明清小说中的包公身边公人及其叙事意味谫论

A study on the servants around Bao Gong and their narrative meanings in the novels of Ming and Qing Dynasties

在当下的包公故事研究中,绕过包公形象自身、专门梳理包公身边的四对公人形象,或许更能引发有关包公故事的新的研究意义。在通俗文学史上,四对公人集大成式地汇聚于包公故事系统,反映了古人关于清官断案故事的绝佳想象。在考察四对公人时,切不可按照常态人物形象那样去审视,确切而言此四对公人仅是古代小说叙事传统中的功能性人物,充分演绎了古代通俗文学有关虚化叙事的典型样态,不能仅以俗套化叙事简单对待。解读包公身边的公人,能够提供一个感受古代小说的新的可供参照的视角。

In the research field of Bao Gong’s story,if we turn away from Bao Gong himself and instead concentrate on the four pairs of servants around him,it may evoke new research significance.In the history of popular literature,the four pairs of servants are gathered in the story system of Bao Gong,which reflects excellent imagination of the ancient people about clear official cases.When exploring the four pairs of servants,we must not regard them as normal characters.They are,however,functional figures in the narrative tradition of ancient novels and operas,deducing fully the typical patterns of ancient popular literature about fictitious narration,so much so that they cannot be simply treated as in the conventional narrative.Analyzing the servants around Bao Gong can provide a new perspective with referential significance to feel ancient novels.