《異苑》中的怪異書寫與諧謔精神研究——以陳郡謝氏家族的相關記載為主要線索

Research into Writing on the Unusual, and the Spirit of Hilarity in I-yuan: Based on the Writings Concerned with the Hsieh Family of Ch’en Prefecture

本文旨在研究六朝志怪的「詼詭」美學，也就是以劉敬叔的《異苑》為例，初探其如何透過怪異書寫形成諧謔的文學效果。由於志怪中的諧謔暗含著一種遊走於「常」與「非常」邊界的潛在對抗態度，具有明顯的目的性與攻擊性，但此一目的性與攻擊性同時也受到類似夢的理智檢查機制所抑制，往往經由各種移位的語言技巧，隱蔽其最深層的譏誚與質疑，使得志怪讀來怪誕中挾帶著幾許嘲謔、嘲諷裏又寓含著些許不平、不平後尚能有所洞見，非但讀者不能一時盡覽其意圖，編撰者本身也未必完全意識到其潛意識，故志怪解讀往往必須從其「已說」和「未說」的縫隙間、能指和所指的分延中，尋繹出其對背離「常」道者的反諷，及其對「常」與「非常」互動與規律的反思。筆者以《異苑》中陳郡謝氏家族為本文個案研究的主要線索，從謝氏家族傳奇的締造與鬆動、危機初現、晉宋間的榮寵與誅殺等相關記載，發現《異苑》編撰者劉敬叔習於利用割裂變形的肢體、處境的失當、異質同構、主從易位等錯置失常的景況，預演出一幕幕範疇錯置、分類失常的荒謬劇，並以災異、魂交夢兆和承負等解釋系統，展開對陳郡謝氏家族一貫的冷眼監看與嘲諷批判，在諧謔中宣洩了謝、劉分別代表士族門閥與北府京口集團兩個不同社會階層的對立緊張；另一方面也嚴肅地對高門士族的政治責任、人才晉用、經濟獨佔等問題提出質疑，更對戰爭殺戮展開控訴。

This essay will explore the aesthetics of grotesque humor in Six Dynasties chronicles of strange occurrences. It draws its examples from Liu Ching-shu's I-yuan. First, it investigates how writing about strange events produces hilarious effects. Because chronicles of the bizarre contain humorous implications which allow the reader playfully to negotiate the boundaries between “the usual” and “the extraordinary,” in a way which conceals their potential for resistance, so they are full of obvious purposivity and offensiveness. However, their purposiveness and aggression are at the same time checked and suppressed by a rationality just as occurs in dreams; in any event, there are always many linguistic devices in play to effect the displacement, to mask the deepest levels of derision and suspicion. For this reason, the chronicles of strange things read as having quite a bit of hilarity sandwiched into them, and the satire seems to denote some criticism; however, beyond the feeling of injustice, one can still see clearly and penetrate to the truth that it is not only the reader who cannot fathom this overall intention in a simultaneous intuition, but also the compiler himself has not necessarily become aware of the subconscious elements of these chronicles. Therefore, the exegesis of chronicles of the odd always must follow traces in the cracks between the “already said” and the “bunsaid,” in the difference (differance) of signifier and signified, looking for the counter-irony to the path which is proceeding away from the “usual,” as well as the reflection on the mutuality and lawful regulation between the “usual” and the “extraordinary.” Case study of the Hsieh lineage of Ch'en Prefecture, as chronicled in I-yuan, is the main research basis for the present work. In the materials related to the legends of the Hsieh surname lineage we find build-up and play-out emergencies arise; we read of the glorious favors and the internecine warfare between the Chin and the Sung. We can thereby discover that the compiler of the I-yuan，Liu Ching-shu, was used to using cut and deformed limbs, improper positioning, variable substances with similar structures, figure-ground shifts, and other such transformational strategies for constituting the bizarre, in order to play out in advance one scene after another of categorical heterogeneity and inappropriate classification, in a theater of absurdity. Moreover, he used such explanatory systems as disaster and anomaly, visitations, dreams and omens, as well as assigned moral responsibility, in order to unveil an entire panorama of cooly objective observations and satirical criticism of the Ch'en Prefecture Hsieh family. In a farcical manner, his information on the Hsiehs and Lius reveals, through these representatives, the opposed tensions between two different strata of society, the wealthy local landlords and the northern military groups of Ching-k'ou. Furthermore, he sternly questions such matters as the political responsibilities, use of personnel, and economic monopolies of the elite landlord families, while at the same time delivering an indicment of the carnage of warfare.