《儒林外史》的四种笔法

Four Styles of Writing in Ru Lin Wai Shi

《儒林外史》不仅是一部凝聚着人生智慧的书,也是一部凝聚着小说智慧的书,当人生智慧与小说智慧融为一体时,就形成了特有的笔法,或特别有表现力的笔法。吴敬梓用类似于史家传记的方式庄重平实地叙写"书中第一人"虞博士,以展现虞育德的贤人风范;让立场不同、性情不同的局内人对同一人物展开评价,生活以原生态呈现在读者面前,文本解读因而充满了多种可能性;又让几位局内人相互鄙薄,相互揭短,在多声部的合奏中达到一箭双雕的讽刺效果;而丰富多彩的拆谎技巧,更让读者充分领略了阅读讽刺小说的快感。本文所说的这四种笔法,并未穷尽《儒林外史》之胜,但尝鼎一脔,我们对《儒林外史》的"伟大"确实可以获得一个较为深刻的印象。

Ru Lin Wai Shi （ The Scholars ） is not only a book of life wisdom, but also a book of novel corn- posing wisdom. When the two wisdoms come together, the unique and powerful style of writing thus formed. Wu Jingzi uses a plain and solemn style similar to that of historical biography to describe the ＂number one fig- ure in the book＂ Dr. Yn, demonstrating Yu＇ s manner as a worthy gentleman. The author let insiders with dif- ferent stance and different characters to comment on the same person, showing the original ecology to the read- ers, thus provides the readers with multiple possibility of text reading. He also let the insiders despise and dis- close each other, reaching at the satiric effect of killing two birds with one stone by a multi - voice concert. And the various technique of laying bare gives the readers a great pleasure of reading a satiric novel. The four styles mentioned in this paper are not exhausted, but they may give us a deep impression of how ＂great＂ this novel is.