《红楼梦》经济叙事及其意义生成

The Economic Narration in A Dream of Red Mansions and Its Meaning Generation

《红楼梦》意义世界的生成,与其对经济活动的讲述大有关系。经济活动作为家庭和社会生活的必要组成,在世情小说中自然而又隐性地自成一套叙事系统,为文本植入了特殊的意义。以经济视角看《红楼梦》叙事,其人物与经济相关的行为,如收入、分配、理财与消费等,均值得做深入文本内部的细究和详察,作为财富象征的金银也成为携带意义的符号。不正常的收支、奢靡腐朽的生活是以贾府为核心的四大家族败落的主因,其折射出贵族地主阶级崩溃的必然。月钱、年物等的分配叙事在小说中常常浮现,其并非无关紧要的“闲笔”,实则暗伏各种欲望之下的人物关系和家庭内部矛盾。王熙凤和贾探春在持家理财上的策略异趋,反映出不同的人生追求,也凸显了“末世”毁灭一切价值的悲剧意义。人与物、欲望与幻灭的关系,既是文本最深层的隐喻,也是《红楼梦》经济叙事最重要的寓意所在。

The formation of the meaning world in A Dream of Red Mansions is closely related to the narration of economic activities.As a necessary component of family and social life,economic activities naturally and implicitly forms a narrative system in the world novels,implanting special significance into the text.Looking at the narration of A Dream of Red Mansions from the perspective of economy,not only the characters’behaviors related to economy,such as income,distribution,financial management and consumption,are worthy of in-depth study and scrutiny within the text,but also gold and silver,as a symbol of wealth,become a symbol of meaning.Abnormal income and expenditure,extravagant and decadent life are the main reasons for the decline of the four big families with the Jia family as the core,reflecting the inevitable collapse of the aristocratic landlord class.The distribution narrative of monthly money and annual things often appear in the novel,but it is not an insignificant“idle writing”.In fact,it hides the relationship between the characters and the internal contradictions of the family under various desires.The different strategies of Wang Xifeng and Jia Tanchun in household finance reflect their different life pursuits and highlight the tragic significance of destroying all values in“the end of the Dynasty”.The relationship between people and things,desire and disillusionment is not only the deepest metaphor of the text,but also the most important implication of the economic narration in A Dream of Red Mansions.