“才学小说”《镜花缘》的小说学意义

The Caixue Novel Jing Hua Yuan and Its Contributions to the Creation and Studies of Novels

李汝珍的《镜花缘》是清代四大"才学小说"中将"才学"在小说中的呈现进行得最为彻底的作品。其在文本的实践层面,贯穿了明晰的"才学本位"意识,而在叙事过程中亦致力于展示"才学"的道德性及寻求适宜的叙事法则,从而为"才学"作为叙事对象提供了价值前提和美学可能。考察其处理"才学"和小说文类规则关系时的实践呈现和理论意义,有助于客观评价其作为小说新类型在小说学上的贡献,并以管窥豹,探讨清代嘉道时期小说文体的新变及其对中国小说史进程的影响。

One of the four great caixue（才学） novels in the Qing Dynasty,Li Ruzhen＇s Jing Hua Yuan（《镜花缘》） is the best in presenting profound scholarship in its narration.Under a scholarship-based mentality,the novel is devoted to displaying the moral dimensions of the scholarship and to seeking a corresponding device for its narrative arrangement.All this makes it possible to have academic accomplishments as its object of narration.The exploration of the novel＇s theoretical and practical implications in making the theme of academic accomplishments meet the generic requirements of novels is indispensible to an objective evaluation of its contributions to the creation of novels,thus serving as a good channel for viewing the stylistic changes in novels of the Jiaqing and Daoguang Reigns in the Qing Dynasty and its influence on the historical development of Chinese novels.