閱讀反應與彈詞小說的創作——清代女性敘事文學傳統建立之一隅

Reading Network and the Writing of Literary Tanci

韻文體的「彈詞小說」在清代江南一帶的識字婦女間頗為流行，許多閨秀才女便選擇了此一文類來創作敘事文學。女性在閱讀與創作上熱烈參與，使得彈詞小說在象徵意義上與女性結下了不解之緣，而此一文類的接受與創作更成為必須考慮的文學史課題。本文以清代四部女性創作的彈詞小說為例，由閱讀反應的觀點來追溯個別作品之間承續與抗衡互相糾葛的鎖鏈關係。《玉釧緣》一書接續《大、小金錢》的故事而發展；《再生緣》以為《玉釧緣》美中不足的結局續再世之緣為名，別開生面；《再造天》在人物情節上直接承繼《再生緣》，但在風格與意識形態上都故意與原作激烈抗衡；至於《筆生花》一書，雖然在情節人物上與前三書並無直接聯繫，但是創作動機卻來自作者對《再生緣》一書的讀後反應。這四部作品的糾結關係說明了當時閨秀閱讀與創作的特質。女性經由閱讀共同的作品而在心理上產生緊密的認同感，啟發進一步的創作。閱讀反應與創作之間的微妙關係，是女性敘事文學傳統的重要切入點，並使吾人得以細密觀察彈詞小說如何在各個作品的承續抗衡間不斷發展變異。

Literary tanci, a form of narrative in verse originated from the tanci performance, was well received among literate women from the Jiangnan area in the Qing. Many so-called “talented women” dedicated many years of their life to writing long tanci narratives, symbolically turning the genre into a “female form.” The present paper deals with four such examples of tanci narratives by womon-Yuchuan yuan, Zaisheng yuan, Zaizao tian and Bi sheng hua. These four works are interactive and therefore form an internal network from the perspective of reading. Yuehuan yuan develops from the “story of the coin”; Zaisheng yuan swears to be its sequel while creating a totally different world-view. Zaizao tian takes Zaisheng yuan up only to argue with it in both form and content, whereas Bi sheng hua is a mild response to Zaisheng yuan with a keen and sensitive eye on human relationship. The heritage of the four works indicates the close relationship between reading and writing. Literary women developed a psychological sense of community through reading the same texts, which further encouraged their desire to write. Tracing the dialogue relation between reading and writing helps us not only grasp important glimpses of the women's tradition of narrative, but closely examine the subtle transformation of literary tanoi from individual text to text.