论明清小说中的月经隐语及其女性叙事

Euphuisms for Menstruation and the Female Narrative in Novels of the Ming and Qing Dynasties

在中国古代社会,与妇女月经相关的语言文化现象一直是朝野共存的禁忌。汉语中的"月经"一词往往也只适用于生理和医学领域,在日常生活中人们创造了其他一些月经隐语来表达这个概念。明清小说中出现了大量表示"月经"的隐语词汇,生动地反映了当时的妇女生活与社会心态。不可否认,在明清小说家笔下的月经叙事充满了他者视点的刻板印象,成为那个时代女性身体与疾病的双重隐喻。

In the ancient Chinese society,menstruation was a universal taboo,even in language,so its Chinese equivalent was limited to medical purposes only.For daily usage,a lot of euphemisms were created which were widely adopted in novels of the Ming and Qing dynasties(1368– 1911)to depict daily life and social psychology of women.It is undisputable that the menstruation narrative of the novelists in question reflects the viewpoint of the Other and,consequently,gives a mechanical impression,which constitutes a double metaphor– bodily and pathological– of women at that time.