《札依德，西班牙故事》：隱匿在《克萊維王妃》光環下的另一本名著？

Zayde: A Spanish Romance: The Masterpiece Overshadowed by The Princess of Clèves?

《札依德，西班牙故事》（Zayde, histoire espagnole）是法國十七世紀拉法耶特夫人（Madame de Lafayette）的小說創作之一，以西元十世紀的西班牙王朝皇室政爭為背景，敘述卡斯提亞爵位王儲康薩夫（Consalve）與希臘穆斯林公主札依德（Zayde）跨語言、跨族裔的戀情。出版當時，文學家皆認為這是一本卓越創新的小說。到了十八世紀，這部作品的名氣甚至凌駕了女作家的另一本小說《克萊維王妃》（La Princesse de Clèves），在1775年前後經歷了多次的再版，榮登「不朽經典」（fictions immortelles）的行列。然而，到了十九世紀出現了逆轉：《札依德，西班牙故事》逐漸被遺忘，只有《克萊維王妃》被認為是十七世紀唯一成熟的小說。相較之下，評論普遍認為這本1670年出版的小說只是作家早年初試啼聲之作，經典問世之前的嘗試之舉，篇幅冗長，概念陳舊，因襲巴洛克小說，都使這本小說被標上「食古不化」之特徵。本文從近代歐美學界對《札依德，西班牙故事》的研究，不同版本的相繼問世，探討該書在近期逐漸邁入經典化的歷程。首先勾勒出版當時在貴族之間的接受情況，其次探討不同版本的發行背後挾帶的意識形態演變，最後我們亦整理近期閱讀此書的研究方法，重探《札依德，西班牙故事》的原創性，以及拉法耶特夫人透過創作試圖傳遞的訊息與思想，凡此皆有助於翻轉該書的文學價值與定位。

Zayde: A Spanish Romance is a novel by Marie-Madeleine de Lafayette. This 17^(th) century French literary work is set in medieval Spain, within a background of political and religious conflicts. The novel recounts the sentimental relationship between Spanish noble Consalve and Muslim Greek princess Zayde, a romance that was cross-cultural and cross-linguistic. With the intercalated narration and layered structure, the novel was uniquely different from the popular Baroque literature at that time and thus gained recognition from other writers. In the 18^(th) century, Zayde was in fact more well-known than The Princess of Clèves, another novel by Marie-Madeleine de Lafayette. However, the situation changed in the following century. Zayde lost its shine gradually as The Princess of Clèves came into the limelight as a classic novel masterpiece, or even as the only maturely-developed novel of the 17^(th) century. Today most critics still believe that Zayde was no more than an experiment by Marie-Madeleine de Lafayette in her early writing career. The novel was even criticized as being pedantic for its lengthy paragraphs and old-fashioned concepts. Through our study on Zayde: A Spanish Romance, we aim to discuss the definition of a literary classic and its selection mechanism in the history of literature. What is a literary masterpiece? Are there any criteria based on which we can tell a masterpiece from a non-masterpiece? While trying to understand how people back then comprehended Zayde, we also examined the information and thoughts conveyed by Marie-Madeleine de Lafayette through her writings. Finally, based on recent publications on defending literature, we rediscovered the literary values and position of Zayde by analyzing how the novel has reached out to its readers beyond time and space.