"無事之文"與中國古典白話小說

Abstract

西方敘事學理論的引入給我國古典通俗長篇小說研究提供了新的方法論，這些研究方法歷來集中於中國古典小說對說書情境的模擬以及在敘事學理論框架之下中國古典長篇小說敘述模式與西方長篇小說敘述模式之比較等。在研究中，我們發現中國古典小說中或處於對說書情境的逼真模仿或受到特定敘事習慣的影響，敘事者在長篇敘事作品中不惜割裂敘事的自然流動，將作品人為地切分成若干章節並時而打斷講述故事的進程，使中國古典長篇敘事作品在敘述中含有無數的“敘事間隙”，而這種敘事間隙往往由無關故事主幹的內容所填充，這一類內容包括敘事者的評論或與故事框架無關，僅用於烘托氣氛的靜止性描寫等等。在西方敘事學理論體系之中，外國學者對這一類內容羼入文本表示了失望的態度，認為這些內容破壞了敘事文學應具備的藝術上的整體感，這種局面是由於敘事者在敘述中缺乏某種結構意識。當前國內學者的研究主要目標在於建立中國小說敘事學的大傳統，從宏觀上探討中國長篇白話小說敘事模式的起源與流變。雖然，少數國內學者與西方漢學家初步注意到了靜態性描寫與中國敘事傳統的特殊關聯，但尚無關於“無事之文”這一類特殊敘事文本的專題研究，這是殊可遺憾的。我們希望從“無事之文”這個相對新的角度出發，在前輩諸學者的成果上進一步推進以探討中國古典通俗長篇小說敘事傳統的某些特質。 我們對中國古典小說“無事之文”的研究，將按照以下步驟展開：對古典小說中“無事之文”的內涵予以進一步界定，解決關於“無事之文”概念的一些基本問題，研究“無事之文”的構成要素並對其進行歸類與分析；追溯中國古典小說中“無事之文”的歷史淵源；梳理中國古代虛構類長篇敘事作品中的“無事之文”及其對敘事文本所產生的影響，包括“無事之文”對小說敘事時間產生的影響及其對小說情節結構的構成造成的影響等等；最後從作品的思想層面解讀“無事之文”，闡釋其與古典長篇敘事作品的思想傾向、審美風習及其所處的敘事傳統之間的關聯：第一章對“無事之文”的研究，起步於“無事之文”的定義及對其歷史淵源的求索，經過“無事之文”對小說文本的敘事時間和敘事情節結構的影響之探討，終結於對“無事之文”與作品思想內涵、審美習慣及敘事傳統之間關聯的考察，形成了從理論到結構，從結構到思想的昇華。 論文的第二章討論了“無事之文”的概念，我們剖析了漢學家蒲安迪在《中國敘事學》中就中國小說敘事模式研究中提出的“無事之事”這一概念，並在此基礎上進一步拓展，提出了更為嚴密的“無事之文”的概念：“無事之文”的“文”在西方敘事學上大體上相當於“話語”這個概念，代表文本中所有敘述故事的形式技巧之總和。“無事”則可以解釋為“與主幹故事無關的”、“不包含主幹故事情節的”之意，“無事之文”的含義也就是指與敘述主幹故事無明確因果關係的小說形式方面的敘述文本之概括。並對“無事之文”按照其功能的類型分成了四大類並進行了詳細分析。第三章中尋根溯源地探究了“無事之文”的歷史淵源，從“無事之文”與漢唐文言小說和五代以來的通俗文學之關係兩個方向，分析唐五代變文某些敘事文本與後代通俗白話小說“無事之文”的承繼關係，證明了前者對後世通俗白話小說敘事體制上的影響。第四章引入西方敘事學中敘事時間的概念，展示了“無事之文”在敘事過程中與小說敘事時間的重要關聯，並詳細地分類討論了“無事之文”在文本中如何調整敘事時長與時序的問題。第五章從敘事學中情節研究的角度入手，回顧了情節研究的現狀並分析情節的各個微觀構成要素，通過分析情節的構成要素性質來鑑定情節的性質，從而更準確地定位“無事之文”並研究其對情節構成方面產生的作用，從例證的文本分析中獲得“無事之文”對中國古典文學的敘事風格化具有重要影響的結論。最後一章作為結論，詳盡地探討“無事之文”與中國敘事傳統的深刻聯繫及其在中國古典敘事作品中佔據重要地位的原因，嘗試釐清 “無事之文”與中國古典敘事傳統的審美取向之間的深刻聯繫。 在研究過程中我們努力遵循兩個原則：首先，立足於中國古典通俗文學敘事傳統的同時積極借鑒西方敘事理論中對我們研究有裨益之部分，做到二者有機結合。其次，做到敘事理論的指導與小說文本的分析並舉。通過仔細分析幾個古代經典長篇通俗小說作品以昇華我們的研究結論。對中國古典小說“無事之文”的研究目前尚少有學者涉獵，從這個切入點對中國古典小說敘事藝術進行探索不失為一個新的研究視角，具備一定開拓意義。 The introduction of western fiction narratological theories has brought us new methodology in the research of Chinese classical novels. Almost all these methods were focused on the simulation of the storytelling contexts in Chinese classical vernacular novels and the comparison of the narrative mode between classical Chinese classical novels and western novels according to Western Classical Narratology. We have learned in our research that it is generally that narrator usually interrupted the process of the narration on purpose regardless of the shattered inner flow in the narration. This kind of narrative nature made lots of "narrative interstices" in Chinese classical novels, which were usually filled with trivial talks or static descriptions evoked an ambiance. Western scholars take it as damage to completeness and unity of narrative arts from the perspective of narratology. They believe that most Chinese classical novels lack of awareness of whole narrative structure. Currently the main goal of domestic scholars is to depict and re-explain the grand narrative tradition of Chinese classical novels and to investigate the historic origin, sedimentation and flowing deformation of the narrative mode in Chinese classical vernacular novels. Tough a few scholars have a preliminary understanding about the special connection between the static descriptions and narrative tradition of Chinese classical novels, there is no special studies on "non-evental texts" in Chinese classical vernacular novels, which is such a pity. Our research aims to explore some characteristics of Chinese classical narrative tradition. Our research on "non-evental texts" would discuss as following: firstly, define the term" non-evental texts" and make clear the basic scope of this