“昆仑系”神话传说的类型学思考

On Kunlun (昆仑) Myths and Legends under the Perspective of Typology

由《楚辞》与《山海经》等主要资料系统所构建的“昆仑系”神话传说系统,在学术史传统上有两个不同的研究路径:一是以传统经学为核心的本土方法,二是五四以来进入中国的现代神话学方法。随着学科的发展,从传统经学说解与民间叙事的互动关系来看,二者并非割裂,而是共同构成了信仰系统的表现形式。对相关资料系统的材料价值进行重估,也是重新审视本土神话文本、信仰模式与文化史三者之间的关系。在此理论方法基础上,本文对昆仑系神话材料提出“描述–叙事”的分类方式,尝试说明“昆仑系”神话是一个复杂的、演进的神话系统,它在历史的各个阶段中体现出与文化语境的不同对话关系,尤其是历代经学家的研究和论述中,获得了文化史意义上的形态重构。建立“描述–叙事”分类体系,能够帮助我们更好地从文化的角度审视“描述性”信仰材料,从叙事学的角度审视“叙事性”信仰故事,建立用西方理论解释中国材料的跨文化可行性。

The System of Kunlun (昆仑)myths and legends are formed by the historical documents of Chuci (楚辞) and Shanhaijing (山海经).Among the traditional research, there are two approaches: first is the localmethod based on the study of Confucian classics, and second is mythologicalmethod brought into China during the May Fourth Period. Under these circumstances,scholars gradually recognized that the explanation of Confucian classics andthe folk narrative interact with each other, and together constitute thefeature of belief system. Revaluating the related historical documents is alsoa fresh look on the relationship of local myth literature, belief system and culturalhistory. Under the hypothesis above, this article is trying to put forward anew classification of Kunlun (昆仑) myths and legends as“description-narration”. Kunlun (昆仑) myths and legendsare a complicated and evolutionary system, revealing different dialoguerelationships with cultural context during different history periods. By reasonof the research and reinterpretation by traditional scholars, those myths are reformedin cultural history. The “description-narration” classification system is benefitfor recognizing the “descriptive” belief resources in culture context,understanding the narrativity of belief stories under the perspective ofnarratology, founding a transcultural possibility of explaining Chinesematerial by the approach of western methodology.