历史与小说——小说观念发展略论

中国的小说观念在其发展的进程中,长期伴随着历史著作的影子,小说被当作是“史之余事”。究其根源,主要是神话的历史化以及儒家正统观念的要求。以“信”、“实”,而不是以艺术真实要求小说创作,成为批评小说的一大标准。唐传奇的出现,标志着小说创作开始脱离历史著作而成立。从此,人们对于小说的独立价值开始有了初步的认识。小说评点的出现以及明代文人对话本的编辑、加工和拟话本的写作,标志着小说观念中对小说艺术肯定评价的确立和对小说性质认识的加深。金圣叹在建立中国古典小说美学方面,起了关键的作用。 

History and Novel A Brief Review of the Development of Novel Concept

The concept of novel receives so much influence from historical works in its development that it is regarded as “the superabundance of history”. In the final analysis, it is Confucian idea and reality based on history but not reality based on art that become standard to estimate novel. Tang story becomes a mark that represents novel’s deviation from history and gaining independence.From then on, novel begins to receive attention as a writing style. The appearance of review and commentary, the compilation of hua ben, and the imitation of hua ben promote the development of the concept of novel. Jin Sheng-tan plays a key role in establishing Chinses classical novels.