限，且更為寬諒、平等和慈悲的目光了。
 
補：中譯來說，劉勇軍的譯文明顯臻屬上乘，不少言文細節亦翻得忠實，故值得破例推薦。
 
2/8/2024
 
書摘：
 
//He stood before the mirror and rubbed his cheek meditatively. He was sorry he had talked to Alice. With her, silence was better. Being around that woman always made him different from his real self. It made him tough and small and common as she was... Alice was almost asleep again, and through the mirror he watched her with detachment. There was no distinctive point about her on which he could fasten his attention, and his gaze glided from her pale brown hair to the stumpy outline of her feet beneath the cover.//
 
//The black night sky was beginning to lighten and turn a deep blue with the new morning. There were but a few weak, silvery stars. The street was empty, silent, almost cool. Singer carried the suitcase with his left hand, and with his free hand he supported Blount. He nodded good-bye to Biff and they started off together down the sidewalk. Biff stood watching them. After they had gone half a block away only their black forms showed in the blue darkness — the mute straight and firm and the broad-shouldered, stumbling Blount holding on to him. When he could see them no longer, Biff waited for a moment and examined the sky. The vast depth of it fascinated and oppressed him. He rubbed his forehead and went back into the sharply lighted restaurant. He stood behind the cash register, and his face contracted and hardened as he tried to recall the things that had happened during the night. He had the feeling that he wanted to explain something to himself... The door opened and closed several times as a sudden spurt of customers began to come in. The night was over. Willie stacked some of the chairs up on the tables and mopped at the floor... The place was still not crowded—it was the hour when men who have been up all night meet those who are freshly wakened and ready to start a new day. The sleepy waitress was serving both beer and coffee. There was no noise or conversation, for each person seemed to be alone... The bank building across the street was very pale in the dawn. Then gradually its white brick walls grew more distinct. When at last the first shafts of the rising sun began to brighten the street, Biff gave the place one last survey and went upstairs.//
 
//He had wanted to talk to somebody about it, because maybe if he told all the facts out loud he could put his finger on the thing that puzzled him. The poor son-of-a-bitch talking and talking and not ever getting anybody to understand what he meant. Not knowing himself, most likely. And the way he gravitated around the deafmute and picked him out and tried to make him a free present of everything in him.
 
Why?
 
Because in some men it is in them to give up everything personal at some time, before it ferments and poisons — throw it to some human being or some human idea.//

商禽《夢或者黎明及其他》讀後

商禽《夢或者黎明及其他》讀後

說來或許讓人詫異，但在台灣的名詩人中，商禽的詩其實我是最晚才接觸的（晚至近半年才開始深入看）。相比瘂弦，商禽的詩其實來得更痛，也更見血肉，這大概也是我自己私心更偏好他一點的緣故。有他們兩位珠玉在前，縱使台灣詩在近半世紀以來都沒甚麼「睇頭」可言──然而乃活在他們陰影之下，也是可以諒解的吧。

〈門或者天空〉為整個台灣五六十年代現代主義的扛鼎之作，其重要性不亞於瘂弦的〈深淵〉，此點在讀者如我於大半個世紀後看來，當是清楚明白，可作定讞的了。

此外印象極深的還有〈躍場〉、〈水葫蘆〉、〈溫暖的黑暗〉、〈龍舌蘭〉、〈涉禽〉等作。尤其是〈躍場〉，每次讀至或念及其結尾時，均覺哽然、久久不得語；其況味，大概也是人在出來社會工作以後，才會深切體會到的吧。

15/1/2026

2024年10月7日攝於清水灣郊野公園。

答友人問有關「刨古文」的問題

友人：最近在刨古文觀止，讀古文的話有什麽推薦的方法嗎？ 

我：我想首先是善用工具書吧。數千年的古文，context各異，語言習慣各異，何況還有種種傳抄缺漏（我們不應忘記，能流傳下來的古文，在某意義上，其實都是殘缺的文本[1]），看不明白其實很正常。重要是懂得查注解。如遇字不識，比起只google白話字典，中文系至少應要懂得直接查康熙字典、廣韻、說文等（ctext的字典有合併版，極方便）。仍看不懂的話，便去查十三經注疏（或其他經典批注）。如讀《左傳》時不會不看杜預注（孔疏較長，有需要才睇埋），讀《莊子》時不會不用郭慶藩的集釋（集合了郭象注、成玄英疏，還有其他補充）。這些都不是甚麼僻書，在國學導航網站（或ctext網）都有。中國古文學冇嘢多，多的就是注解。而看注解的意義，也不在於100%解通文本。而是讓你體會到：

