以「字」為戲——論《鏡花緣》的漢字修辭

Character as Play：Chinese character rhetoric in Jinghua Yuan

《鏡花緣》是清代文人小說的典型，作者李汝珍（1763-1830）抱持著「以文為戲」的態度創作小說，配合情節的安排，或變動字形、或仿擬字音、或別解字義，將各種漢字修辭技法巧妙地融入酒令、字謎、笑話…等文字遊戲之中，為讀者營造出詼諧幽默的閱讀趣味。
以文為戲的趣味來自於「反常合道」。李汝珍對漢字常規之字形、字音、字義予以重析、改造，此即為「反常」；然而，對於漢字形音義之解構，並非恣意妄為、不受約束，必須巧妙地適應小說情節，且符合漢字漢語可能存在的結構模式與組合關係，此即為「合道」。如此，透過文字遊戲讓讀者徘徊「反常」、「合道」之間，體驗到「乖訛——消解」的快感，從而湧現出閱讀趣味。本文以《鏡花緣》為材料，借用修辭學的理論與方法，觀察李汝珍如何運用「反常合道」的漢字修辭，如何將各種文字遊戲穿插在小說情節中，藉以塑造人物形象、推動敘事進程。冀望藉由本文之研究，一方面闡釋《鏡花緣》的漢字修辭及其審美效果；一方面理解作者與讀者之間如何透過文字遊戲進行雙向交流。

Jinghua Yuan (Flowers in the Mirror) is arepresentative of the literati’s novel during the Qing dynasty. Its author Li Ruzhen (1763-1830) bears the attitude of“literature made for play”to blend all kinds of rhetoric techniques of Chinese character into the occasions such as drinking games, couplets, puzzles and jokes, along with the arrangement of the plot or the change of character’s form, or the imitation of character’s sound, or the misreading of its meaning. By so doing, it creates afunny and humorous reading for the reader.
The fun of“literature made for play”comes from the notion of“abnormal normality”. The case of Li's re-analysis and transformation of the Chinese character rule (such as its form, sound, and meaning) can be regarded as“abnormal”. However, the deconstruction of the form, sound and meaning of the Chinese character is not arbitrary or unrestrained. Instead, it must be skillfully adapted to the plot of the novel, and be in accord with the possible structure and combination relationship of the Chinese character. This case above can be regarded as“normality”. Hence, through the word games that make readers wander between“abnormal”and“normality”, one can experience the pleasure of incongruity and resolution, from which the reading fun emerges. Jinghua Yuan is used in this project, which adopts theory and methods from rhetoric, and which observes how Li employed the Chinese rhetoric of“abnormal normality”to blend avariety of word games into the plot of the novel in order to shape the characterization of the novel and then pushed forwards the narration. The researcher hopes that this project can interpret the Chinese character rhetoric and its aesthetic effects of Jinghua Yuan on the one hand, and that we can understand how the mutual dialogue between author and reader is built through the word games on the other.