亂世、欲望與自我改造：論包天笑《新白蛇傳》

Chaos, Desire, and Self-Reformation: On Bao Tianxiao's Xin Baishezhuan

潘少瑜(Shaw-Yu Pan)

《中國現代文學》 37期 (2020/06) Pp. 65-85

摘要

《新白蛇傳》是鴛鴦蝴蝶派作家包天笑的最後一部長篇小說，寫於1948年後旅居台灣與香港的時期，而遲至1958年才出版完整單行本。包天笑挪用白蛇故事的主要人物和關鍵情節，將背景置於抗戰勝利之後，以女性的奮鬥史作為故事主軸，穿插描寫上海與蘇州等地的風俗民情，以及社會上的牛鬼蛇神和慾海浮沉的亂象，其筆調近似鴛蝴派一向擅長的社會小說，也繼承了晚清譴責小說的傳統。女主角白素貞身處亂世，跟「白相人」及特務周旋鬥智，突破難關，解救夫婿許宣與前進青年於危機之中，又自我改造為適應新中國的「新人」，巧妙地呼應了白娘子故事的原型，從中亦可窺見包天笑晚年傾向同情左翼的政治立場。

關鍵字

包天笑 ； 《新白蛇傳》 ； 鴛鴦蝴蝶派文學 ； 社會批判 ； 自我改造

並列摘要

Xin Baishezhuan (White Snake: A New Story) is the Mandarin Duck and Butterfly writer Bao Tianxiao's (1876-1973) last novel. It was initially penned in 1948, while Bao was staying in Taiwan and Hong Kong, and finally published as book edition in 1958. In this novel, Bao appropriates the major characters and plot of the traditional white snake story and shifts its background to 1947, after China's victory of anti-Japanese war. The theme of the story is the struggles of female, along with descriptions of traditional customs and social phenomenon in Shanghai and Suzhou, especially the reactionary forces and chaos caused by insatiable human desires. The style of Xin Baishezhuan is similar to the ＂social novel＂ genre that Mandarin Duck and Butterfly writers are good at, and its inheritance of late Qing ＂novels of exposure＂ is also obvious. Finding herself in a chaotic time, the protagonist Bai Suzhen skillfully fights against rascals and spies, rescues her husband Xu Xuan and idealist youths again and again. Eventually, she reforms herself as a ＂new person＂ who can adapt to the life in ＂New China.＂ As a result, this novel ingeniously echoes to the archetype of white snake story and partially reveals Bao's sympathy for leftist in his old age.

並列關鍵字

Bao Tianxiao ； Xin Baishezhuan (White Snake: A New Story) ； Mandarin Duck and Butterfly literature ； social criticism ； self-reformation

參考文獻

天笑生譯，《千年後之世界》，上海，群學社，1905。

方成培，《雷峰塔傳奇》，台北，東方文化供應社，1971。

包天笑，《上海春秋》，收入欒梅健編，《海上文學百家文庫•包天笑卷》，上海，上海文藝出版社，2010。

包公毅（天笑）著，孫慧敏、林美莉校註，《釧影樓日記：1948-1949》，台北，中央研究院近代史研究所，2018。

包天笑，《釧影樓回憶錄》，北京，中國大百科全書出版社，2008。