六经之内所未讲 桐城文家所不为——评湘乡派散文家薛福成

曾国藩之后的湘乡派与儒家道统、文统日渐疏远,以薛福成最为显著。薛福成的散文脱出桐城派的巢穴,以自由畅达的文字比较中西文明,论证除弊兴利的救国方略,启迪了晚清维新志士,推动了新文体的形成。

On Xue Fucheng, One of the Prose Giants of Xiang Xiang School

The Xiang Xiang School since the period of Zeng Guofan has long been gradually straying away from Confucian School either in its conventional moral value or literary style, of which Xue Fucheng was a literary representative. His prose works outgrew the orginal style that represented the conventional style the School of Tong Cheng. He compared Chinese culture with the Western ones and expounded and proved the tactful way of saving the nation through his easy, understandable and graceful writings, thus inspiring the noble-minded who had, for a long time, cherished the idea of reform and giving impetus to the establishment of the system of a new literary style.