断做是一个与代说相对的制义修辞范畴。断做从出于对代说之互补,到作为驭题之主体性的呈现;从作为铺叙之对峙,到作为异端或师心自用的“凌躐”,这其间有着逻辑的合理性,有着辩证的变易性。从“断做”这一修辞范畴的内涵与周延及其变异,我们可以看到明清制义的写作成规、修辞乃至审美取向的发展演变。它是明清制义史的一个缩影。

Duanzuo(断做) is a rhetorical category of eight-part essay opposite to Daishuo(代说). We can identify its rationality in logic and variability in dialectics from the transformation of Duanzuo, which was originally complementary to Daishuo and later became the presentation of the author's subjectivity, and the change of Duanzuo from the confrontation of Narration to the heretic “Linglie(凌躐)”. From the connotation circumscription and variation of “Duanzuo” in the rhetoric category, we can locate the development and evolution of the writing rules, rhetoric methods and aesthetic orientation during the Ming and Qing dynasty. Thus, it is a miniature of the history of the eight-part essay of the Ming and Qing dynasty.