《醒世姻缘传》人名臆解

An Investigation into the Names of Figures in The Marriage Stories to Awaken Men

《醒世姻缘传》通过谐音、照应、拆字、用典、白描等方法给人物命名,利用人名寄托作者对这一人物的品格、职业和在故事中的功能的评价和暗示。这些人名具有强烈的诙谐感和反讽效果,体现了作者对世道人心的评价。通过谐音法还可推测作者"西周生"可能是"戏诌生"、"戏众生"或者"戏诸生"的谐音,而"环碧主人"可能是"幻笔主人"的谐音。

The author of Xing Shi Yin Yuan Zhuan （The Marriage Stories to Awaken Men） names the figures by means of homophony, correlation, splitting up the Chinese characters, allusion, direct description and so on, which reveals his comments and suggestions about the character, occupation and function of the figures in the novel. All those names have a strong sense of humor and irony, displaying the attitude of the author towards the real world. What＇s more, ＂Xi Zhou Sheng＂ perhaps is the homophonic word of ＂Xi Zhongsheng＂ or ＂Xi Zhusheng＂, which implies ＂teasing people＂; ＂Huanbi Zhuren＂ probably implies ＂the man who writes in a fictitious style of writing＂.