“空白”的发现与解读

The Probe and Interpretation of “Blankness”

按逻辑或情理应出现却未显形者称为"空白"。文学研究中,人们关注有形对象,现身于无形的"空白"常被忽略,且也不易发现。对"空白"成因的探寻应是文学研究的重要组成部分,现有的研究模式尚缺乏相应的有效方法。本文梳理了诸如通俗小说发展过程中约一百七十年的创作空白、明初中期文言小说半个世纪的创作断档、短篇通俗小说一百五十余年的不见踪影,以及《红楼梦》中王夫人与李纨没有直接对话描写的"不书"手法的运用等现象,结合这些案例探讨发现"空白"的途径,以及对此作合理解释的方法。

The concept"blankness"refers to the thing that is expected to be there according to its logic or reason but doesn’t appear.In literary study,the research attention is mostly given to the tangible and visible objects while the shapeless and invisible"blankness"is more often than not neglected or hard to notice.The research of the cause of the"blankness"should be an important part of literary study,but the current research mode still doesn’t provide any effective method in this respect.This article probes into abundant cases of the"blankness"which had appeared in the development of popular fiction and classical Chinese novels of the mid-Ming Dynasty,and also a specific sample from The Dream of Red Mansions.It attempts to give a sound explanation of its cause.