袁枚《隨園詩話》中涉紅記事新考

A New Study on the Text in Yuan Mei’s Suiyuan Shihua： Concerning the Dream of the Red Chamber

袁枚 (1716-1798) 的《隨園詩話》是歷來同類型著作中最暢銷者，由於此書涉及《紅樓夢》的記述是否完全可信，迄今仍引發諸多筆墨論爭，甚至被有些學者認為關乎胡適 (1891-1962) 等人所揭舉「新紅學」之樁基。通過細究此書的版本流變及編選過程，筆者發現：袁枚的焦點原本是想炫耀自己的隨園，竟已成為《紅樓夢》小說的主場景，而《隨園詩話》記事中提到的《紅樓夢》以及曹雪芹家族只是作者信手所寫的枝節。本文進而釐清袁枚在此涉紅文字中因何犯錯，以及不同版本的《隨園詩話》又何以在這部分出現重大異文的可能原因。

Suiyuan Shihua 隨園詩話, edited by Yuan Mei 袁枚, was one of the most widely-circulated poetry collections during the Qing Dynasty. The section which concerns the Dream of the Red Chamber 紅樓夢 in Suiyuan Shihua is a subject of a heated debate, since it is thought to be the key foundation to the Neo-Redology 新紅學 advocated by Hu Shi 胡適 (1891-1962) — its reliability is tightly connected to the credibility of Neo-Redology. This study examines the changes between various editions of Suiyuan Shihua, as well as the process of editing, with an attempt to solve this issue. I shall argue that the mention of the Dream of the Red Chamber in Suiyuan Shihua is not based on any actual knowledge. Yuan Mei mentioned it only to show off that his garden, Suiyuan, was the main setting of the famous story. This study also investigates the reason why considerable differences were present and offers possible explanations for the mistakes in the text.