《三国演义》成书年代新考

明初瞿佑《归田诗话》卷下《吊白门》一则引吕布语,与元人张思廉《玉笥集》中《南飞乌》诗用吕布事,在今存文献中只见于《三国志通俗演义》,表明元明之际的瞿佑与比他更早的元人张思廉,已经读过《三国志通俗演义》,并用为说诗的根据或诗料;而《三国演义》当成书更早,大约在“元泰定三年(1326)前后”。

A New Textual Research on the Writing Date of The Romance Of The Three Kingdoms

That the quotation from Lu Bu by Qu You,a scholar during the early Ming Dynasty,in his "Mourning Bai Men" in Returning to the Countryside: Notes On Poets And Poetry(Vol.II),and the employment of an anecdote of Lu Bu by Zhang Silian during the Yuan Dynasty in his poem "The Bird Flying To South" in Jade-plaited Case Collection can only be found in The Popular Novel Of The History Of The Three Kingdoms among the extant literature,indicates that Qu You and,earlier Zhang Silian have already read the novel,and used it as materials for composing poems or poetry criticism.And The Romance of the Three Kingdoms should have been finished even earlier,i.e.around Taiding Third Year of the Yuan Dynasty.