论《儒林外史》中戏曲描写的价值

On the Values of Descriptions of Opera in "The Scholars"

吴敬梓对戏曲艺术十分熟稔,他将戏曲描写作为《儒林外史》创作的重要手段来运用,小说一半以上的章回都涉及与戏曲相关的描写。这些描写在小说中的价值表现在三个方面:首先是真实展现了清初戏曲生态,细致描述了戏曲演出场合、规模、演员地位、剧目等状况,具有戏曲史料价值。其次是刻画人物寄寓褒贬,称扬品德高尚的戏曲演员,贬抑品行恶劣的戏曲演员,根据和戏曲演员的不同交往态度品鉴人物德行,在人物形象的描写中自然融入作者的褒贬之情。最后是通过映带穿插勾连情节、牵引人物预示情节的作用强化结构的严谨性,使得《儒林外史》虽没有贯穿全篇的中心人物和情节线索,其"缀段式"结构并不给人松散之感。

Wu Jingzi,who is familiar with Chinese opera art,applies the description of Chinese opera as the important means in creating The Scholars.Half of the chapters refer to the description of Chinese opera,which is of great value in three aspects in the novel.Firstly,it could demonstrate the ecology of traditional Chinese opera during the early Qing Dynasty.The description of performance occasions,scales,statues of performers and repertoires of the operas in detail has the value of historical data for Chinese opera.Secondly,description of figures＇ personalities could imply the author＇s personal judgments,to praise opera performers with lofty moral characters and depreciate the ones with vicious characters.The moral conducts of figures could be appreciated according to the different communication attitudes with the opera performers.The author＇s personal judgments are naturally integrated into the description of figure characters.Thirdly,the author strengthens the structural preciseness of the novel through setting off,interspersing and connecting plots and implying the story lines.As a result,although there is no center character or story line that passes through The Scholars,its ＂episodic structure＂ doesn＇t lead to the sense of ＂loose structure＂.