關於《集古錄》的研究,主要有兩個大方向,一是討論成書經過和時代;一是針對其內容,肯定其在史學、文獻學、考古學、校讎學、書法藝術、文學批評、理學思想(闢佛排老)等層面的意義與價值。
本文嘗試將視野轉向物質文化的角度,從文人收藏文物的意識形態,探析《集古錄》的文化特質。筆者概括了「複製」、「重整」與「回憶」三個層次,認為通過複製金石文字,重整文字所建立的歷史體系,歐陽脩確立了歷史文化憑藉物質以傳承的觀念,而《集古錄跋尾》裡的傷逝片段,又與擁有金石榻本、證成文明軌跡的無上愉悅,形成哀樂互顯的對照。
Journal of Sun Yatsen University ( Social Science Edition) Sep. 2008, 5:30-40
Ouyang Xiu (1007 – 1072) titled himself “A Recluse with Six Items”. In his autobiography, Liuyijushi Zhuan, he explained: “I have a collection of ten thousand books, and a record of a thousand stone inscriptions that date back as early as Xia, Shang and Zhou. I also own a zither, a chess set, and I often have a jar of wine in place.” Adding himself to the list of items makes a total of six. The vast collection he owns is closely related to the book titled Record of Collecting Antiquities (Jigu lu). The book also brought about a new field of research, which in turn led to the establishment of Ouyang Xiu’s prominent status as a scholar of stone inscriptions.
The studies of Record of Collecting Antiquities (Jigu lu) follow two main courses. The first discusses how and when the book was written; while the other analyses the content of the book, recognizing its significance and value in several aspects, including historiography, philology, archeology, collation, calligraphy, literary criticism and Neo-Confucianism (refutation of Buddhism and Taoism).
Making good use of the groundwork laid by earlier researchers, this thesis will attempt to study the material culture as displayed in Record of Collecting Antiquities (Jigu lu). An analysis of the book’s cultural characteristics will be carried out, by examining the ideologies that influenced the way literati of the time collected cultural relics. Three points have been drawn from the text: replication, rearrangement and recollection. Through the replication of inscriptions and the rearrangement of the historical system that was established by the use of written words, it is in my opinion that Ouyang Xiu established the notion that history and culture is passed to future generations by means of material objects. Knowing that all material things eventually go to ruin, the grief expressed in parts of Colophons on Collected Records of the Past (Jigu lu bawei) is a stark contrast to the delight of possessing rubbings of the stone inscriptions and its record of the civilization’s development.