从轶事到小说——论“麻疯女”故事的起源与发展

From Anecdote to Novel Writing——The Leper Girl:The Story and its Origin and Development

清代文言小说中 ,“麻疯女”故事以不同的形态被多次记载或敷衍 ,从乾隆间的《秋灯丛话》到光绪初的《夜雨秋灯录》。这个故事的要素有三 :奇特的风俗“过癞”,贞洁的女主人公 ,还有蛇酒对癞病神奇的疗效。本来作为志怪传奇小说的对象 ,最核心的应该是“过癞”,但随着故事的发展 ,“过癞”渐渐退为叙事语境 ,而贞洁的女主人公则成为故事的真正主角 ,在这种转变中 ,轶事性的故事也就上升为文学性的小说。

The Leper Girl is a novel in classical style of writing. We have the texts of The Leper Girl in different collections from the Qiu Deng Cong Hua (the autumn lamp collection of talking and singing stories) in the time under the reign of Emperor Qianlong to Ye Yu Qiu Deng Lu (a collection made in raining nights under an autumn lamp) in the time under the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty are various in form and different in elaboration. Three elements make up the frame of the story: a strange custom, leprosy transferred; a leading lady, a leper girl of virtue; a ready-made panacea, a snake soaked in the wine, this medicine liquor was said to have miracle effect for curing leprosy. The leprosy transferred was of course the nuclear of the original story. With the elaboration of the story going on, the leper girl of virtue was made the leading character in the plot of the work, literary fictionalization thus come into being based on an anecdotal legend.