女書傳記書寫的歷史意涵與當代困境

The Biographical Writing of Nüshu: Its Historical Implications and Cultural Practice in Changing Rural China

劉斐玟(Fei-Wen Liu)

女書 ； 傳記 ； 書寫 ； 情感 ； 實踐 ； 訴可憐 ； nushu (women's writing) ； biography ； writing ； affect ； practice ； lamenting one's misery

近代中國婦女史研究

23期（2014 / 06 / 01）

65 - 125

繁體中文

女書是流傳於湖南省江永縣的婦女專用文字，百年來，江永婦女便以女書作為結拜姊妹、致贈婚禮文書、抒發個人感懷、敘說他人生命經歷、祭祀祈願，乃至用以翻譯漢字民間唱本的工具。這些女書雖說形式有所不同，但其敘說主軸莫不環繞著「訴可憐」，或是訴己或是訴他，也因此這些作品或多或少帶有傳記書寫的特質。但是「自訴可憐」的基調，在學者進入女書的書寫場域後，卻發生了轉變。本文即以義年華（1907-1991）和何靜華（1939-）兩位老太太的女書書寫實踐為例，輔以筆者過去二十年來的田野研究所得，希望透過文本分析和書寫實踐的雙重視角，一方面揭示婦女的視事觀點與生命情境，說明女書的「自訴可憐」如何呈現一般主流史料少見的婦女觀點，同時亦闡釋「訴可憐」所反映的不僅是現象學上的情感狀態與生活實存，它也是一具有超越性意涵的社會論述。另方面，則是揭露學術研究背後所隱藏的文化政治力，特別是出版的形塑力：它在保留文化傳承之餘，也侷限了女書傳承人的書寫空間。

Nüshu 女書, literally ＂women's writing,＂ is a script developed and circulated exclusively among women in Jiangyong County of Hunan Province in south China. Referring to both the script and the literature written in it, Nüshu is the only writing system known thus far that is female-specific, a script that men cannot read or understand. By using Nüshu, Jiangyong women, mostly illiterate in standard Chinese hanzi 漢字 characters, construct sisterhood networks, write wedding missives, and compose narratives to reflect on their own situations, comment on certain incidents, or even solicit support from the divine realm. Although possessing different writing foci, all the Nüshu carry a biographical tinge of ＂lamenting one's misery,＂ su kelian 訴可憐. The generic sentiment of Nüshu, su kelian, however, has undergone a change since Nü shu became part of academic research agenda in the 1980s just as it was on the verge of disappearing. To explore the historical implications of Nüshu as women's expressive tradition and its cultural practice in changing rural China, I use two women's experiences with Nüshu for illustration, namely Yi Nianhua 義年華(1907-1991) and He Jinghua 何靜華(1939-). Approached from textual and practice analyses and complemented by my own field investigation conducted since 1992, I illustrate how su kelian as Nüshu's generic sentiment is capable of developing into meta-sentimental discourses and also speaks to women's multifaceted perspectives, perspectives that may be obscured in, or even contradict, mainstream male-written historical documents. As well, I demonstrate how scholarly research, especially publication, has shaped a new poetics of Nüshu: while salvaging this endangered tradition, it has redefined, if not confined, the practice of writing Nüshu in contemporary China.

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