白仁甫の文學

Abstract

The lyrical drama which flourished in the Yuan period, known as the tsa-chü 雜劇 represents the first mature form of fiction in Chinese literature. Most of its authors are little known, and the records of their lives are obscure. Pai Jen-fu, a master of the early period of the tsa-chü and author of 'Rain on the Wu-t'ung' 梧桐雨, is an exception to this. Since he was an intellectual of the first rank as well as a well-known man in the society of his day, it is easy to trace the course of his life. Another point which makes him unique among tsa-chu writers is that, in addition to his plays and separate arias (san-chü 散曲), there is a collection of his works in the older tz'u (詞 'lyric') form extant today, the T'ien-lai Chi 天籟集 ('The Sound of Heaven'). Pai Jen-fu's, works, reflecting his literary background, are most noted for being extremely classical and, in fact, his arias are strongly influenced by the tz'u form. Nevertheless, we may recognize in this respect a certain amount of stylistic development. If we compare 'Rain on the Wu-t'ung' with another of Pai's plays, the 'Ch'iangt'ou Ma-shang' 牆頭馬上, which is included in the anthology Yuan Ch'ü Hsüan ('Selected Yuan Plays'), we may distinguish significant differences in the nature of their content and language, in spite of the fact that they are both romantic dramas based on the poetry of Po Chü-yi 白居易, the former on the 'Song of Everlasting Regret' 長恨歌 and the latter on the 'New Ballads' 新樂府. 'Rain on the Wu-t'ung' is generally faithful to the spirit of the 'Song of Everlasting Regret' story, and its language is quite poetic. The content of 'Ch'iang-t'ou Ma-shang', on the other hand, differs completely from the 'New Ballads', and its language is very theatrical. Thus, we may say that, while 'Rain on the Wu-t'ung' is not free from the influence of traditional Classical literature, 'Ch'iang-t'ou Ma-shang' reveals the characteristics of the tsa-chü drama and of popular literature. Pai Jen-fu, as was often the case with traditional Chinese intellectuals, began his writing career with classical poetry and prose. After this, he took up lyrics, and then arias. Now, to the extent of writing arias, there was nothing unusual in this for an intellectual of his time. What is notable about Pai is that he went even farther, and wrote actual plays, and in what was the most 'popular' form of his day at that. The differences between 'Rain on the Wu-t'ung' and 'Ch'iang-t'ou Ma-shang' may be said to represent the transition in his literary career from classical poetry and prose to the tsa-chü. Thus, this characteristic of his writings is highly instructive today, when we study the problem of the relationship between classical and popular literature.