臺灣客家「喜感」故事的藝術特色

The Artistic Characteristics of Taiwanese Hakka ''Facetious'' Stories

所謂「喜感」，指的是言語行為脫離常態，逾越規範，足以反襯人類自身的愚昧和盲點，它雖乖訛可笑，卻對聽眾或讀者無所傷害。臺灣客家民間故事中，「喜感」的成分隨處可見，例如結合超現實的發財夢故事、滑稽幽默的機智人物故事、憨拙無知的傻子故事，或是騙子、吝嗇鬼故事，甚至言語粗鄙的情色故事等，都充溢著民間「喜感」，所謂「詼諧文化」的生活氣息。根據筆者目前掌握的故事文本，至少有 300 則以上的客家喜感故事，占了臺灣客家民間故事總數的 1/3，涵攝生活故事、幻想故事、笑話等。這些紛繁多呈的「喜感故事」，筆者並不將之作為一種類型，而是站在更高層次的視野，在這個視野下，我們可以統觀喜感故事的各種面向：藝術特色、喜感人物的市井百態、情色故事、融合幻想的發家致富、求子、婚姻故事等，從中探賾故事中的集體意識與文化精神。臺灣客家「喜感」故事，大多篇幅短小，情節簡單，卻以鮮明的諧謔風格與獨特的藝術特色，令人回味再三。深究其由，在於故事蘊含豐富多樣的情節結構與技法，從而增強藝術表現與感染力，使得故事在反映生活面貌、呈現庶民思想感情的同時，達到一個層次較高的藝術特色境界。本文以目前全臺各地出版的臺灣客語民間故事為觀察對象，探討臺灣客家「喜感」故事，如何運用語言文字來敘述、表達、傳遞「喜感」？其具體表現手法為何？首先，析論「喜感」故事的敘述模式。其次，從人物行為、事件、情境等，論述「喜感」故事的情節佈局。最末，援引詼諧理論，從語言、修辭與邏輯三個面向，闡釋「喜感」故事在表現上所運用的各種技法，從而揭示臺灣客家「喜感」故事的藝術魅力奧秘所在。

“Facetiousness” refers to rhetorics and behaviors that break away from normality, exceed the norms, but serve as a foil to the folly and blind spots of human beings─absurd and ridiculous, yet harmless to audiences and readers. Taiwanese Hakka folk tales are littered with “facetious” ingredients, such as stories about dreams of “making a fortune” blended with surrealism, funny stories about resourceful characters, ignorant stories about fools, or stories of crooks and penny-pinchers, and even coarse erotic stories; all filled with popular “facetiousness”, the “humorous culture” flavor of life. According to the texts I have acquired so far, there are at least 300 Hakka facetious stories, accounting for one-third of all Taiwanese Hakka folk tales. I do not consider those various and colorful “facetious” stories as a category; instead, I take a higher perspective to view the various facets of “facetious” stories comprehensively─artistic characteristics, the human comedy of “facetious” characters, erotic stories, “making a fortune” blended with imagination, praying for children, and marriage stories, and explore the collective consciousness and cultural spirits within these stories. Most Taiwanese Hakka “facetious” stories are short with simple plot, yet worth revisiting endlessly with their distinct satirical style and peculiar artistic characteristics. It is due to the rich and diverse plot structures and techniques enhancing their artistic performance and effectiveness, that these stories could reflect the outlook of daily life, express thoughts and feelings of common people, and simultaneously achieve a higher level of artistic characteristics. In this article I observe all Hakka folk tales currently published throughout Taiwan, to explore how Taiwanese Hakka “facetious” stories use language and words to describe, express and convey “facetiousness”, as well as their specific methods of expression. First, I analyze the narrative patterns of “facetious” stories. Then I narrate the plot arrangement of “facetious” stories from the persepctives of character’s behaviors, events and scenarios. In the last part, I draw upon the parody theory to expound the various techniques of expression of “facetious” stories via the three aspects of language, rhetorics and logic, thereby revealing the artistic fascination within Taiwanese Hakka “facetious” stories.