這些「古文」，原來不單是你，而是連古人在閱讀時也面對着同樣的困難。（但政府又要靠它來出題考試，不然哪用得着這麼多「注本」？這麼多缺文、錯字，這麼多地方的含義、語義不確定，而又要抽取它「可解」的地方來考、來做文章，很苦的。） 

而當你漸漸讀多了，遇有疑難時比照不同注釋，發現即使是那些學富五車的學者，如鄭玄、朱熹等，面對古文，也時有不確定或解錯的時候，其實不知不覺間對你自己讀古文的信心亦會增強不少（你冇番咁上下「料子」，又怎發現人家的錯？）。 

最重要的，是保持一種「openmindedness」。古文也只是人寫的文字而已。看不懂人家寫甚麼，有甚麼出奇？換轉你現在貿然打開人家的whatsapp紀錄，也不一定立即看得懂吧（一笑）。王安石在〈答曾子固書〉裏寫得很好： 

「然世之不見全經久矣。讀經而已，則不足以知經。故某自百家諸子之書，至於《難經》、《素問》、《本草》諸小說，無所不讀。農夫女工，無所不問。然後於經為能知其大體而無疑。蓋後世學者，與先王之時異矣，不如是，不足以盡聖人故也。揚雄雖為不好非聖人之書，然於墨、晏、鄒、莊、申、韓亦何所不讀。彼致其知而後讀，以有所去取，故異學不能亂也。」

另外的則是周作人和止庵的意見：古文而論，以先秦為最佳（春秋末年百家爭鳴，思想之自由、廣闊、靈活與深邃，以至在語言上的原創性和創造力，在中國史上可一不可再）；魏晉南北朝時的文章受佛學浸染，質樸自然，與其時政治現實之黑暗相比照，也是值得品讀的（《文選》已收有不少，而清代的《六朝文絜箋注》也是有口碑的選本）。而唐宋以後，理學抬頭，格局漸細，士人們多惟科舉是尚（亦即周作人常謂的「奔競躁進氣」，見《苦口甘口·我的雜學二》及《秉燭後談·東萊左氏博議》諸文），所以到底還是六朝以前的文章思想會開闊些。唐宋以後好文章也不是沒有，但可能便要「捐窿捐罅」一點，如李贄、洪邁、龔自珍、徐渭、王思任、張岱或屈大鈞的《廣東新語》等；太出名、大路的選文最好避一避，即韓愈或蘇洵、蘇徹、顧炎武那些（其實周作人認為中國文章之衰落，正由韓愈始）。在八大家裏，我個人以為較值得讀的應是歐陽修、柳宗元、蘇軾和王安石這幾位。宋明理學也有其細緻的地方，然受時代所限，很多時亦不免陷於虛玄或重複，胡同總比見解多。這大概也是人世不可免的寫照吧。

[1] 即所謂「書缺有間」也。

友人：但點解避韓愈？

我：韓愈的問題較複雜，也非三言兩語說得清。他作品中固然也是有好的，如〈柳子厚墓誌銘〉。惟其最大的毛病在於：每每但求文章有「氣勢」，而不顧人情事理之信實與否。說話前先擺款（也許也是當時現實中的不得已，你不擺款根本沒人留意你），只是為了議論得有「氣勢」，而不是真正探求誠實的寫作。「名篇」劣作如〈祭鱷魚文〉者，文筆或內容便俱一無可取了。（28/11/2025）

