《水浒传》的公案叙事形态论析

Towards the Narrative Modality of Complicated Legal Cases in The Water Margin

本文以结构主义叙事学的视角,将公案作为一种叙事单元,考察其在《水浒传》中所表现出的新的叙事结构和叙事意义,指出《水浒传》为适应小说篇幅的增加、小说体制的变革,有意识地打破传统的公案叙事结构,发展、衍生出了新的叙事形态,丰富了小说中公案的叙事功能,从而推动了明清小说、特别是章回小说中的公案创作。

From the viewpoint of the narrative theory of structuralism, this paper regards accounts of complicated legal cases as particular narrative units, analyses the new narrative structure and the meaning expressed by it of the complicated legal cases described in The Water Margin , and points out their new modality and new significance. This new narrative structure, which broke away from the traditional narrative form of complicated legal cases, resulted from the development of saga novels in Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty. It not only enriched the function of narrating complicated legal cases in classical Chinese fiction, but also promoted the writing of complicated legal cases in saga novels in these two dynasties.