话本小说时空构架的“江南”特征及其叙事意义

The Time-space Structure of Vernacular Novels' Feature of South Yangtze River Area and Narrative Meaning

南宋以后,随着经济、文化中心的南移,话本小说在江南得以迅速兴起,并在明代走向全面成熟。生活在江南的话本小说家基本依据江南的地理特点、地质构造以及节日风俗等人文地理状况来构架小说时空;即使写到江北时空,也往往参照江南"版本"进行。以"游赏"为主题的江南节日,为话本小说故事的生发提供了带有地方人文色彩的叙事时间刻度。同时,江南水乡又为话本小说提供了别致的叙事空间。其中,作为故事的多发地带和情缘的多生场所,"桥"、"船"、"岸"成为故事得以展开的基本场景。总之,话本小说的时空构架带有明显的江南地域特征,这些江南化的时空有力地促进了这类小说的叙事运动,并确立了其"江南文学"性质。

After the Southern Song Dynasty, along with the southward moving of the economical center and the cultural center, the vernacular novels grew rapidly in the south Yangtze River area and became mature in the Ming Dynasty. The writers of vernacular novels who lived in south Yangtze River area constructed the novels＇ space and time in accordance to the south Yangtze River area＇s geographical feature, geologic structure as well as festival customs. Even when they wrote about the circumstances of north China, similar features of south Yangtze River area could be found. The south Yangtze River area＇s festivals, which aim at ＂tourism＂, provide a humanistic color to the vernacular novels. At the same time, the style and features of canal towns in south China also offer a unique narrative space to the vernacular novels. In the novels, ＂the bridge＂, ＂the boat＂ and ＂the river bank＂ became the basic scenes, where you could meet many accidents and lovers by chance. In a word, the time-space structure of the vernacular novels has an obvious characteristic of south Yangtze River area, which powerfully promoted this kind of novels＇ narrative development and established the nature of ＂literature of south Yangtze River area＂.