華夏忠臣遭遇邊域倮蟲－《野叟曝言》與《蟫史》中的西南書寫

The Encounter of the Chinese Confucian Hero with Borderland Creatures: Writings Regarding Southwest China in Yesou puyan and Yinshi

胡曉真(Hu Siao-chen)

《中國文學學報》 2期 (2011/12) Pp. 231-256

https://doi.org/10.6903/JCL.201112_(2).0013

摘要

本文的主旨在對兩部處理西南地區文化的清代小說提出新的讀法。首先，《野叟曝言》的西南書寫一方面以漢苗對比的方式，具體展現了「禮儀」在小說中定義文化正統的中心地位，一方面也透過苗俗的細節以及苗人的論辯苗禮，暗自挑戰了華夏文明代言人文白的思考方式。《野叟曝言》本來就懷著以儒家教化一統天下的盛世夢想，可說是「大國沙文」思想。但是小說並非完全無視於文化接觸的複雜性。由小說中苗地一段的細節，我們看到小說呈現苗漢接觸時彼此發生的陌生、驚異甚至恐懼等感覺。而且，漢族主人翁面對異己，不但調整自己的行為模式，他對禮儀與習俗的預設，也受到了挑戰。長篇文言小說《蟫史》則衝撞我們熟悉的界線。這部小說在漢苗民族戰爭的表象下，呈現了一個本於傳統思想、拒絕被定義的奇異世界觀。作者屠紳一再把其他族群比喻為昆蟲，甚至主張殲滅。但是再進一步觀察的話，我們發現其作品所呈現的乃是一個「五蟲」的世界。在此世界觀中，所有物種的本質相同，只是表象不同而已。如果連物種的界線都是流動的，那麼族群與邦國的分界就更加沒有意義了。所以，《蟫史》的極端之處，不在以昆蟲動物的意象異化他民族，而在以昆蟲動物的五蟲論，徹底質疑民族之間的界線，乃至物種之間的界線。筆者認為《野叟曝言》的毒蟒故事與《蟫史》的五蟲寓言，分別代表用夏變夷與夷夏同化兩種不同的文化認同態度。這兩個文本也說明了西南文化與所謂「苗疆」意象在清代小說中造成的影響。

關鍵字

野叟曝言 ； 蟫史 ； 西南 ； 族群 ； 苗

並列摘要

This paper proposes new perspectives to read two Qing novels that deal with local customs and cultures of southwest China. In Yesou puyan, the protagonist Wen Bai is portrayed as an ideal Confucian sage-hero. When he travels to the southwest region, he is repeatedly shocked with what he witnesses because it fundamentally contradicts his beliefs in Confucian propriety, in particular the centrality of rituals in a civilized society. However, the novel also emphasizes details of Miao customs and Miao people's arguments for themselves, therefore challenging the hero's Confucian way of thinking. Yesou puyan is undeniably a fantasy of the universality of Confucian ideals, but it often reveals an awareness of the complexity of cultural encounters. The details of the Miao episode convey a sense of strangeness and cultural shock for both the Chinese and the Miao. The Confucian hero is obliged to adjust his behavior, and his presupposition of proper rituals and practices is often open to challenge. Yinshi is an encyclopedic novel that confronts many boundaries of modern readers. Under the surface of a battle between the Han-Chinese and the Miao, the novel represents a distinct worldview that refuses a fixed definition. The author Tu Shen often compares the ethnic groups in southwest China and foreigners to beasts and insects and openly proposes that they should be eliminated. However, if we thoroughly comprehend the novel's theoretical potential, implying that different cultures are fundamentally similar-or similarly in continual transformation-but marked only by differences in modes of expression, what it suggests is neither ＂transforming the barbarian to the Chinese,＂ nor ＂eliminating the barbarian by the Chinese,＂ but ＂unification with the barbarian＂ or ＂identification with the barbarian＂ in the metaphorical sense.

並列關鍵字

Yesou puyan ； Yinsh ； southwest China ； ethnicity ； Miao