追憶、技藝、隱喻：《桃花扇》中的「作者七人」

Remembrance, Artistry, and Metaphor: The Seven Recluses in The Peach Blossom Fan

本文初衷，乃為解讀孔尚任於《桃花扇》的書寫策略上，如何將其身為聖人後代所欲承繼的「春秋筆法」，以隱、藏、暗、渡的方式深埋於文本之內，使《桃花扇》不只是一部傳奇、史劇，更為其苦心孤詣所刻畫的一部「南明春秋」。文中將具體分析七名角色—即孔尚任「自評本」所謂的七位「作者」（亂世中歸隱辟世之人）；由其在劇中之貫串離合、行事聲容，觀察孔尚任如何將世變、隱喻、褒貶寄寓於「小人物」的書寫態度。文章結尾，將述及「老贊禮」一角如何成為孔尚任的夫子自道，及其於全劇首尾深埋「年月密碼」暗語的雙重心志。

This paper aims to analyze the chunqiu (springs and autumns) writing strategy in The Peach Blossom Fan. Its author, Kong Shangren, the 64th descendent of Confucius, intended to transmit his family tradition in writing a classic and history, but transferred the genre as a chuanqi drama. During the Ming-Qing transition, he had to conceal his motivation within the dramatic text to prevent being recognized as a “Southern Ming Chunqiu”, the penalty for which would be conviction or death. The Peach Blossom Fan is not only a dramatic text, a historical play, but also was inserted into his Confucian critical work. In this way, this paper will analyze seven characters in the play, who were called seven zuozhe (doers) in Kong’s self-commentary, which means these seven people were the recluses escaped from the transition of the dynasty. The paper will explore what they did and how they thought as the plots developed, as well as observe how Kong used these “nobodies” to present the true model in those times of chaos. His praise of these “nobodies” reflects the fake and self-righteous literati and “somebodies”, which constituted the subjectivity of his chunqiu writing strategy. In the end, this paper will discuss another character, Lao Zanli (the old master of Ceremonies), who is the archetype of the author himself who speaks out his inner mind and the secret codes hidden in the “date” of each scene.