「雖名傳奇，卻實是一段有聲有色明史」1──論董榕《芝龕記》傳奇中之演史、評史與詮史

The Dramatic Presentation and Interpretation of the Fall of the Ming in Dong Rong’s Play Zhikan ji

以歷史事件與人物為本事，加以敷演成劇，本是中國戲曲創作的主要途徑之一，而「歷史劇類」亦始終是中國戲曲劇目之大宗。尤其明清鼎革之後，歷史劇的創作，更出現了前所未有的熱潮。此種現象，自與易代世變所帶來的對於文人心靈與創作意識之衝擊與導引有關。面對亡國的鉅變，清初文人的創作，往往滲透進「個人經歷」與「家國末世記憶」的書寫。透過對於前朝歷史的回顧與省思，他們在尋求自我認同的過程中，不僅逐步地作出自我調適，也重建了「自我」與「他者」，或「自我」與「世界」之關係。而此種新的「世界觀」之建構與鋪敘，其實與文人在歷史敘寫中，如何重塑關於「故明」的集體記憶有著密切的關連。就清初戲曲之創作而言，晚明以降源於「情真」思潮與「務實」學風而凸顯之有關「真」與「實」的藝術主張，已逐漸深刻化成為一種「以徵實為尚」的歷史劇創作傾向。受此種「徵實」與「述史」風氣之影響，以史作劇，以曲為史，亦逐漸成為後來戲曲家的自覺追求。然而在不違背主要歷史事實的原則下，在這類具代表性的歷史劇作中，劇作家不僅有意地藉由「歷史視界」達到某種人類對於其自身命運的深刻反思；也在某種程度上，將他對於歷史之批判，融入於其所呈現的劇作主題之內。換言之，作者透過文學藝術的手法，事實上是將客觀的歷史事實，與主觀的歷史詮釋，綜合為一種生動的、具有「生命景象」的動態事件，並以「戲劇」的方式將之呈現出來。本文所討論之清乾隆時期董榕（1711-1760）的劇作《芝龕記》，即是在此「以曲為史」的風氣影響下，所創作之一部屬於他個人在歷史劇創作方面結合「述史」、「演史」與「評史」為一的藝術作品。事實上，董榕此種敘明代之史，而又非全然以「明史」之眼光敘之的視野，顯示董榕係以一種特有的「哲學」眼光，評史、詮史；有其極鮮明的儒學背景。他藉由歷史人物如秦良玉與沈雲英之「純忠奇孝」來「明果報」、「銷劫運」的敘事架構，展現了一種真實的，屬於「義理價值」的信仰；這種結合「史實」與「詮史」的特殊方式，有其極為特殊之處，值得深入探索。立基於此，本文從董榕視「明季」為一「純陰之世界」之觀點切入，論析《芝龕記》中所展現之「史觀」，並進一步說明劇中所凸顯之「女功」、「女禍」與戰爭敘寫，最終則論述劇中所隱涵之「忠節意識」與其美學意涵。希望藉由《芝龕記》此一案例之探討，顯示在同一脈絡的延伸下，中國戲曲關於歷史書寫之發展，所可能蘊含的豐富面向。

Addressing historical circumstances and personae, and treating them loosely, making them dramatic, are some major hallmarks of creativity in Chinese drama; historical drama has also always been at the heart of the repertory of Chinese theater. The historical situation at the fall of the Ming was not only a national crisis but also seemed to contemporaries to mark the dissolution of the Chinese world. Able neither to accept nor reject the Qing, the Chinese lived on in ambivalence, and these contradictory impulses produced the painful and tragic consciousness that was expressed in early Qing literature. In fact, for those literati who experienced the Ming-Qing dynastic transition, the conflict between public political correctness and private sentiments inevitably left them struggling in a difficult identification crisis. When these literati looked back to the past, how they perceived and narrated the fall of the Ming becomes a controversial issue, and one worth further discussion. This is especially so in that late-Ming scholarly and then dramatic conventions emphasize truth and reality in depiction of history. The representation of Ming history and preservation of its memory thus turned into a critical task for Qing scholars, and this trend of rewriting or even reinterpreting historical events into a historical fiction/drama (without transgressing the principle of faithfulness to historical knowledge) became prevalent throughout the early Qing and the mid-Qing. This practice at time gave rise to moments of critical reflection on the relation of humanity to historicity, and these critical moments, which also show something profound about the narrative task of recreating history on the stage, are a rare combination of objectivity and subjective, narrative creation in one vital scenario. This paper aims to explore how the mid-Qing scholar Dong Rong (1711-1760) dramatized and interpreted the collapse of the Ming in his chuanqi play, Zhikan ji (The Ganoderma Shrine) by delineating the story of the famous female chieftain Qin Liangyu (1574-1648) and Shen Yunying in the Sichuan area. I will first analyze how Dong Rong was influenced by the early Qing trend of “writing drama as history” (yi qu wei shi) to engage his artistic pursuit of narrating and interpreting the last thirty years of the Ming dynasty. I will also explore how Dong Rong argued that the Ming dynasty is “a world of pure yin” based on his historical outlook of yin and yang from the Book of Changes (Yi jing). I will then, on the one hand, discuss the vivid depiction of critical battles on the southwestern frontier in the Ming and the distinguished “female military exploits” accomplished by the Sichuan chieftain Qin Liangyu; and on the other hand, examine the presentation of the “femme fatales” who caused the decline and downfall of the Ming. Finally, I will explore the consciousness of loyalty and gender implications in the play, and their aesthetic significance in the tradition of Chinese drama.