道德理想主义与现实人生困境——论《儒林外史》对经典叙事的戏拟

《儒林外史》的显著特征是对各种人生问题、艺术问题、学术问题进行思考,并以独具个性的漫画手法表达出来。或者说,以对广泛的人生问题的思考为背景,吴敬梓也思考了一系列的艺术问题和学术问题,如中国古代“礼贤下士”的叙事话语,其实质性的内涵是什么?古代文学中的豪侠形象是否具有足够的现实依据?由此切入,考察《儒林外史》对几种经典叙事的戏拟,考察吴敬梓所创造的漫画世界的道德理想主义图景以及对现实困境的深刻揭示,可以对小说家表达思考的特殊方式及其小说史、思想史意义有所发明。

Moral Idealism and Life Dilemma——The Scholars: a Parody of Classic Narrative

The Scholars is a Chinese classic characterized by its author's constant inquiries into the problems of life,arts and scholarship,which are distinctively caricatured.Such problems as what is the implication of the narrative discourse of "Courteous to the Worthy and Supportive of Scholars";are the images of gallant characters in ancient literature based on real life? Observation of parodies on classic narratives in The Scholars and the conflict between moral idealism and life dilemma caricatured by the writer reveals the writer's unique ways of thinking,and throws some light on the history of Chinese novels.