三年前,我們從海派市民文學角度延伸而進入上海小報研究的領域,以至今日在一個學術流連的邊緣空間,無意中發(fā)現(xiàn)了張愛玲的佚文,真正始料不及?!队艚鹣恪穪碜陨虾P?,似乎有些不可思議。因為過去小報的名聲不佳,一般都把它看作是傳播流言和藏污納垢之地,完全忘記了它曾是城市平民包括店員、小販這樣下層人的日常文化讀物(當然,中上層的市民也會拿它當作消遣品)。上海小報正是海派精神的世俗體現(xiàn)者,在某種意義上,海派文學研究最終必將通向上海小報。只是人們面對小報資料的繁雜無比,很難下手,往往望洋興嘆而已。
李楠攻讀博士學位之后,這一使命就落在她的肩頭。2002年下半年,在吳福輝具體指導下把博士論文的題目定為《晚清、民國時期上海小報研究》,李楠自費租房在上海安營扎寨,每天從早到晚去上海圖書館閱讀上海小報。這是一塊廣袤的尚未開墾的處女地,僅僅是現(xiàn)存的上海小報就有600余種,留下報名的過千種,它跨越了晚清、民國五六十年之久。她按照時間順序,從晚清最早的小報開始盡量詳盡地瀏覽,在圈定每個時期較好的小報之后,再進入細讀。經過半年時間的精心閱讀,上海小報的概貌以及蘊涵其中較重要的文學、文化現(xiàn)象,基本上心中有數(shù),但到這個時候為止,她還沒有想到要在小報這座山里挖掘出什么寶藏來。
小報上的文壇消息或文學欄目里,到了40年代海派小說家頻頻在這里登場。當她在有線索可循的重要小報大致翻檢了一遍之后,開始注意到是否還有遺漏。此時,手中掌握的小報報刊史料微乎其微,李楠從這些小報中讀出了張愛玲署名的《郁金香》,當時也不覺奇怪:因為在那半年中,她仿佛與世隔絕,人一直沉浸在小報所營造的舊上海歷史氣氛中。直到去年暑期,李楠的博士論文《晚清、民國時期上海小報研究》改定出版在即,這才由吳福輝作出最初認定:這篇《郁金香》是張愛玲40年代后期的作品無疑!于是沉寂多年的一篇杰出小說終于抖落了封存半個多世紀的歷史灰塵,回到廣大讀者手里。
當年上海的《小日報》并非冷僻,它創(chuàng)刊于1919年4月1日,但出至40期就停刊了。1926年復刊后又屢復屢停,它時常因為觸怒官方或大人物而遭遇厄運,實際辦報時間大約23年。30年代的《小日報》曾由一些著名的鴛鴦蝴蝶派作家執(zhí)掌,1937年復刊后的《小日報》主編是小報界名人尤半狂(毅)、黃轉陶(光益),他們大量刊載海派作家作品,呈現(xiàn)出40年代鴛鴦蝴蝶派與海派合龍的趨向。《郁金香》正是1947年復刊后不久發(fā)表的。
《郁金香》在《小日報》以連載方式逐日發(fā)表,從1947年5月16日至5月31日止,共計費時16天。每期載于該報第二版左下方,長短不論,大都六七百字左右。第一期起便編有號碼,但至14期突然編號缺失,到應該是15期的地方卻寫成14,文末標一“完”字,所以可知其共連載了16期。第1期的小說題目橫排,作者署名豎排,均用印刷體。自2期始,即全改為豎排,作者名為手寫體,“張愛玲”下加一“著”字。這種情況表明編者強調此小說的程度,且前后有變化。有一點應當指出的,從2至7期,左下方標著顯著的“長篇連載”四字,但此前與此后都沒有,可見是作者逐篇交稿而編者始終摸不清該小說的長短,或者是張愛玲的怪脾氣,故意不給編者交代,讓編者初以為是短篇,繼之盼望是個長篇,最后看出是個長短篇。
斷定《郁金香》確為張愛玲所作并不難,只要是稍稍熟悉張愛玲的讀者,從她小說中的人物便可分其真?zhèn)危喝鐚懡鹣恪凹t顏”的那句,是張慣常描摹女性又像鴛蝴又不像鴛蝴的筆法,節(jié)選的開頭寫“燈光明亮的房間里熱熱鬧鬧滿是無線電人物的聲音,人卻被攆到外面的黑暗里去了”,純粹是張的敘述句子。金香釘被一段,作者自己都讓自己寫出的意境陶醉了,說是“那境界簡直不知道是天上人間”。小說的結構也應該是張愛玲的,半部小說都實寫二少爺挑逗金香的事,后半部突然進入正題,大少爺與金香惺惺惜惺惺,相愛著。后來抒情的場面出現(xiàn)了,電影節(jié)奏般叫人心跳的場面出現(xiàn)了(電梯上升,一明一暗,已經嫁人的金香在不在電梯里變得撲朔迷離)。這哪里是純小報文人能夠寫出的?小說的主腦落在最后, “這世界上的事原來都是這樣不分是非黑白的嗎”,一語使人憬悟。街上“盲人的磬聲,一聲一聲”,似《傾城之戀》結尾咿咿啞啞的胡琴聲,“更黑”“更深”的夜色仿佛與《金鎖記》的銅錢大的紅黃濕暈的月色混成一片了,這不是張愛玲還能是哪一個?!
此篇原刊的質量不壞,因而減輕了不少??钡墓し颉P枰鼊拥亩即_系誤植的錯字,如“毛中”為“毛巾”;“平臂”為“手臂”;“西嵬”為“西崽”等等。標點方面幾乎都是缺下引號或上引號,容易辨認。此外如象聲詞、副詞、方言和歷史性用詞,那是不能改動的。
Lost Story Rediscovered in Tabloid
By Hao Wenchu
We did not know what we were to discover three years ago when we looked into tabloids printed before 1949 in Shanghai for a folk literary program.These dime newspapers are a gold mine for researchers in the field of folk customs. We stumbled upon a short story by Aileen Chang published in a tabloid in 1947.
It is an incredible find because some scholars previously had classified such newspapers merely as the cesspool of sensational rumors.But apparently they forgot that such newspapers were daily cultural readings for readers such as shop clerks and vendors. Of course, cultured readers would also thumb through these newspapers for fun at their leisure.
In the second half of 2002, Li Nan, a doctoral student, decided to read up tabloids published in Shanghai in the late years of the Qing Dynasty (1944-1911) and during the Republic of China (1921-1949) and wrote her doctoral dissertation on the subject. She went to the Shanghai Library to open up the virgin soil never seriously touched by cultural researchers.
During a span of about 60 years, Shanghai witnessed the births of nearly 1,000 newspapers including about 600 tabloids. Li Nan focused on the news on local culture and literature covered in these newspapers. It was in the 1940s that local writers began publishing their literary works in some local tabloids. Li ran into a story entitled Tulips by Aileen Chang in 1947.It was published in 16 installments from May 16-31 in a tabloid called Small Daily. Each installment was about 600-700 words long.
For half a year, Li was totally absorbed in the world of Shanghai tabloids without being aware that she had stumbled upon a story by the important writer that had been deeply buried in history and unknown to the general public. It was not until 2005 when Li's dissertation was about to be printed that her tutor Wu Fuhui confirmed initially that the story was indeed authored by Aileen Chang.
It is not hard to confirm that this Aileen Chang who wrote Tulips was the same writer whose other masterpieces are dear to millions of Chinese readers. The narrative style and the theme and other signature features of the story can easily be traced to Chang's other works.
(Translated by David)