作為商品的戲曲及劇作家──李漁戲曲之自我宣傳與建構

Plays and the Playwright as Merchandise: Li Yu's Self-Fashioning

在清初戲曲研究中，李漁無疑是重要卻又相當尷尬的存在。一方面，李漁劇作的質量與流布影響及其戲曲理論於中國戲曲史上的地位無庸置疑；另一方面，鼎革脈絡下，以家國之思、興亡之感為論述主旨的清初文人戲曲研究中，「風流文人」一派的李漁又顯得格格不入。然而若回歸戲曲作為表演藝術本質的娛樂性與商業性來討論，李漁戲曲的情調氛圍又明顯不同於蘇州派職業劇作家們的作品。這種特殊性源於李漁雖然明言「硯田糊口」，但卻以文人士大夫為預設讀者及觀眾群。相較於蘇州派劇作家與其預設之不特定多數觀眾並不會產生直接來往，李漁以縉紳士大夫為預設讀者、觀眾群以及支助者，顯然必須躋身於此一交流圈中。可以說，李漁對戲曲的定位承晚明流風，乃用以在文人交遊活動中娛樂助興，點綴太平。本文將由李漁劇作中藉論述所呈現的作者形象切入，審視其自我建構與其戲曲作為面向文人士大夫階級的商品之間，其相輔相成的關係。進一步地說，即李漁如何利用戲曲自我形塑與自我宣傳，將其作品乃至其本人「商品化」，以獲得預設對象的欣賞與支助。 Li Yu occupies an important yet awkward place among early Qing literati dramatists. Both the quality and quantity of his dramas and the prominent place his dramaturgy holds in Chinese history of drama are generally recognized; however, put in the historical context after the Ming-Qing transition, he and his works seem incompatible with the main themes of remembrance, introspection and traumatranscendence in contemporary literati dramatists' works. Moreover, if we turn to the recreational and performative characteristic of drama and compare his works with those of his contemporary professional playwrights—say, the Suzhou School—then Li Yu again seems to show a different sheen. This essay examines these dissimilarities and points out that though Li Yu flagrantly stated that he wrote plays to make a living, he walked among and intended to appeal to the literati and officers' circles. The elaborately constructed self-fashioning through novel ideas and purposefully provocative arguments in his works serve as a wrapping to increase the “commercial” value both of himself and of his works. He was sensitive enough to the turbulence of political tides and changed his “wrapping” accordingly. Combined with his familiarity with stage and excellent comedic plots and twists, these charactertics did make Li Yu successful. Although these same characteristics caused him much deprecation both in his time and in later years, the wheel seems coming full circle and audiences and readers nowadays can more easily relate to and appreciate Li Yu and his achievements.