革命、共和與黑幕之間：《老殘新遊記》與民初黑幕小說家主體性的建立

二十世紀初新文學運動以來，黑幕小說在公眾評價或學術論述中都長期被邊緣化。晚近研究已嘗試重新評價黑幕小說，在其商業取向之外發掘其政治與社會批判的重要意義。相對於此，本文試圖回答一過去尚未被充分回答的問題：黑幕小說作家如何在五四新文學的強力論述下尋找自我主體位置？本文選擇以民國初年深度參與革命的黑幕作家楊塵因(1889-1961)的《老殘新遊記》為案例探討上述問題。本文指出，黑幕寫作是楊塵因對於社會啟蒙的實踐方式。《老殘新遊記》除了是楊塵因的社會批判之外，也是他對於中國政治革命失敗的反省，對自身作為黑幕小說家的身分、批判位置與正當性的證成，以及對於共和精神的實踐。

Since the early twentieth-century New Literature movement, scandal fiction (heimu xiaoshuo黑幕小說) has been pushed to the margins of both public reception and academic study. Recent studies, however, have begun to reassess the genre, showing that—beyond its commercial orientation—it carries serious political and social critique. This article asks how writers of scandal fiction established authorial standing and legitimacy under the dominant discourse of May Fourth New Literature.
To address this question, the article examines Yang Chenyin’s楊塵因(1889–1961) The New Travels of Lao Can老殘新遊記, written by a scandal-fiction author deeply engaged in revolutionary politics in the early Republic. It argues that scandal writing was Yang’s chosen practice of social enlightenment. The novel works on four fronts: it offers a pointed critique of contemporary society; it reflects on the failures of China’s political revolution; it justifies Yang’s identity, stance, and legitimacy as a scandal novelist; and it enacts a republican ethos. Read in this light, scandal fiction is not mere sensation but a principled mode of republican criticism, and it deserves a recognized place in the story of modern Chinese literature.