再论明代公案小说的叙事策略及其成因——科举歧视、说唱与小说理念对叙事的影响

A Rediscussion on the Narrative Strategies and its Causes: the Influence of ImperialExamination Discrimination, Oral Literature and Novel Concept on Narration

学界常感叹公案小说不如西方侦探小说那么引人入胜。但此类比较未能很好地结合中国文化环境,也忽略了“引人入胜”叙事方式的某些内在机制。法医学知识和细密的故事时间是破案严谨的基石。明代科举和教育体系歧视仵作,强化了文人与法医学知识的割裂。限制计时仪器的发展,因此故事时间较为模糊。说唱常渲染作案经过以强化善恶对立,史传文化按时序叙述,导致隐藏作案经过的方式散见却未成主流。拟话本的题目与入话会提前叙述后文,设置反转和悬念时易顾此失彼。虚构看似相关实则无关的线索,可强化悬念,也使重要的线索与反转更难被觉察,结局更出人意料。但明小说作者视“奇”与“通俗”为手段而非核心,所以很少虚构假线索。悬念、推理和反转多散见却未实现精致的融合。此外,中国独创的密室情节值得更多关注。

Scholars often claims that the court case novel is not as fascinating as the western detective novel.However,they fail to integrate well with the Chinese cultural environment and ignore some internal mechanisms of"engaging"narrative style.Forensic knowledge and detailed story time are the cormerstones of rigorous crime-solving.The imperial examination and education system of Ming Dynasty discriminated against post-mortem examiner,which strengthened the separation between literati and forensic knowledge,but restrained the development of timing instruments,so the story time is ambiguous.Oral literature often exaggerates the crime process to strengthen the opposition between good and evil,and historical culture narrates it chronologically,which makes the way of hiding the crime process rather vague.In imitated Huaben story the title and introductory remarks are narrated in advance,and it is hard to stick to the plot line when setting reversals and suspense.Fabricating clues that appear to be related but are actually not can enhance suspense,but would also make important clues and twists harder to detect,and the ending more unexpected.However,the writers of Ming novels regard"strange"and"popular"as means rather than core,so they rarely fabricate false clues.Suspense,reasoning,and inversion are mostly discursive but not exquisitely integrated.In addition,China's original secret room plot deserves more attention.