唐代古文與小說的交涉─以韓愈、柳宗元的作品為考察中心

唐代古文與小說的交涉是一值得注意的文學史現象，本篇首先針對前輩學者對此議題的討論，作一釐析。進而從文體的三個面向，檢視歷來游移在古文與小說兩個文類間的韓、柳之作，抉發出韓、柳之作與小說交涉的實貌。韓、柳之作與唐代小說的相關，首在兩者與史傳的淵源；而兩者間交涉的實質，則是在奇詭俳諧的文體風格中展現；復從韓、柳之作的作意上尋思，發現這些側重社會邊緣人物和以物類擬人的奇詭俳諧作品書寫，實為韓、柳意欲傳達他們對世事的感慨和見解，與「雖為小道仍有可觀之處」的傳統小說觀念相符，甚至以理論將此奇詭俳諧的作品，提昇至經史詩文同等的高度，進而影響了爾後的小說創作的自覺意識，形成與小說創作觀念層面的相互關涉。經由這樣的探究過程，可以深刻地得知韓、柳古文撰作運用了小說敘事的作意、內容、形式，展開了古文更寬闊的藝術表現，同時此一撰作實踐也回向滋養了小說的書寫。

關鍵字

唐代古文；唐代小說；韓愈；柳宗元；文體

並列摘要

The interplay between classical Chinese prose and fiction during the Tang dynasty has long been a point of interest in Chinese literary history. This paper will first review literature on this topic by earlier scholars. Then it will go on to look at works by Han Yu (韓愈) and Liu Zongyuan (柳宗元)-two authors who have historically moved between classical Chinese prose and fiction-from three different perspectives in order to reveal the interplay with fiction seen in their prose. The relationship between the works of Han and Liu and Tang dynasty fiction is first to be seen in their common source in a historical/biographical tradition, with the specific nature of their interaction in this respect manifesting in the form of their fantastic, satirical style. Next, looking at the authorial intent of both Han and Liu, we can see that their use, in this particular vein of writing, of characters existing at the margins of society and anthropomorphized objects was in fact an intentional ploy to express their disappointment with and views on the world. This approach is both consistent with the traditional view of fiction as ”having some value despite being of the small Way (小道)” and can be seen as a conceptual elevation of this kind of fantastic, satirical writing to the same level as the classics, history, and poetry. This in turn served to influence the self-awareness in later fictional creations and foment a bi-directional interaction on the notions of fictional creation. From this discussion, we will be able to see clearly that both Han and Liu employed the intent, contents and form of fictional narrative when writing their classical prose. In doing so, they expanded the range of artistic expression for classical prose as a literary form even as their writing served to nurture the production of fiction.