日本唐话学者冈岛冠山及其汉文小说《太平记演义》述论

On Okajima Kanzan and His Chinese Vernacular Historical Novel Taiheiki

在18世纪的日本,京都、大阪两地的儒者阶层中兴起了一股学习唐话的风气,一批唐话学者随之涌现出来。这股风气不仅直接促进了中国白话通俗小说的输入、翻译、刊刻和流播,而且大大激发了唐话学者撰写汉文小说的热情。冈岛冠山是当时的领军人物,其名作《太平记演义》堪称那个时代日本汉文小说的代表作,他的汉文小说创作活动和《太平记演义》所取得的艺术成就都具有典型意义。今天看来,以《太平记演义》为代表的诸多汉文小说作品理所当然地属于日本古典文学的范畴。

In eighteenth-century Japan,a vogue of learning Twa rose among the Confucian intellectuals in Kyoto and Osaka,and many scholars of Twa emerged.Under the direct influence of the vogue,Chinese vernacular novels had been imported,translated,published and spread widely in Japan,and scholars had been aroused with enthusiasm to write novels in Chinese vernacular.Among them,Okajima Kanzan was the leader,and his masterpiece,Taiheiki,can be considered as a representative work of the Chinese vernacular novels in that era.His creative activities and the artistic achievements of this novel thus have a historical significance.Looking back,we should regard these Chinese vernacular novels,represented by Taiheiki,as part of classical Japanese literature.