《董西厢》《王西厢》之争与中晚明戏曲批评

Controversy between Romance of the Western Chamber of Dong and Romance of the Western Chamber of Wang and the Drama Criticism in the Late Ming Dynasty

《董西厢》与《王西厢》的高下之争是明代众多戏曲论争之一,由于评价标准、评判角度、审美趣味各不相同,这场讨论没有取得一致的结论。探讨这场争论,不能简单地评价优劣,而应将其放在明代戏曲演进的大背景下来观照。董、王之争是在心学思想的背景下,明人为规范传奇创作、反对当时曲坛绮丽典雅的"时文之气"找寻范本所作的努力,对深化和发展明代戏曲理论有重要意义。

The controversy between Romance of the Western Chamber of Dong and Romance of the Western Chamber of Wang, both of which are famous Chinese plays, is just one of the competitions among the plays of the Ming dynasty. Up to now, there is no consensus on which of the two plays is better, because of different evaluation criteria and var- ied aesthetic tastes, We should not simply decide which play is better, but rather we should put the two plays against the backdrop of the evolution of the plays in the Ming dynasty. The rivalry of the two plays emerged at a time when Mind Thought was the dominant philosophy and people in the Ming dynasty tried to standardize the creation of legend- ary stories, as opposed to the flamboyant plays at that time. Therefore, both of the plays contributed significantly to the development of the opera theory in the Ming dynasty.