民歌之王:文化英雄传奇影响生活历史的初步探索

Folksong Kings: A Preliminary Exploration of the Influence of Culture Hero Legends on Life Histories

近年来,中国某些民歌手经常部分地因为赢得地区性或全国性民歌比赛而获得"歌王"称号。探究了歌手的生活故事如何有助于强化他们的歌王个性,以及不同的描述歌手生活故事的书籍、文章和纪录片如何显示当代歌王与过去的传奇歌手英雄具有某些类似的要素。以当代歌王王向荣为案例,研究发现,从特定主题中归纳出的相关性似乎在构建当代民间英雄的个性时显现出格外的重要性,共有的倾向包括:云游四方,以歌表达对权威人物的反抗,因反抗受到惩罚,终于成"王"。由此,"经久不衰的履历神话"能够影响生活故事的叙述方式,并表明社会视何种事件为妥当。

In recent years in China, certain folk singers become known as ＂Song Kings＂ （gewang）, often, in part, due to the winning of regional and national folksong contests. This paper looks at how stories told about the lives of these singers help to reinforce their personas as song kings, and how the depictions of their life stories in various books, articles, and documentaries appear to share certain similar elements with narratives about both legendary singer-heroes of the past and other contemporary song kings. The life history of a modern-day song king, Wang Xiangrong, is taken as a case study, and this paper explores how the perceived relevance of particular themes seems to suggest the importance of precedent in constructing his persona as a modern day folk hero. Certain trends emerge, including a period of wandering, singing in defiance of some authority figure, punishment for that defiance, and ultimately emerging as ＂king.＂ In the end, it is suggested that ＂enduring biographical myths＂ can influence the way life stories are told and which events are viewed as particularly relevant.