童心、原創與鄉土──鄭清文的童話圖譜

Child mind, Originality and Native Land: A Study of Cheng Ch'ing-wen's Children Stories

鄭清文先後撰有《燕心果》、《天燈‧母親》、《採桃記》三部童話作品，從關切「人的成長」、「自我投射」，走向「回歸自然」。鄭清文童年擁有「兩個政府、兩個父親、三個母親」，帶給他晦暗的影像。親友間的衝突，讓他及早看見人間殘酷無情，卻也構成了童話世界的軸心。書寫童年以及鄉土印象，從現實到文學的想像世界，是為了個人「療傷止痛」，同時也造就文學的永恆。鄭清文有敏銳的社會文化觀察，希望傳承台灣本土文化，相信「生命存在」的客觀價值。在童話書寫上，不喜歡使用「魔法」、「寶物」，而喜歡以「夢」為手段。在童話主題上，對政治、環保等議題，則顯得急切。鄭清文更從個人專擅的小說文體，越界到童話書寫，甚至跨入民間故事的範疇。一般人忽略了他這種跨界書寫的特質，而質疑「鄭清文童話孩子看不懂」，可能是在童話認知、文化闡述與兒童接受等方面，有了歧見。鄭清文努力的將「女鬼故事」、「夢境巡禮」，發展為個人創作童話。透過創造，保有童年與鄉土情懷，來維護童話敘事傳統。期盼鄭清文能稍稍放下艱鉅的文化使命感，展示更大的心靈空間，在童話世界中得到真正的逍遙樂趣。

There are altogether three collections of children stories created by Cheng Ch'1ing-wen: Yan-hsin kuo（燕心果）, Tien-teng, mu-ch'in （天燈，母親）and Ts'ai-t'ao chi（採桃記）. The themes of which can be characterized as from“growth” to “reflection on self” and finally to “returning to nature”. In his childhood, Mr. Cheng underwent the experience of having “two governments, two fathers, and three mothers,” and these peculiar experiences become the underpinning of his creative unconscious. The conflicts between relatives force him to precociously understand the cruelty of human world, and that realization becomes a central theme of his children stories. Writing childhood experience and impressions of native land, seeing reality and weaves them into the literary imaginative world, are therefore a way for Mr. Cheng to conduct personal therapy and heal the wounded mind.Besides personal concerns, Cheng Ch'ing-wen possesses a keen mind for social and cultural observation, and he has a strong sense of mission to inherit the tradition of Taiwan native culture. He also believes in the existence of life as the ultimate value. While writing children stories, he therefore never relies on such tricks as magic power or magic gadgets. In most cases, “dreams” or “dreaming”serves as the technique to achieve his goal. As for the themes, politics and ecology play an importance role in his stories. Cheng Ch'ing-wen has been widely acknowledged as an important fiction writer, his crossing boundary from fiction writing to children stories and folk tales invites much criticism that his children stories are “not understood by children.” The cause of this criticism might be attributed to difference in defining children story, divergent cultural views or reception by children. However, Cheng tries very hard in turning female ghost stories and seeing things via dreams into a more personal and original creation. Through creation, he keeps a close link with his childhood and native land, while maintaining the child story tradition at the same time. The author of this article urges Mr. Cheng to put less emphasis on cultural and political issues and concentrate instead more on building up spiritual and imaginative world, so as to obtain the real pleasure in that world.