虛實與真理：《嶺南摭怪列傳》的國族建構與文化意蘊

Fiction-reality and Truth: On the National Imagination and Cultural Implications in Selection of Strange Tales in Lĩnh Nam

越南漢文小說《嶺南摭怪列傳》，一般視之為傳奇神話志怪類小說，然做為國史的《大越史記全書》多採擷做為編纂歷史、建構國族的材料，然亦有學者另以實證史學視角觀之，認為不免乖離史實甚或虛擬、荒誕不經。本文從「整體」視角出發，認為若著眼於虛構或真實之爭論，不過只是此故事群觀照的一個「側顯」，無法揭示此故事群的內在隱喻脈絡與意圖──藉由傳奇、神話，透過想像傳達，試圖與歷史聯結，以建構國族意識與文化意蘊。隱藏於文本內在的「真理」，透顯此故事群的創作者不僅從種族、土地、人民構築一國族認同、家國意識，更充分展露出道德倫理與宗教情懷的社會觀、天地有情／人間有義的世界觀、氣類感應的宇宙觀；從國族、社會、世界、宇宙開展的四個向度，形構一個可大可久的文化母體，實已超越所謂的虛擬與真實，而成為真正的課題與意義所在。

Selection of Strange Tales in Lĩnh Nam, a Vietnamese fictional work written in Chinese character, is generally regarded as a myth and ghost novel, but it also serves as the historical source of national construction adopted and then written into The Complete Annals of Đại Việt, an official historical text of the Lê Dynasty in Vietnam. Moreover, some scholars approached this work from the empirical historical method, considering it a fictional, strange and absurd work that departs from the historical fact. However, the paper contends that the debates between fiction and reality is merely a “sided appearance” within the tales of this Selection, which fails to disclose the internal metaphoric contexts and purposes, if we approach this Selection from a “holistic” perspective. Thus, the paper attempts to bridge the bond with history in order to build the national consciousness and cultural implications through tales, myths, and imaginations. The “truth” underlying in the text discloses that the authors within the tales of this Section build a national identity or national consciousness from race, earth, and people on the one hand, and reveal the social perspective from the moral ethics and religious compassions, the world view of love between sky and earth ／brotherhood of the mundane, and the cosmological view from the aerial correspondence on the other hand. From the four perspectives of nationality, society, world, and cosmos, it constructs a great and permanent cultural matrix. This approach transcends the fiction and reality, and then becomes the field where the genuine topic and meaning resides.