风格即为其人:风格并非其人。两句话都没(有)说错,而这一对自相矛盾的陈述表明了在任何有关散文风格的讨论中都会出现的复杂、而且显然是互相矛盾的观点。问题的复杂性种因于这么一种事实,即:风格这一名称可以指许多不同的——即使是相互关联的——实体,一如“民主”能够指一种政府形式,或者一个按照民主原则管理的国家,或者指政治平等的精神。所指的实体在变,而 Style is its people: the style is not their people. There is no mistake in any of these sentences, and this self-contradictory statement shows the complex and apparently contradictory view that emerges in any discussion of prose style. The complexity of the problem stems from the fact that the name of style can refer to many different, even interrelated, entities, just as “democracy” can refer to a form of government or to a democracy that is democratic The principle of the management of the country, or the spirit of political equality. The entity in question is changing, and