梅鼎祚《青泥莲花记》创作动机辨析——从烟台博物馆藏《贺梅鼎祚纳吴姬行草诗文卷》谈起

Analysis of the Creative Motivation of Mei Dingzuo’s The Tale of the Blue Mud Lotus:Starting from the Yantai Museum’s Collection of Congratulatory Scroll of Poems and Calligraphy in Cursive Script for Mei Dingzuo’s Taking Wu Ji as a Concubine

《青泥莲花记》是青楼文学的代表性作品之一。按照学界普遍的看法,梅鼎祚万历二十八年纳妾邹氏,以此为契机,在一个月内编撰完成了《青泥莲花记》。不过,据新见《贺梅鼎祚纳吴姬行草诗文卷》可知,梅鼎祚纳邹氏是在万历十三年。因此,所谓“梅鼎祚纳妾一月而成《青泥莲花记》”的说法实为附会之谈:梅鼎祚晚年并未纳妾,《青泥莲花记》的编纂与梅鼎祚纳妾邹氏没有直接的关联。这一结论对我们认识类似的作家创作传闻也有一定的启示意义。

The Tale of the Blue Mud Lotus is one of the representative works of Courtesan Literature.According to the prevailing scholarly opinion,Mei Dingzuo took a concubine named Zou in the twenty-eighth year of the Wanli era in the Ming Dynasty,using this as an opportunity to complete the composition of The Tale of the Blue Mud Lotus within a month.However,based on the newly discovered Congratulatory Scroll of Poems and Calligraphy in Cursive Script for Mei Dingzuo’s Taking Wu Ji as a Concubine,it is revealed that Mei Dingzuo accepted Zou as his concubine in the thirteenth year of the Wanli era.Therefore,the so-called statement that“Mei Dingzuo took a concubine and completed The Blue Mud and the Lotus within a month”is an unfounded statement.In his later years,Mei Dingzuo did not take a concubine,and the compilation of The Tale of the Blue Mud Lotus was not directly related to Mei Dingzuo’s taking Zou as a concubine.This conclusion also has certain enlightening significance for us to understand similar legends about writers’creations.