不安於室／是：明清女性劇作的空間出走與性別越界

Unsettled at Home: The Shaping of Space and the Significance of Gender among Female Playwrights of the Ming and Qing Dynasties

明清女性劇作家藉著虛構性的戲曲創作，透過身份的改變甚至性別的重新定位，讓自己自由遊走於各式場域，實現著身為女性難以落實的人生企盼。這些想像一方面複製、延續著男性建構出來的生活脈絡與價值內涵，但女性劇作家卻也因為自身不同的生命情感經驗，勾勒出更貼近自身內心世界的空間風景，同時也藉著對於空間意義的重新詮釋與形塑，寄託了她們關於性別內涵的反思。以空間作為一種同時承載事件與寄託情意的創作手法，遂也成為婦女劇作的一大特色。這篇論文以明清婦女劇作的空間內涵作為討論的焦點，梳理女性劇作家如何藉由文字游走不同空間，或對於空間意義進行重新詮釋與定義，進而透露女性對於自身性別與生命內涵的想像與期待。與此同時，文本形式的挑戰與變化以及文本風格的重新形塑亦可視為是一種文字意義上的「空間跨越」；婦女劇作家在劇本形式上一方面模仿、繼承了傳統，同時也試著以更為抒情的節奏與語法，建構出具有女性色彩的文本世界，將是本篇文章另一個意欲觀察分析的課題。

In this paper I explore how female playwrights of the Ming and Qing dynasties utilized their newly acquired freedom of expression and the creative possibilities of drama to make their way out of the boudoir and into a society and literary world previously monopolized by men. The female playwrights of this period typically reveal their understanding, impression, and interpretation of space in the way they design, form, and use it. As their characters find their place in society, vacillate, and straddle various ''spaces,'' the interpretive relationship between space and the individual is often used to reflect the actual circumstances of women's lives. By making a detailed comparison of several plays by female playwrights of this period, I analyze how they used their literary talents to break free from actual physical and spatial constraints, and boldly stake out their place in previously forbidden realms, both actual and conceptual. In the process of shifting space, these writers expressed both their identification with and transcendence of the real world, at the same time conveying their deepest aspirations.