自我消解的寓言／預言：《豆棚閒話》的敘述策略與閱讀倫理

A Self-Dissolving Allegory/Prophecy: The Narrative Strategy and the Reading Ethics of the Idle Talk under the Bean Arbor

《豆棚閒話》為17 世紀白話短篇小說中，對於傳統小說體製做出改革的一部作品。前人研究聚焦敘述模式之變革、故事對正史之反諷，忽略了豆苗、豆棚、小說三者之結構關係，有關小說副文本對於閱讀活動之討論亦不多見。本文聚焦《豆棚閒話》之敘述策略與閱讀倫理，首先析論小說敘述者的特殊性與結構層次之劃分，觀察「豆棚」在小說中被賦予的重要意義；其次探究小說十二則故事的編排方式與敘述策略，挖掘其寓言╱預言意涵；最後觀察小說副文本（評點、插圖）與故事主體的對應、衝突及調和，指出小說閱讀倫理的複雜互動。本文指出《豆棚閒話》所富涵的文學實驗特質，以及副文本對於詮解小說意涵的重要價值，揭示《豆棚閒話》對於白話短篇小說的發展意義。

Among 17th century vernacular short stories, the Idle Talk under the Bean Arbor (Doupeng xianhua) was one that reformed the narrative mode. Previous studies focused on the story’s transformation of the narrative mode and its mocking of the official dynastic histories. They overlooked the structural relationship among the seedlings, the arbor, and the story and few of them discussed the story’s reading activities in terms of its paratext. The article focuses on the narrative strategy and the reading ethics of the Idle Talk under the Bean Arbor. It first analyzes the particularity of the story’s narrators and the division of the story’s structural levels and observes the significance that the “arbor” is endowed with in the story. Secondly, it explores the layout and the narrative strategy of the story’s 12 chapters and their allegorical/prophetic meanings. Finally, it observes the correspondence, conflict and reconciliation between the story’s paratext (marginalia and illustrations) and its main body, and points out the complexity of the story’s reading ethics. The article highlights the literary experimental characteristics of the Idle Talk under the Bean Arbor and the important value of its paratext in interpreting the story’s meanings. By doing so, it reveals the significance of the Idle Talk under the Bean Arbor for the development of vernacular short stories.