附王安石（1021—1086年）〈答曾子固書〉：

　　某啟：久以疾病不為問，豈勝嚮往！
 
　　前書疑子固於讀經有所不暇，故語及之。連得書，疑某所謂經者，佛經也，而教之以佛經之亂俗。某但言讀經，則何以別於中國聖人之經？_{（何以要着意分開其信中所言之「經」與古代聖人之經呢）}子固讀吾書每如此，亦某所以疑子固於讀經有所不暇也。
 
　　然世之不見全經久矣，讀經而已，則不足以知經。故某自百家諸子之書，至於《難經》、《素問》、《本草》諸小說，無所不讀。農夫女工，無所不問。然後於經為能知其大體而無疑。蓋後世學者，與先王之時異矣，不如是，不足以盡聖人故也。揚雄雖為不好非聖人之書，然於墨、晏、鄒_{（鄒衍，陰陽家代表人物）}、莊、申、韓亦何所不讀？彼致其知而後讀_{（先存致知之心而後閱讀）}，以有所去取，故異學不能亂也。惟其不能亂，故能有所去取者，所以明吾道而已。子固視吾所知_{（以其學識）}，為尚可以異學亂之者乎？非知我也。方今亂俗不在於佛，乃在於學士大夫沉沒利慾，以言相尚，不知自治_{（修養自身的德性）}而已。子固以為如何？
 
　　苦寒，比日_（近日）侍奉萬福。自愛。

讀面書「ChatGPT瓦解學術體系」一文有感

不是取代。是文字泛濫。是對人面目的掩埋。

當學者淪為技工，學生被視為產品，真正的學習對這個社會來說了無意義，有此結果，亦理所當然。不是AI摧毀了體制，而是體制成就了AI。

而人類無意義而重複的工作並不會因AI而減少（為AI牽補架漏，難道會少工夫麼）。只是馬克思所謂的「異化」（alienation）現象，此後將會在普遍人類的共同感受中愈發加深。

9/5/2025

原帖，作者：James D. Walsh，《每個人都靠作弊混過大學，ChatGPT已經瓦解了整個學術體系》：（https://www.facebook.com/philochest/posts/pfbid02CuLFvMkXswxMcvhbUEJAStJfjGtdhE4ZmRgg3jLxrFwRARge8ge5DhWzGaiyijh8l）

聞中大崇基貓貓Misha離世

貓兒將死之際，倘或不告而別，而選擇靜靜死於外，其之所以觸動人心，是為了在最後時刻，它善用了主人給予的那份自由。

6/6/2024

//15歲的Misha患上腎衰竭，她日前突然失蹤了一星期，原來她在臨死前選擇躲起來悄悄地離去。//

From（https://www.facebook.com/hkanimalpost/posts/pfbid034Nxo9tC3qxCaZmHAvJoT5uUCn1a9BecjRBg3ocSNop3saJffaELYvJBq6QvazXWQl）

甚麼是啟蒙？

甚麼是啟蒙？
 
讀康德的經典短文〈甚麼是啟蒙？〉（What Is Enlightenment?）（1784），當看到結尾處時，還是不爭氣的笑了出來：

 

「once the germ(胚芽) on which nature has lavished most care - man's inclination and vocation to think freely - has developed within this hard shell, it gradually reacts upon the mentality of the people, who thus gradually become increasingly able to act freely. Eventually, it even influences the principles of governments, which find that they can themselves profit by treating man, who is more than a machine, in a manner appropriate to his dignity.」（Kant’s Political Writings，頁59-60，H. B. Nisbet譯）

 
一種「（恰好）能配稱於其尊嚴的對待」（a manner appropriate to his dignity）。世道之脩然，人情的刻深，僅此片語，亦大可盡見無遺了。是故綜觀全文，真正最能在二百年後仍反映出人性事實的，恐怕也只有以下這段話：
 

「To test whether any particular measure can be agreed upon as a law for a people, we need only ask whether a people could well impose such a law upon itself.」(同上，頁57)

能「impose」，就是「well impose」；正如受得住，即為受得起。當中說了是否等同沒說，或容有仁智之見；但聽到沒聽到，人生在世，原就沒有多少可以含糊其詞的餘地。

