小说地图视角下的“南袁北纪”

“Southern Yuan and Northern Ji”from the Perspective of the Map of Fiction

清代有“南袁北纪”(①)之称,袁枚和纪昀洵为文坛巨擘,亦皆为文言小说大家。若立足两人文言小说集代表作《子不语》与《阅微草堂笔记》,以小说地图的视角观之,多有可比对映照之处。就小说作品的主要地域分布而言,前者以江南区域为中心,叙事呈“自南而北”的趋势;后者以直隶区域为中心,叙事呈“自北而南”的趋势;就南北空间景观的重点意象而言,则有市井与庙堂之别;就物产与民俗地理的南北特色而言,则有南方山林与北地原野之别;就南北主要人物群像的塑造而言,前者多写江南客商,后者关注北方循吏。通过以上的比照探讨,还可见出两书不同的写作策略和叙事笔法,即一为性灵大家,由“戏编”而张扬性灵,一为理学名臣,多考据而说理教化。两位作者虽有强度相若的“地方认同”情感,却有着迥然有别的撰述心态。

In the Qing Dynasty,it was known as“Southern Yuan and Northern Ji”.Yuan Mei and Ji Yunxun were literary giants,and both were masters of classical Chinese fiction.If we take the base on the representative works of the two classic novel collections,Zibuyu and Yuewei Caotang Biji,from the perspective of the map of fiction,there are many comparable places for comparison.As far as the main geographical distribution of fiction works is concerned,the former is centered on the Jiangnan region,and the narrative is in a“south⁃to⁃north”trend;the latter is centered in the Zhili region,and the narrative is in a“north⁃to⁃south”trend.As far as the key imagery of the north⁃south spatial landscape is concerned,there are differences between marketplaces and imperial court.As far as the north⁃south features of product and folk geography are concerned,there are differences between the mountains and forests in the south and the flatland in the north.As far as the shaping of the group portraits of the main characters from the north and the south,the former mostly writes about merchants from Jiangnan,while the latter focuses on the officials in the Central Plains.Through the comparison and discussion above,one can see that the two books have different writing strategies and narrative styles,namely,one is a master of spirituality,and the“free to write”strategy is used to publicize the spirituality,and the other is a famous scholar of Confucianism.Although the two authors have similar feeling of“place identity”,they have different writing mentality.