戲中士紳，仕途優伶──清中葉小說中的「流動」戲班及其社會想像

Literati on Stage, Actors in Office:“Mobile”Theatre Troupes and Social Imaginaries in Mid-Qing Novels

在前現代中國，士人與伶人長期位處社會階序兩端，現實身分上距離甚遠；然而於十八世紀的文學與文化中，二者卻頻繁被相互比擬與轉化，形成一種值得關注的文化現象。本文以清中葉小說《歧路燈》、《儒林外史》、《姑妄言》為主要文本，分析士／伶關係的多重想像：一方面，「流動」戲班的伶人得以輕易進入士人家庭，扮演親屬角色，動搖血緣宗族結構；另一方面，士人亦反向被比擬為伶人，以揭示階級流動的身分不穩性；同時，伶人甚至被誇張想像介入地方政治，反襯士人官員僵化的禮教訓練。透過上述分析，本文指出士／伶關係不僅為敘事策略，更是清中葉士人建構自我認同並回應政治與社會變局的重要想像資源。

In premodern China, literati and actors lived distinct lives at opposing ends of the social hierarchy; however, the two frequently interacted and even transformed into each other in eighteenth century literature and culture. This article examines three mid- Qing novels—The Lantern at the Crossroads (Qilu deng歧路燈), The Scholars (Rulin waishi儒林外史), and Idle Talk (Guwangyan姑妄言)—to analyze the multiple ways in which literatus–actor relationships were imagined. Actors entered literati households and assumed kinship roles, unsettling lineage-based family structure; literati were likened to actors, exposing class anxieties and unstable social identities; actors intervened in local politics, which highlighted the rigid nature of literati shaped by Confucian ritual training. This article argues that these encounters, confrontations, and transformations, were not merely narrative devices but instead served as imaginative resources through which mid-Qing literati constructed self-identities and responded to broader political and social transformations.