22/2/2022稿
4/11/2022改

圖片源自網絡。

有關「尋求支援」

 有關「尋求支援」
 
聽收音機，剛巧談到學校圖書的「安全」問題。官員解釋說，若教師不肯定某類書籍有否違反國安法，可向教育局「尋求支援」。
 
接着我便想到，即使是在帝制時代，就上述情況，正常的說法應是「向上請示」、「見示」。
 
記得陳雲先生在某篇談論傅柯的文章也提過：「追溯歷史變化，思考何時改換名詞，也改換世界觀。」今以是觀之，可謂信焉。
 
「支援」一語所反映的，是一種焦慮的心理。然則焦慮何來？來自心識的矛盾。事關說出這番話的人，其實亦清楚知道：他在工作上要迫害的，是香港人；而他自己，也是香港人。
 
6/6/2022

偶讀《西青散記》

 偶讀《西青散記》
 
　　偶讀林語堂譯清代史震林的《西青散記》，頗詫異於其譯事之草率。如序中「微可悲也」一語，林竟將之譯為「I felt a twinge of sorrow」。「微」通「無」，不是很基本的文言常識嗎？此外他譯「襁褓膳雌」一段也有些問題，「膳」是進食而非餵食，故「膳雌」意思，應是解「正在食用母雞」而不是「餵飼母雞」；及「守其母羽」，迺是指小雞守着牠們母親被抓去烹食前遺下的羽毛。否則若真似其譯文所寫：「小雞們都安穩的待在母親翅膀下」，那整件事又有何悲哀意味可言？
 
附：史震林《西青散記序》
 
「余初生時，怖夫天之乍明乍暗。家人曰：晝夜也。怪夫人之乍有乍無，曰生死也。教余別星，曰孰箕斗。別禽，曰孰鳥鵲。識所始也。生以長，乍明乍暗，乍有乍無者，漸不為異，間於紛紛混混時，自提其神於太虛而俯之，覺明暗有無之乍乍者，微可悲也。
 
襁褓膳雌，家人曰：其子猶在，匍匐往視，雙雛睨余，守其母羽。輟膳以悲。悲所始也。匍匐牆下，得物謂飴，捧而吮之。家人癡余曰: 石也。上有字，字為西，字為青，強余讀，讀所始也。其凹如臼至今對之，是為散記。乾隆二年十二月十二日夢中作。」
 
林語堂譯本：
 
‘When I was a child, I was frightened by the sudden alternations of light and darkness and was told that it was night and day. I was mystified by the sudden appearance and disappearance of beings and was told that it was birth and death. People told me to distinguish the stars and said, “That one is the Sieve, and that one the Dipper.” I learned to distinguish the birds and was told this one was a raven and that a magpie. This was how my knowledge began. When I grew older, I gradually lost the wonder at the sudden alternations of light and darkness and appearance and disappearance of beings. Sometimes in the maze of confusions I let my spirit soar upward to space. Looking down at the sudden changes of light and birth and death of things, I felt a twinge of sorrow.
 
I remember that once in my childhood, I was going to feed a hen. Someone told me that its young chicks were there. I crawled over and saw two chicks hiding under the wings of their mother and peeping at me. I was seized with a sense of sorrow and forgot about the feeding. This was how my sorrows began. Once I was crawling along the garden walls and found an object. I was going to suck it like a piece of candy. People laughed at me and said it was a piece of rock. On this rock stood one word “West,” and another word, “Green,” and I was forced to learn these two words. This was how my reading began. That a piece of rock, hollow at the center, still facing me on my desk, where I am writing these Random Notes.’
 
