“唐人始有意为小说”这一命题不能成立

The Proposition “the Start of Creating Fictions Consciously in Tang Dynasty”Is Not True

本文从三个方面阐述了"唐人始有意为小说"这一命题不能成立的理由:作为立论前提的"传奇者流,源盖出于志怪"本身就站不住脚;把有意以虚构的方式叙事写人视为"有意为小说",与中国文学的实际状况不符,没有任何一个"唐人"是按照与今人相近的小说观念而"有意"写作的。在此基础上,本文指出:"传记辞章化"开创了中国小说史的新纪元,这一命题足以体现唐人传奇的划时代意义,不必为了肯定唐人传奇的文学史地位而迁就"唐人始有意为小说"的论断。

This article from three aspects elaborates the proposition ＂the start of creating fictions consciously in Tang Dynasty＂ is not true. To begin with, the presupposition of the proposition ＂legends came from records of mystery＂ is untenable. Furthermore, no one writes intentionally with modern awareness of the novel in Tang Dynasty. The opinion that the creating method of fiction is regarded as ＂the start of creating fictions consciously in Tang Dynasty＂ is not consistent with the actual situation of Chinese literature. On this basis, this paper points out that the way of combining the rhetorical skills of poetry and prose with biography opened a new era in Chinese fiction history. This proposition is enough to reveal the epoch-making significance of the legends of Tang Dynasty, which means there is no need to accommodate the false proposition to respect the position in the literary history of legends of Tang Dynasty.