“女儿”纯洁论的隐喻传统与《红楼梦》的文化拯救策略

The Metaphorical Tradition of “Girls’ Purity” Theory and the Cultural Rescue Strategy in A Dream of Red Mansions

对儒家仕进之路的质疑,使得《红楼梦》试图借助对"女儿"纯洁的认同实现对文化危机的拯救。作为对"香草美人"文化隐喻传统的继承,"女儿"之真、纯、美在明清之际被视为"道德纯洁"和"政治干净"的象征,并因此被赋予形而上的意义。但是《红楼梦》的展开过程却宣告了此一拯救的失败。其原因可归结为:其一,宝玉的女儿崇拜论的狭隘;其二,宝玉对女儿气质的偏至认同。因之,"女儿"的终将长大与"诗性"的终将逝去,最终导致了整个诗性家园的毁灭。故而《红楼梦》既展示了对"女儿"救世理想的憧憬,又亲自进行了拆解。所以籍此,《红楼梦》不仅将晚明以降对"女儿"、"情"的讨论推向更深更远处,同时亦对文人在当时语境中的自我价值选择困境做出了一个批判性的、寓言性的表述。

The questioning of Confucian political career makes a Dream of Red Mansions attempt to save the cultural crisis by virtue of the recognition of the purity of "girls". As an inheritance of the metaphorical tradition of "vanilla beauty" culture, the truth, purity and beauty of "girls" were regarded as symbols of "moral purity" and "political cleanliness" in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and thus were endowed with metaphysical significance. But the process of A Dream of Red Mansions declared the failure of this rescue. The reasons can be summarized as follows: firstly, Baoyu’s girl worship theory is narrow;secondly, Baoyu’s identification with his girl’s temperament. Therefore,"girls" will eventually grow up and the "poetic" flavor will be lost, eventually leading to the destruction of the whole poetic homeland. Therefore, A Dream of Red Mansions not only shows the vision of saving the world for the "girls", but also disassembles it. Soe A Dream of Red Mansions not only pushed the discussion of "girl" and "love" in the late Ming dynasty to a deeper and more distant place, but also made a critical and allegorical expression of the dilemma of self-value selection of literati in the context at that time.