《西游记》小妖书写新论

A New Discussion of the Writing of Little Monsters in Journey to the West

《西游记》刻画了大量令人印象深刻的妖怪,其中小妖的数量众多且与妖首、魔王有着不同的叙述语言。文中所塑造的小妖形象千姿百态,但大致可划分为三个类型。小妖在小说中不是一群被忽略的群体,也不是可有可无的点缀。小妖的塑造反映了作者以真为美的美学观;各色小妖以其“本真”构成对明代中后期社会现实的批判;小妖的叙述在小说中的篇幅虽有限,但往往穿插在重要的情节中,起着调节叙事节奏的作用。

Journey to the West depicts a large number of impressive monsters,among which little monsters are numerous and have different narrative languages from the monster leader and the demon king.The little monsters portrayed in the text have distinctive appearances and personalities,but they can be roughly divided into three types.Little monsters do not belong to the neglected group in the novel,nor are they unnecessary characters.The characterization of little monsters reflects the author’s aesthetic view of taking truth as beauty;all kinds of little monsters criticizes the social reality of the late Ming Dynasty with their“authenticity”;though little monsters in the novel occupy a limited narrative space,they are interspersed in important plots and play a role in regulating the narrative rhythm.