另：《西青散記》雖是很典型寫才子佳人的書，但其文筆是出名好的。今故略引兩段以見其善：
 
「負濠面野，市聲已遠，蒹葭楊柳，新翠蓊然，漁村田舍意也。竹欄外，方池為密萍所漫，魚唼喋呴萍隙，不得見。池外野水數灣，漉沙者步水中如鷺，亭上人啣杯望之，彼則自顧其業耳。 ……各道客況，離家幾何時，道路幾何里，旅遊相識幾何人，老親與稚子別至今又益幾何齒；身無歲不為客，夢無夜不還家，囊中錢贈何人，笥中衣典何處；髮某年白，病某年滋，視某年昏；地所歷孰多，遊所至孰遠，名利心孰淡，倦遊欲歸意孰深。相告太息，酒寒忘飲。」－卷一（頁22－23）
 
「事有小而不忘，思之不可再得，與人言生感慨者。……八九歲獨負筐採棉，懷煨餅，鄰有兄名中哥，長一歲，呼中哥為伴，坐棉下分煨餅共食之。棉內種芝麻，生綠蟲，似蠶而大，捻之相恐嚇，中哥作駭態，蹙額縮頸以為笑。後雖長，常採棉也。採棉日宜陰，日炙敗葉，屑然而脆，粘於花，天晴每承露采之，日中乃已，或兼採雜菽，棉與菽相和筐中，既歸乃別之也。幼時未得其趣。前歲自西山歸湖上，攜稚兒採棉於村北。秋末陰涼，黍稷黃茂，早禾既獲，晚菜始生，循田四望，遠峰一青，碎雲千白，蜻蜓交飛，野蟲振響，平疇良阜，獨樹破巢，農者鋤鐮異業，進退俯仰，望之皆從容自得。稚兒渴，尋得餘瓜於蟲葉斷蔓之中，大如拳，食之生澀。土（虫桀）飛擲，翅有聲激激然，兒捕其一，旋令放去。晚歸，稚兒在前，自負棉徐步隨之，任意問答，遙見桑棗下夕陽滿扉，老母倚門而望矣。」－卷二（頁70－71）
 
　　如此意蘊深長的文字，縱便觀乎歷代的古文「名篇」，恐怕亦未嘗多見。誠如鍾叔河所言，這些段落即使是「放在上品的筆記當中，亦堪稱佳構」、「張岱《陶庵夢憶》、龔煒《巢林筆談》亦無以過之」。是以也難怪知堂老人雖嫌此書「太漂亮有才子氣」，亦得悻悻然承認其文有「可取」了（見《秉燭後談．兒時雜事》，一笑）。
 
18/5/2022

19/2/2020攝於城門水塘。

19/9/2019攝於錦田。

有關「抗日為中國帶來利多於弊」

有關「抗日為中國帶來利多於弊」
 
馮睎乾這樣寫我不意外。但若余英時先生臨老也蹚這渾水，那就真是頗為可悲了。如此一來，歷史上的一切壞事都可以被看成是「砥礪」——六四可以是對天安門學生利多於弊，國安法也可以是對泛民利多於弊（同理，文革之於中國人，奧斯威辛之於猶太人...etc），傳統史學中的一字褒貶、功過論定精神，也大抵可以棄若敝屣了。抽離語境（戰國的「國」（諸侯）等同現代的國（nation state）嗎），用方唐鏡的態度來引用《孟子》，這就是所謂學養嗎？「抗日戰爭」的確間接暗助了共產黨取得大陸的政權，這就是馮余兩位先生心中的「利」嗎？讀那麼多書，腦裏時刻想着的卻是怎樣「吊打」旁人而非事理本身，為文立意如此，縱然給你「一時」拗贏了，又有甚麼好值得誇口的？
 
25/4/2022

From (https://www.facebook.com/epinoia2020/posts/318436970410272)

「沒一條生命是活的」

 「沒一條生命是活的」

　　　　　　　　　　——聞屈穎妍喪父

在萎頹的日子，花生遲吃，然亦不能不吃。約讀了幾段，寫得還算情真意切，不枉作者出身中文系：

 

//那夜趕到醫院，爸爸已在急救室返魂乏術，護士問我們要不要進去？不過事先警告，裏面全是屍首。

我不介意，進去跟爸爸遺體告別，瞥見旁邊的病床，全是一個個沒了呼吸的老人，有的蜷曲身體、有的死不瞑目、有的張大了口，急救房內，沒一條生命是活的。//

 

修辭貴立其誠。故上引文字若作為歷史見證看，自是極可信靠的。只是撇除這點「史料」的價值，真正讓我開眼的，是其在喪親的主旨下，一些接續的「引申思考」，悲情而見奔遁意；茲摘錄於下，並試加剖論：

