《紅樓夢》前八十回敘事分層研究－兼論分層理論在中國古代小說的應用

「敘事分層」乃是西方敘事學的基礎理論之一。歷來有許多使用西方理論探析中國古代小說的研究成果，但其中針對《紅樓夢》進行敘事分層者，結論卻往往眾說紛紜，莫衷一是。究其原因：第一，在最初的分層定義與方法上沒有取得共識，便直接使用「敘事分層」一詞作為分析文本結構的關鍵；第二，對「跨層」等西方敘事技巧的定義認知有所出入，也會造成範例的舉證不具足夠說服力；第三，文本的使用版本不同、或對同版本的正文範圍界定有所歧異，也會對敘事分層的結果產生影響。本研究擬以《紅樓夢》前八十回為考察對象，從分層結果歧異最多的第一回著手，對甲戌本、甲辰本、庚辰本（其他脂本與程本第一回與庚辰本面貌差不多）進行敘事分層的分析與比對。並透過敘事分層理論、「跨層」（轉敘）定義的重新整理，歸納出《紅樓夢》敘事分層無論使用哪個脂評本，均為「三層說」的結果。並且，試圖對「《紅樓夢》是否具備跨層現象」的問題提出合理解釋，同時指出操作敘事理論的幾項提醒：第一，所謂「敘事分層」應以「敘事者轉移」為判斷基準；第二，在研究進行前，應界定清楚文本的「正文範圍」；第三，單一人物未必只能專屬於某個敘述層次，也未必只會擔任一個敘事角色；第四，我們應以「同一敘事角色」，而非「同一人物」，作為「跨層現象是否出現」的判定依據，因為一個人物可能有好幾個「敘事角色」的分身，但每個分身都應被視為不同的個體。最後，對「《紅樓夢》的敘事結構與跨層現象十分複雜」的直觀見解，提出合理的原因與解釋，並觀察《紅樓夢》的敘事結構與技巧，究竟為讀者接受起到怎樣的影響與作用。由此反省，當研究者使用西方敘事理論分析中國古代小說時，可能因閱讀經驗與前見而產生哪些研究盲點。

關鍵字

紅樓夢；敘事理論；敘述層次；敘事分層；跨層；轉敘

並列摘要

＂Narrative levels＂ is one of the basic theories of western narratology. However, the research that using western narrative to analysis Chinese ancient novels are usually different from each other, it is because of three flaws: First, scholarships usually use ＂narrative levels＂ in their paper, but have no consensus on its definition. Second, scholarships have no consensus on ＂narrative metalepsis＂. Third, using different version of the Dream of the Red Chamber, and have different definition of the main part of the text. This study intend to comparison chapter one of Jia Xu Ben（甲戌本）, Jia Chen Ben（甲辰本）, Geng Chen Ben（庚辰本）, which has the most problem in the Dream of the Red Chamber, and revisit the definition of narrative levels and narrative metalepsis, to find no matter we use which version of the Dream of the Red Chamber, they all has three narrative levels. Also, try to figure out whether the Dream of the Red Chamber has metalepses or not, and make reminders of using narrative theory: First, different narrative levels should take different narrator as the benchmark. Second, the main part of the text should be clearly defined before the research. Third, One character may not only be in one narrative level, and may not only act as one narrative role. Fourth, we should take the same narrative role instead of the same character as the standard to determine whether narrative metalepsis appear. At last, try to give a reason explanation of the intuitive insight that ＂the narrative structure and the narrative metalepsis of the Dream of the Red Chamber is very complicated＂, anlysis how the narrative structure and skills of the text influence the readers, and reflect the blind spots on our reading experience and preconceived ideas.