从娶妾议论看《儒林外史》相关情节写作用意

A Research on the Date of Composition and Purpose of the Conversation about Concubinage in Chapter 34 of Rulin Waishi

《儒林外史》假托明代,故事中多有涉及违法处,如庶民的违法娶妾。在第三十四回,杜少卿希望国家立法限制娶妾,却不知随意娶妾实已违法,也不知明代已有与其方案极其接近的法律。这段描写,究竟是作者不知道明朝制度所致,还是别有创作目的在焉,值得仔细探讨。由于清乾隆五年删定律例时,删除了明律中有关娶妾限制之款,而《儒林外史》作者明显很熟悉法律,于是作者之知不知明代相关规定,不仅关系到第三十四回中相关叙述的创作年代问题,还涉及作者是否为吴敬梓、原书形态等问题。

Set in the Ming period,Rulin Waishi describes many illegal incidents,such as common people′s illegal concubinage.In Chapter 34,Du Shaoqing expressed his wish that the empire should legislate laws restricting concubinage,but he did not know that it was illegal already to marry concubines at will,nor did he know that the Ming Dynasty already had laws that were very close to his plan.Whether this description was caused by the author′s ignorance of the Ming Dynasty′s legislation,or because he had some special purpose,it is worthy of careful discussion.Since the concerning restriction of concubinage in the Law of Ming Dynasty was deleted in 1740 by Qing,and the author of Rulin Waishi was obviously familiar with legal affairs,whether the author knew the concerning regulations of the Ming Dynasty is also related to the issues such as the writing time of the concerning narrative in Chapter 34,and whether the author is Wu Jingzi.