《老残游记》实为一部写心之作

现代意义上的中国古代小说研究已有上百年的历史,经过几代学人的精耕细作,在小说作者、版本考证、小说文体与类型的探讨、小说文本的解读、小说史的编纂、小说理论的阐释等方面都取得了令人瞩目的成就。随着新的文献资料的发现,新的理论和方法的引进以及新的科技手段的运用,不但有新的学术领域和问题的出现,已有的学术结论也需要重新审视。本栏目继续推出刘勇强教授和苗怀明教授的论文,再次对小说观念、小说类型、小说批评、小说创作等问题进行深刻反思和深入探索。刘勇强的《神怪小说批评中的偏见与误解》探讨了古今文人学者对神怪小说的偏见与误解,具体表现在对神怪小说思想内涵的否定,对神怪描写艺术的贬低,对神怪形象艺术功能的讥讽;而近代以来科学主义的盛行,又造成了神怪小说艺术传统的失落。同时,浪漫主义标签的滥用,也是对神怪小说创作方法的一种误解。苗怀明的《〈老残游记〉实为一部写心之作》认为《老残游记》表面上看是写一位游方郎中的游历生活,实则是老残发现社会病源并探讨医救方法的过程,是一部写心之作,写出刘鹗的一段心路历程。作者揭清官之恶具有着鲜明的现实色彩,并有为自己辩护的意味。作者宣传太谷学派的思想,是他为医治社会之病所开出的药方。几位学者都对古代小说的一些重要问题提出了新的看法,也许并不是定论,但定会对古代小说研究者有所启发,对古代小说与小说批评的研究有所推进。

It is nearly one hundred years since we began to research fictions in ancient China in modern sense and great achievements have been made in many fields.However,we should re-examine some points with the appearances of new data,new theories and new methods.Liu Yong-qiang discusses the prejudices and misunderstandings of fictions of gods and spirits from scholars in the past and present,such as negation of ideological connotation,depreciation of artistic description,satire of artistic function.In addition,the artistic tradition of fiction of gods and spirit is lost because science is prosperous in modern times and the romantic label is disused.Miao Huai-ming thinks that in the fiction of The Travels of Laocan,Laocan found and explored the medical rescue method of social diseases,which is not a book of travels but a book of mind.The papers published here give some new opinions and some revelations.