从“敲门砖”到“绝代之奇”——关于唐传奇

From "Stepping-Stone" to "Unparalleled Wonders"——On Tang Legend

曾作为科考制度“敲门砖”的唐传奇,是唐代小说中一朵瑰丽的奇葩,不能简单地将唐传奇和唐代小说等同起来。事实上,唐代小说还应包括志怪小说、轶事小说等,必须对它们各自的特点进行严格区分。唐代小说之所以能在诗坛成就已灿烂夺目的盛唐、中唐时期逐步发展、繁荣,与诗歌并称“绝代之奇”,其原因除了人们通常提及的经济、政治、科考制度及其他文学样式的推动外,还有一些被论者所忽略的因素,如文人思想开放、敢于揭露时弊,唐代小说作家的文化艺术素养的总体水平大大高于前人,诗歌表现现实生活的局限性等。从中国文学史的视角看,唐代传奇小说不论从内容还是形式上,皆对后世的文学创作产生了极其深远的影响。

Tang Legend, as the stepping-stone to success in the feudal examination system, has become one of the most magnificent flowers of the Tang fictions, and it should not be identified with Tang fictions, Actually, Tang fictions should also include myth, anecdotes, and so on; therefore, it is necessary to divide them strictly according to their respective characteristics. The reason why Tang fiction could develop and flourish gradually into the unparalleled wonders together with the Tang poetry, in the flourishing Mid-Tang period, which had already achieved a splendid fame in Parnassus, lies not only in the economy, politics, imperial examination system, and the pushing of other literature styles, which are commonly referred to by scholars, but also in some other rather influential factors, which are often neglected, for instance, the open-minded intellectuals, who dare to expose and criticize the social abuse of Tang dynasty; the overall cultural cultivation level of the fiction-writers in the Tang dynasty, which is much higher than that of their predecessors; the limitation of poetry in describing the reality of life, which pushes the Tang fiction to develop and flourish quickly. Viewed from the angle of Chinese Literature history, Tang Legend, not only in content, but also in form, leaves profound influences to literature composition afterwards.