《奥卡森与尼科莱特》和“李娃传”的性别反转问题比较研究

A Comparative Study of Gender Reversal in Aucassin and Nicolette and Tale of Li Wa

作为中古时期传奇文学的代表,中世纪罗曼司《奥卡森与尼科莱特》和唐传奇“李娃传”都讲述了一对身份差距悬殊的情侣终成眷属的故事。这两个文本的男女主人公在性格气质和叙事功能方面明显性别反转,且作者对男女双方的态度和情感倾向完全不同。这在同时期类似题材的罗曼司和传奇文中十分少见,似乎有悖于主流的性别认知和价值观念,曾在中西方文学史上引起许多学者的讨论。将这两个文本置于传奇文学的视域内进行比较研究,分析它们所承载的文学传统、文类精神和社会现实,可见这两个特例并非单纯的性别问题,而是与传奇文学“边缘性”的人物特征和“越界”的内在追求关系密切,同时反映了上升阶级的主体意识与社会政治诉求。

As representatives of medieval romance, Aucassin and Nicolette and “Tale of Li Wa” both tell a story of a couple with a wide identity gap who finally get married. The male and female protagonists in the two texts have obvious gender inversion in personality, temperament and narrative function, and the author’s attitude and emotional tendency towards male and female are completely different. It is very rare in romances and chuanqis with similar themes in the same period, and seems to be contrary to the mainstream gender cognition and values, and has aroused the discussion of many scholars in the history of Chinese and Western literature. By comparing the two texts from the perspective of romance and analyzing the literary tradition, genre spirit and social reality, it can be seen that these two special cases are not simply gender issues, but closely related to the character characteri stics of marginality and the internal pursuit of excess of romance. At the same time, it reflects the subject consciousness and social and political demands of the rising class.