 

//試想想，那下體流血的女子、那不能洗腎的病人，如果他們有什麼三長兩短，一定不會算進新冠頭上去，問題是，我不殺伯仁，伯仁因我而死，這段日子，幾多不是得了新冠但被新冠拖累延醫的病人離世？有人知道嗎？有人關注嗎？//

 

短短百來字，其意藴已非常複雜。首先，她是在感嘆那些不是直接因新冠而離世的人，沒有她父親的那種福緣運氣，可以正式「算進」新冠的死亡數字裏。是故她尾句似乎是想建議政府設立一個新的category，以統計那些於這段期間「間接」因新冠而死的人數，好還死者以其應有「名目」，同時突顯這場「疫情」的重要性，即其「間接」為禍之烈——簡言之，即在傷痛之中，她彷彿是在罵政府：你條數，計漏了。計漏了，將來我們怎樣向那些不積極「防疫」的人「討回公道」？

 

以上潛台詞雖可悲，但亦足料。唯最令人措手不及，也最惹人深思的，還是她中間的那句轉折：「我不殺伯仁，伯仁因我而死」。

 

我沒想過原來「我」這個中文字，是可以用得這樣完全跟自己撇清關係，完全沒有一點「我」的影子在內，卻又同時能保留如此懇切自然的語氣（畢竟自我中心如丁蟹，他在那場與藍潔瑛的法庭戲裏，也至少曉得自動轉換原句中的「我」字為「你」字）。這裏的「我」指的是誰？是新冠病毒嗎？她應不至於因抗疫疲勞，而在潛意識中混淆了自己跟病毒的身份吧？那麼，「我」是指「抗疫不力」的政府，或那些託辭沒人手而拒絕救人的醫護了？但為何要這麼客氣婉轉委屈，或過分投入代入（看，連動機也可以有這麼多的可能的「層次」），以至要用「我」而不用「你」字呢？而最重點是，我不認為這裏有筆誤存在；論文氣，此處是的確應該用「我」而不是「你」字的（最多整句加回引號）。這是文字意外誘導出來的、作者的真實心聲。她彷彿是真的相信：我有方法、有把握可以隨時成為你，代你的良知思感、發言；而在過程中你是完全不會覺察到有任何「我」的成分或身影存在過的。當然了，這只是一種想像；她背後的信念到底還是很「香港」的：即荒謬的是世界，惟世界不包括自己。而目前尚差的一步，就是自己可以隨時成為世界。

 

29/3/2022

 

From (https://www.facebook.com/WeSupportChrisWat/videos/2208568065962794)

歷史的一半

歷史的一半
 
有關歌詞這回事，近些年來其實也以為自己早就看化了。不想無意間看到洛楓這篇貼文，心內還是不能沒有滋味。「突破論述」、「趕上版圖」、「建構範式」、「我們一起尋找，一起記錄」……我想到的，是自己在大半年前寫的一篇文章，一萬餘字左右，純粹是介紹一位在本地不甚為人所知的業餘創作人——而那貼文直至現在，like數依舊是零。那種徹底的死寂，就如往水面輕擲了一塊卵石，本也沒指望激起甚麼水花，卻沒想到最後竟是連漣紋也不曾看到一道。人們常以新詩這文體的寫作為孤絕，殊不知填詞才是真正最孤絕的文體創作：詩寫下了，還會有投稿或參賽的機會；而歌詞若你不想讓它成為「正規」的流行商品，便大概只有在網上湮埋的命運。時下人們常流行說「保育廣東歌」，我想這點其實也沒甚麼好值得憂慮的：那些響噹噹的歌名或人名，早在許多年前已進入這城市的「史冊」了，便再過數十年也不見得會完全被人忘記。至若「記錄一座城市的身世」，倒不如說是「增潤」其已有身世比較恰切。我也只想起詩人陳李才的另一句詩：「一個城巿必須略去冗長的身世」，而「歷史的一半」，其實早於誕生前已「在博物館外靜靜死去」。
 
22/3/2022

'There is nothing to be said respecting an author that all the world have made up their minds about: it is a thankless as well as hopeless task to recommend one that nobody has ever heard of.'

