《西游记》主题说的百年变迁--兼论“主题”概念的理论意义

Debates on the Theme of the Journey to the West in a Century:Also on the Theoretical Significance of the Concept of“Theme”

《西游记》主题说百年来有几次大变化。否定清代儒释道三家阐释后的三十年里,鲁迅、胡适的"游戏说"占主导地位,随后三十年里,强调阶级斗争的主题转化说为权威解释。近四十年里,数十种新说相继而出,又伴生了核心主题、副主题、多重主题等概念,其他古典名著乃至现当代短篇小说也出现了纷争态势。《辞海》改写"主题"定义以适应现状,文艺理论教材则取消相关阐述。若追溯"主题"概念起源,辨析其含义,可发现纷争实已越出概念外延的覆盖。若认真审视起点与辨析关键概念,研究中许多无谓的争论似可避免。

Debates on the theme of the Journey to the West have experienced several changes in a century.In the 30 years after the explanations of Confucianism,Buddhism and Taoism were denied,LU Xun and HU Shi's idea that the theme of the novel is games predominated.In the following 30 years,the doctrine that the theme is class struggle became an authoritative explanation.In the recent four decades,dozens of new ideas have appeared one after another,along with the concepts such as the core themes,sub-themes and multi-themes.There have also been lots of debates on the themes of other classics and even modern short novels.Cihai,a comprehensive dictionary of China,modifies the definition of“theme”to adapt to the status quo and textbooks of literary theories eliminate related accounts.If dating back to the origin of the concept“theme”and analyzing its meaning,we may find out the debates have gone beyond the denotation of the concept.A careful examination of the starting point and key concepts can help to avoid unnecessary disputes.