conception then cope with some fundamental questions which include concept, essence, constitution and classification of "non-evental texts". Secondly, trace the origin of "non-evental texts "and the impact it have on the narrative time and plot structure in Chinese classical vernacular novels. Finally, we attempts to explore the connection between "non-evental texts" and the moral trend and aesthetic custom in vernacular novels hidden in Chinese classical narrative tradition from the perspectives of thought and art dimensions. Above all, the first chapter would begin with the exploration to the conception and the historical origin of "non-evental texts" by observing and studying the influences "non-evental texts" have on Chinese classical vernacular novels' narrative time and plot structure, and then we would draw a conclusion that "non-evental texts" really have some certain connections to Chinese classical narrative tradition. We would go through the three stages in the "non-evental texts" research: from narrative theory to the narrative structure, and then back to the narrative tradition. The second chapter discussed the definition of "non-evental texts" and analyzed the improper logical principles in the term"non-events" coined by Andrew, Plaks in his monograph Chinese narrative. The connotation of "text" in "non-evental texts" is roughly equivalent to the "discourse" in western fiction narratological theories, including various narrative techniques employed in stories. "Non-evental" means some texts have nothing to do with main plots, which is the essential factor of "non-evental texts". We also classify "non-evental texts" to four types according their forms and functions of narratives. In the chapter three, we traced back to the historic origin of "non-evental texts" in classical vernacular novels and analyzed the inheritance relationships between vernacular novels in Ming and Qing dynasties and folk literature since the Tang and Five dynasties, especially the Tun-huang popular narratives such as pien-wen. The fourth chapter was used to introduce the conception of narrative time and to display that "non-evental texts" an important links to the narrative time length and the narrative order. In the chapter five, we reviewed the history and present situation of plot research and put much more attention to the internal texture and writing grammars of plot, which help us exactly identify the nature of the plot with "non-evental texts". Through text analysis we learned that "non-evental texts" have a major impact on narrative style of the works. As a conclusion, we closely explored the reason why "non-evental texts" played an crucial role in Chinese classical narratives, clarifying the profound connection between the aesthetic orientation in Chinese classical narrative tradition and the object of our study: "non-evental texts". We try to follow two principles in our study: firstly, the research must be based on Chinese classical narrative tradition and assimilated the elite of western fiction narratological theories. Secondly, we would give a good combine of the narrative theoretical analysis and textual analysis, further analysis the narrative structures and narrative features of the masterpieces in Chinese classical vernacular novels. The study of "non-evental texts" in Chinese classical novels is relatively unsubstantial, opening up a new perspective for Chinese classical novel studies.

Date of Award	14 Feb 2014
Original language	Chinese (Traditional)
Awarding Institution	City University of Hong Kong
Supervisor	Wanmin ZHANG (Supervisor)