-William Hazlitt

Mass Media in the 19th and 20th Centuries (study notes)

Topic: Did the emergence of mass media in the 19th and 20th centuries primarily serve to allow ordinary people to share and access ideas more freely and easily than before, or was its chief effect instead to enable governments (and powerful corporations) to manipulate mass publics in powerful new ways?

 

Since the late 19^th century, both the amount and frequency of “information flow” across the world had risen to an unprecedented degree in history, thanked primarily to the advance of printing technology, the increase of literacy rate, and the construction of transcontinental submarine telegraph cables. Meanwhile, it also facilitated the emergence of mass media, which apart from newspapers includes radio, films (and news reel), and later televisions as well. Undoubtedly, under such phenomenon news were now gathered and processed in a much more collective way, which was very different from the past when most people in the society were still relying on oral news or gossips, and common readerships were also created in different small and large circles across the society. Given the facts that news were now permeated indiscriminately into everybody’s daily life and a global telegraphic network had started to take shape after 1860s, it is easy for some people to assert that the emergence of mass media had now provided chances for ordinary people to access and share ideas more freely and easily than before. However, as I would argue, the emergence of mass media had only brought centralization to the global transmissions of information as the power of “transmitting and screening information” was still retained by a handful of prominent corporations. Moreover, because of the reality that these corporations could not hope to completely exempt themselves from political interference (especially during wartime), most mass media would, and had in fact only become manipulative tools of the government toward the mass publics rather than being a neutral medium for ordinary people to share and access ideas liberally as some might have assumed.

 

I will start by analyzing the monopoly of those prominent telegraph companies in the news market in the late 19^th century. As we know, the submarine telegraph cables, which were the prerequisite for transcontinental communication, were owned exclusively by them. And as at that time there were no governmental checking or regulations on how much transmission rates that those companies should charge their customers, so conceivably, the rates were usually extremely high and were obviously not affordable for ordinary people or small newspapers. Those companies also saw no incentives to lower their rates, given that they had all already struck bargains with one another and there were no other competitions in the market. For instance, at an  Imperial Press Conference in 1909, both Reuters and the Australian press combination had unanimously turned a deaf ear to the British newspapers’ demands for reducing press cable rates (Potter 634). As Simon Potter argues, the conventional well-celebrated“Victorian internet” was in fact nothing more than a “system”that was primarily serving the commercial interest of a small portion of “telegraph owners”, and the commercial reality of that time had actually “obstructed” free communication (Potter 630). As a result, many small newspapers could only rely on the news excerpt delivered by the large newspapers, as the latter could afford the press cable fees, and news had then inevitably become more and more centralized. Apart from that, the invention of telegraph also changed the reading habit of the mass publics, as speaking of news now people thought that they “must have everything red-hot”, and this entails that they now had less patience for the news reports sent by mail (which was relatively slower, but usually contained more serious and in-depth reports on the events) (Potter 631). Moreover, this also gave rise to the so-called “sensationalism” in press, as now readers would mostly care about the topic of the news first than about the actual news content, which is a bit similar to the “clickbait” in nowadays internet. Therefore, to say fairly, the emergence of mass media had only made the mass publics become passive recipients of news from a few “dominant sources”. And unlike the situation that in the past when news were transmitted orally everyone could participate in the process of creating the “news”(such as in 18^th century Paris everybody could craft their own songs about the news), now they were greatly homogenized, and most people were not “sharing” and “accessing” new ideas, as these terms are kind of “active” and “voluntary” in general sense, but were rather merely receiving, and likely to be numbed by the excessive, irrelevant, and sometimes phoney news content in a new world of “information”.

