“离魂”故事的发展与《牡丹亭》创作的成熟

Development of “Soul-leaving”Stories and the Creation Maturity of The Peony Pavilion

"离魂"是古代小说、戏曲等通俗文学里一种常见的主题,这一主题的形成与时代文化背景密切相关,也符合一定的情感逻辑,到了小说创作成熟以后则成了小说家一种有意的创作手法。从一些经典的文本入手可以总结出在不同时期离魂故事创作的发展和变化,产生变化的原因有文体的限制和时代观念的影响等消极因素,也有通俗文学的成熟和作者创作意识的发展这些积极因素。到了汤显祖,"离魂"主题已日益成熟,典型标志即为《牡丹亭》的创作,他继承了此前离魂故事的优秀经验,也摒弃了其中荒谬怪诞的成分,使得《牡丹亭》成为了一部有关"离魂"题材的成熟之作。

＂Soul-leaving＂ is a common theme in light literatures such as ancient novels and operas. The forma- tion of this topic is closely related to the cultural background ; it also reflected emotional logic. With the maturity of creation it became novelists＇ intentional creation techniques. From the text of some classic works, the devel- opment and change in different periods can be summed up, including negative factors such as the limit of the lit- erary styles and times concept and positive factors such as the maturity of creation and the development of the au- thors＇ creative consciousness. In the era of Tang Xianzu, the theme of ＂soul-leaving＂ has been increasingly ma- ture, to which the creation of The Peony Pavilion was a typical symbol. He inherited the previous outstanding ex- periences and abandoned the absurd grotesque components, thus making The Peony Pavilion become a master-piece of ＂soul-leaving＂ stories.