制藝的結尾：湯顯祖萬曆癸未會試制藝考論

The Concluding Paragraph of the Zhiyi: A Study of Tang Xianzu’s Examination Essays for the 1583 Metropolitan Examination

過往論者普遍相信，湯顯祖(1550-1616)於萬曆癸未(1583)科撰寫的會試制藝，僅一篇傳世。在會試墨卷見缺的情況下，部分論者就目前學界對湯顯祖制藝風格的印象，聯想到湯氏五應會試才以低名次賜同進士出身，或與其制藝思想、風格有乖正統有關。本文嘗試從明清各種制藝選本，追溯湯顯祖會試制藝的下落，以揭示其癸未科墨卷之原貌。透過對比湯氏會試制藝的各種版本，本文指出明、清兩代選本的文字不盡相同。清代選本的編者，往往把湯氏原文的「大結」刪短為「收結」，以迎合清代制藝的寫作規範。制藝結尾的刪節，不僅削弱湯文的結構美，同時隱沒其文的思想內涵。墨卷結尾被重新發現，揭櫫湯顯祖的會試制藝不僅在內容和形式上均符合考試規範，還包含著抒情與反諷。

Previous studies generally held that among the three examination essays written by Tang Xianzu湯顯祖(1550-1616) in 1583, two of them had long been lost. In the absence of these examination essays, some scholars, based on their impression of Tang’s zhiyi制藝(commonly known as“eight-legged essay”) writing style, think that Tang’s repeated failures at the exams were tied to the fact that his views on the eight-legged essay were contrary to orthodoxy. In this article, I attempt to discover the whereabouts of Tang’s three examination essays by examining numerous anthologies of eight-legged essays printed during the Ming and Qing dynasties. By comparing different versions of his examination essays, this article demonstrates that the writings collected in anthologies from the Ming and Qing dynasties are not identical. In order to correspond to the writing norms of the Qing dynasty, Qing compilers often shortened the“great conclusion”in the original texts. The abridgment in the concluding paragraphs of Tang’s examination essays not only weakens the structural beauty of his essays, but also conceals the ideological connotations found in the original texts. The rediscovery of Tang’s examination essays with their concluding paragraphs reveals that his eight-legged essays not only meet the examination specifications in their content and form, but also that they incorporate lyricism and irony.