 

Then, I will move to discuss the effect of imperialism to the global transmission of information in the late 19^th century. As mentioned before, a global telegraphic system had started to come into view after the 1860s, and it is clear that such system was not only serving the mercantilism of those big telegraph companies but also the imperial interests that laid behind. For example, from a map shown in week two’s lecture we can see that most submarine telegraph cables at that time were straightly connected to London, which means that news must pass through this “imperial centre” before they could be transmitted to other regions, so the whole picture was actually more like a “system” for information collection than an liberal “network” for global communication. Besides, from the case of late Qing China’s modernization on her national communication system as discussed by Wisecrack and Pike, we can see clearly how imperialism had exerted its influence over mass communication through both direct and indirect ways. For example, when the Great Northern Company smuggled their cables ashore to Shanghai in 1870s without obtaining approval from the Qing government, there was little can be done by the latter given that Shanghai was a still concession at the time and was de facto under the protection of the imperial powers (Wisecrack and Pike 116).  This further shows that under the veil of mercantilism, imperialism was the real backing power and precondition of the companies’ commercial actions. Also, even when in the later stage the Qing government had fully embraced and realized the plan of national telegraphy system, ordinary people still had no say on whether not to accept the telegraphy, as well as on how the system should be implemented. All matters were decided by the Company and the Qing government, and no competition was allowed (Wisecrack and Pike 133). From the above, we could see that the newly-emergent global communication network was in fact nothing more than a property of the big companies and imperial powers, and obviously it concerned little about the interest and the“right to know” of the mass publics.

 

Lastly, I would like to focus on how politics had influenced the operation of mass media, as well as how had it changed people’s perception toward the latter during wartime. For example, as David Greenberg points out, during WWI the intimate linkage between mass media and governmental propaganda had become more and more visible. And because of the American ingrained distrust toward the latter, it also tended to make them cautiously distance themselves from the news provided by the former, as people did not know “when (should they) to believe” in a slogan or a statement (Greenberg 60, 62). Without public confidence in news, it is hard to see how people would share and talk about the information disseminated by mass media more enthusiastically than the past. There were also plenty of examples on how did government try to stifle public opinion through manipulating the mass media in wartime, and the most notorious one would be the Nazis Party. As in Hitler’s first radio address on 1 Feb. 1933, he had already made it plain that“In place of our turbulent instincts, (the task before us would be to) ...make national discipline govern our life” (Hitler). This evidently reveals his intention to make comprehensive governmental interference into all aspects of his people’s life, including mass media. As history has proven, the Nazis Party soon promulgated the Reichstag Fire Decree in the same year in the excuse of “defending communists’ threat”, and both the freedom of speech and the freedom of press were stripped straightway as accordingly to the law (Ross 292). In an excerpt of the UK’s House of Commons debate on overseas broadcasting in 1942, it also reported on how the Nazis would jam foreign broadcasting and prosecuted the people who dared openly listen to them. This further justified my thesis in the beginning of this paper, which is as mass media could not hope to completely exempt themselves from political interference especially during wartime, it is inevitable for them to be subsumed into politics and to either become mouthpieces of the government or to remain silence under a tyrannical regime.

 

16/10/2020

 

Bibliography

 

Adolf Hitler, Proclamation of the Reich Government to the German People (February 1, 1933). From (https://ghdi.ghi-dc.org/sub_document.cfm?document_id=3940)

 

Corey Ross, Media and the Making of Modern Germany: Mass Communications, Society, and Politics from the Empire to the Third Reich (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), 266-301.

 

David Greenberg, “The Ominous Clang: Fears of Propaganda from World War I to World War II,” in Media Nation: The Political History of News in Modern America, ed. Bruce J. Schulman and Julian E. Zelizer (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017), 50-62.

 

Dwayne R. Winseck and Robert M. Pike, “Electronic Kingdom and Wired Cities in the ‘Age of Disorder’: The Struggle for Control of China’s National and Global Communication Capabilities, 1870-1901,” in Communication and Empire: Media Markets and Globalization (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2007), 113-41.

 

House of Commons (UK) debate on overseas broadcasting, 17 Feb. 1942. From (https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1942/feb/17/broadcasting-overseas-services)

 

Simon J. Potter, “Webs, Networks, and Systems: Globalization and the Mass Media in the Nineteenth‐ and Twentieth‐Century British Empire,” Journal of British Studies 46, no. 3 (2007): 621-46.