英文摘要 |
The Dream of the Red Chamber counts the Romance of West Chamber and Peony Pavilion as Scholar-Beauty romances, and has deep reflection on their common desire discourse and narrative pattern. This paper reconsiders the reflections proposed in the novel. First, I clarify the difference between the romance novels and romantic traditional Chinese operas (戲曲), and show that what The Dream of the Red Chamber addresses is the novel genre rather than Chinese opera genre. Then, the reflection proposed through the mouth of Grandmother Jia (賈母) is carefully analyzed. Contrary to the usual claim that this opinion is dogmatic, repressive and trite, this reflection is comprehensive, deep and indeed the attitude of The Dream of the Red Chamber towards the novel genre of Scholar-Beauty romances. As a result, I confirm that Cao Xue-qin (曹雪芹) consciously refutes the beauty ideal and romantic love as embodied in Scholar-Beauty romances. |