“科名前定”观念对明代小说的影响

Predictive Dreams:Construction and Deconstruction——The Influence on Novels of the Ming Dynasty of the Idea of Predestined Academic Distinction

"科名前定"的情节在明代通俗小说中屡见不鲜,它用"奇梦"之类描写来预示情节的发展,制造悬念或是捏合各种杂凑情节。同时,小说中"功名前定"也有现实化与世俗化的解释,于是,也出现了若干解构"科名前定"的故事。

Cases of scholars achieving academic distinction destined through experiences of previous lives were very common in the Ming Dynasty popular fictions.Such plots usually involved unusual predictive dreams that dropped hints on where the story went,produced suspenses or helped to make different parts of the story a whole chain.On the other hand,destined scholarly distinction described in those fictions could also be constructed in a more realistic and worldly way.Thus,there were also lots of fictions that decomtructed the idea of predestined academic distinction.