五四一輩的知識分子文人里，臺靜農(1 902-1990) 先生的經歷可謂傳奇。 一九二0年代臺靜農在北京嶄露頭角，以鄉土文學和革命立場見知文壇，深受 魯迅器重。臺並因為左翼關聯，三次被捕入獄。抗戰期間，臺避難四川，雖然 仍寫作古典詩歌和歷史小說，卻另在書法中發現寄托。一九四六年臺因緣際 會，赴臺灣任教，從此放棄文學，專攻書法，竟因此成為二十世紀下半葉最重 要的書法大家之一。 本文討論臺靜農在二十世紀四、五0年代的蛻變。面對家國動亂，臺在無 所逃遁之際，寄情書寫。然而{的三再追求文學的微言大義，轉而呈現文字的 「表面文章」。臺靜農早年雖享有文名，但他的書法才真正穎現其人的性情。 而他的書法更必須置於千百年來世變之際，文人「南渡」的歷史創傷和審美實 踐上，才更見深意。 二十世紀中期臺靜農的「書法轉向」或出於政治考量，或出於離散心境， 歷來眾說紛耘。本文則認為臺靜農此時對歷史經驗和藝術呈現的觀照，因書法 而有了重要轉折。書法未必是對傳統文人藝術的回歸，也可能是反思現代性得 失的關鍵。現代文學的啟泰、革命號召有時而窮;是「書寫」傳統形式的千變 萬化，反而激發層層有關歷史、家國、以及身份認同的空間想像。 準此，本文將就以下三項議題深入發揮。一:現代文學與書寫形式的辯 證;二現代書法與政治、文化「南渡」論述的主才話;三書法與「喪亂」詩 學無聲勝有聲的關聯。

Among the Chinese literati of the May Fourth generation, few have led
a career as tortuous as that of Tai Jingnong (1 902-1990). When he first
appeared on the scene of 1920's Beijing, Tai was a writer ofNew Literature
and a leftist activist; for his revolutionary cause , he was jailed three times
Tai took up classical style poetry during the Second Sino-Japanese War
period while befriending such veteran radicals as Chen Duxiu. After his
accidental relocation to Taiwan in 1946, however, Tai Jingnong gave
up his literary career; instead he ended up becoming one of the greatest
calligraphers in the second half of 20th century China
This essay discusses the metamorphosis of Tai Jingnong at the crucial
moment of his career, the 1940's and 狗's. Faced with incessant national
calamities that culminated in the 1949 Divide and the subsequent exodus ,
Tai Jingnong made his testimony by turning to the “ surface" rather than the
depth of writing. Although acclaimed for his fiction and poetry , Tai did
not set free his creative energy till he discovered the power of the brush-a
quintessential form of Chinese writing which is nevertheless embedded in
the trauma of “Southern Migrations" from the 4th to the 20 th century.

T缸's transformation may have resulted from his discretionary response
to 也e politics of diaspora. A more compelling reason perhaps is that he
had come to a diHerent understanding of artistic agency and historical
representation. By deferring literature to calligraphy , he may not have
sought for a conventional, and therefore safer, craftsmanship, any more
than toying with a polemical vocation. Where writing betrays its finitude ,
it is the performance of writing that generates new configurations of
history, nationhood , and “Chinese" identity
The essay will focus on the following aspects of Tai Jingnong's work:
the dissemination of modern Chinese writing in visual terms; calligraphy
and its geographical implications; and the poetics of “ muted" Sinophone
articulations.