从《长门赋》到《梅妃传》

From "Poetic Essay Changmen" to "The Legend of Lady Mei"

从司马相如的《长门赋》到唐人《梅妃传》,所叙故事极其近似。《长门赋序》中所言陈皇后希复幸邀宠,《梅妃传》中之梅妃失幸,亦思效法,欲千金求聘"长门赋"。从《长门赋》到《梅妃传》,对这一故事模式的叙述与仿制,不但使诗赋对爱情的经典叙述被置换为小说传奇与戏曲形式,而且为明清南戏《梅妃宫怨》及其相关剧目的流行奠定了基础,也为后来如《长生殿》这样的大剧作的出现提供了丰富的素材及内涵。但《梅妃传》所塑造的又不全同于"长门"故事,它与《长门赋》、《长恨歌》及《长生殿》描写的陈、武或李、杨爱情相比,是一种才女型的悲情剧典范,其模式在后来很多剧目中都可找到某些影子。

“Poetic Essay Changrnen”by Sima Xiangru and “The Legend of Lady Mei” by a writer in Tang Dynasty tell the stories which are approximately alike. The preface of “Poetic Essay Changrnen” tells that Empress Chen hoped to get the passion and love from the emperor again and “The Legend of Lady Mei” records that the imperial concubine Mei fell from grace and wanted to find a way and so followed the example of Empress Chen. She spent a large of money for the sake of “Poetic Essay Changrnen”. The im-itation of“The Legend of Lady Mei” shows that the poetic essay about the classic narration of the love was replaced by the art form of novel and drama which not only laid a foundation for the popularity of the southern drama “The Resentful Lady Mei” and dramas concerning of it in the Ming and Qing Dynasty but also provided a rich materials and contents for the appearance of the great drama like Chang Sheng Dian （Means “Long Life Palace”）. But what “The Legend of Lady Mei” narrates is not completely similar to the story of “Poetic Essay Changmen”. Compared with the stories of love between Emperor Chen ＆ Wu and Emperor Li ＆ Yang in “Poetic Essay Changrnen”, Chang Hen Ge （means Long Regret Song） or Chang Sheng Dian, it is a typical pathos drama about a knowledgeable lady, the pattern of which was followed by many plays afterwards.