酗酒、瘋癲與獨身－－清代女性彈詞小說中的極端女性人物

The Alcoholic Mother, the Mad Wife and the Celibate Daughter: Extreme Female Figures in Women's Tanci Narrative

十七到二十世紀初，運用韻文敘事的彈詞小說在出版市場上廣受歡迎，更是清代女性創作敘事文學所選擇的主要形式。「女英雄」是多數女性彈詞小說的中心人物，然而，當女英雄的某種人格特質被推向極限時，便產生特異的人物典型。這些極端的女性人物無法為一般的女性價值所規範，在女性文本中也往往被置放在邊緣甚至負面的位置。然而，這類極端人物又往往為文本增添詮釋的可能性。本文以女性彈詞小說中的三種極端人物典型為例，探討這種現象，亦即酗酒的母親、瘋癲的妻子，以及獨身的女兒。在文學表現中，女性大量飲酒可以象徵對開放生命型態的嚮往，也是困惱的解脫法門，甚至成為嬉笑與暴力的護身符，造成婦德標準的鬆動。瘋癲可能是貼在錯亂且不能規範之女性身上的標籤，她們必須受到幽囚封鎖，以防破壞社會秩序，而身體的鎖禁其實反是身分的放逐。獨身是女性彈詞小說中的女性為了追求自我而選擇的生命型態，然而她們往往必須透過性別扮演、自我幽禁、自我放逐，甚至自我毀滅的極端途徑，才得以實踐獨身的理想。事實上，這三種極端人物在許多層面上是重疊的，例如酗酒是癲狂的一種形式，瘋癲是達到獨身的一種手段，幽閉是瘋癲與獨身的共同命運。這些衝破傳統價值與社會規範的極端人物在女性彈詞小說的文本邊緣出現，她們是女英雄的對手，也是替身。這些極端人物將女英雄的想像立體化，是彈詞小說敘事典範建立的重要環節。Tanci xiaoshuo, or narrative in verse, was popular in the book market from the seventeenth to the early twentieth centuries. It was also a major genre for women who wrote narrative stories. In most women's tanci, the heroine is the focus of the stories. We observe that when particular characteristics of the heroine are pushed to the limit, other figures, extreme ones, emerge: the extreme female figures refuse to be confined by conventional women's roles, and therefore are often marginalized in the text and negatively portrayed. But they actually help enliven and augment the text and invite interpretation. In this article I will discuss three extreme female figures in women's tanci, namely, the alcoholic mother, the mad wife, and the celibate daughter In literary expression drinking sometimes represents a woman's longing for freedom. It may provide a sense of relief from apprehension or a refuge of laughter, but it may also be seen as a suggestion of abandonment and violence and an unraveling of women's moral values. Madness is often a label for confused women who cannot be restrained. They have to be confined, to prevent them from disturbing the peace and order. The confinement of their physical bodies signifies the dissolution of their social identities. Celibacy is the state of life of female figures in tanci who choose to pursue personal gratification. They realize the ideal of celibacy through tokens of gender performance, self-confinement, self-exile, or even self-destruction. The above-mentioned three types of extreme figures often overlap. Excessive drinking may lead to madness, and madness serves as an excuse for celibacy, while confinement is the common destiny shared by mad and celibate women. The extreme female figures emerge from the margins of the tanci text and break through social conventions. They are the rivals as well as doubles of the heroines; they complicate the imagination of the heroine and help establish the narrative paradigm of women's tanci.