情義、性別與階級的再現與超越：梁祝敘說與文體之音

Righteousness, Romance, and Transcendence: Gender, Class, and Generic Expressive Niches of LiangZhu Narratives

本文旨在透過方志和唱本這兩種文體對《梁祝》敘說的比較分析，來呈顯文體的表意空間，或稱之為「文體之音」或「表意利基」。在方志的探討上，本研究以歷時分析法揭示梁祝情節如何因時而異，並從異中求同，以析釐出方志的文體空間。至於唱本，則是以女書版的梁祝唱本為素材，藉由人類學的田野考察與情境分析，呈現文體的表意動量。在方志和女書唱本互為文本的參照下，本研究希能彰顯同一民間故事，如何在激發共鳴的同時，亦提供一表意空間，讓不同的社會群體，藉由不同的文體，揮灑感懷；再則，亦冀求揭櫫「文體之音」的理論向度。具體而言，文體所蘊含的不僅是視事觀點和事件的再現，更是一美學空間，為作者與讀者提供超越的靈感，超越原先所感知與再現的世界；而觀點、再現和超越這三條軸線，所共同織緯的敘說空間與美學場域，就是文體的「表意利基」。不同文體的「表意利基」，各異其趣。方志既強調梁祝事件的歷史性，又謀求超越時間的流變與剎那。至於女書唱本，它所創造的並非時間的不朽，而是空間的置換，想像與實存的交疊與安頓。

This article aims to highlight the theoretical significance of genre in terms of “expressive niches” by investigating the Liang-Zhu lore presented in two specific genres: the male elite-oriented imperial gazetteer and female peasant-oriented narrative ballad, in particular the nüshu version circulated in Jiangyong County of Hunan Province. The examination of various editions of Liang-Zhu story documented in gazetteers provides an understanding of narrative transformation through time, whereas the nüshu version allows for contextualizing this folktale within a specific regional setting. Through the generic intertextual analysis, this research illuminates how the very same story may nurture diverse expressive spaces in various genres for different social groups to articulate and maneuver. Specifically, this article discloses the different dilemmas man and woman are confronted with in the face of traversing gender boundaries (e.g., cross-dressing and cohabitation), changing social relations (from same-sex to hetero-sex partnership), and the conflicts between one’s simultaneouslyassumed multiple social roles. While Liang seems caught up in the psychological and social ambiguity between friendship and romance, Zhu is trapped by the culturalconstructed incompatibility between filiality and righteousness. In addition, this research also hopes to put forward the concept of “generic expressive niches” in narrative studies. I argue that genre not only frames and represents how an event is to be narrated and perceived, but also opens up a poetic space for transcendence, to transcend what is narrated and perceived. In the case of gazetteers, it articulates the sense of historicity of a particular event and meanwhile seeks to transcend the ephemeral nature of time. By contrast, the nüshu-transcribed narrative ballad nurtures a transpositional space whereby the fantasized becomes reality—and through which, liveliness is brought to the mundane and the sense of transcendental extraordinariness is forged.