不能承受的知识之重:作为百科全书式叙事的才学小说研究  

The Unbearable Heaviness of Knowledge:A Study of Novels of Erudition as Encyclopedic Narratives

作　　者：李锋 金雯 LI Feng;JIN Wen(Institute of Jewish Studies,Shanghai International Studies University;Department of Chinese Language and Literature and the School of International Chinese Studies,East China Normal University)

机构地区：[1]上海外国语大学犹太研究所 [2]华东师范大学中国语言文学系和国际汉语文化学院

出　　处：《国际比较文学（中英文）》2022年第4期96-112,共17页International Comparative Literature

摘　　要：才学小说专指出现于中国清代中叶、在叙事主线之外掺入大量专业知识以刻意显露作者才学的小说作品。此类作品具有西方文学中百科全书式叙事的某些核心特征,特别是其篇幅之长和知识含量之大。本文分析了才学小说的主要特点,包括其宏大的主题、多学科的涉及范围、复杂精细的语言、神话式的结构,以及对社会现实的有意影射。文章还讨论了才学小说的文化起源及其在中国文学史上的发展轨迹。其目的是让人们对才学小说这一文类获得新的认识,并为探讨东西方文化中知识与论证在小说叙事中的作用铺平道路。本文认为,尽管这一文类在清末之后已近乎消亡,但作为一项文学实验,依然具有重要价值,它记录了18世纪中国的时代精神,能够检验小说包纳知识的极限,并提高了小说这一在中国封建时代曾长期受轻视的文类的学术地位与文化地位。Novels of erudition refer to fictional works in China’s mid-Qing era which contain a large amount of technical knowledge beyond what may be warranted by the narrative thread and an obvious intention to display the author’s scholarly talents.They carry some essential features of encyclopedic narratives in Western literature,especially their epic length and the incorporation of a large amount of knowledge.This essay analyzes the main characteristics of novels of erudition,including their shared grand topics,multi-disciplinary scope,intricate language,mythical structures,and intentional allusions to social reality.It also discusses the novel of erudition’s cultural origins and its trajectory through Chinese literary history.The purpose is to shed new light on the genre of erudition novels and to pave the way for exploring the roles of knowledge and argumentation in fictional narratives across Western and Eastern cultures.The paper argues that though it virtually disappeared after the late Qing era,this genre is valuable as a literary experiment to record China’s Zeitgeist in the eighteenth century,test the limits of the novel’s capacity for knowledge and improve the academic and cultural status of the novel as a genre long despised in imperial China.

关 键 词：才学小说 史诗 宏大叙事 百科全书式叙事 文类研究 

分 类 号：I207.41[文学—中国文学]