小說「李娃傳」の献化 : 「曲江池」と「繡襦記」

Abstract

The novel Li Wa Chuan by Pai Hsing-chien 白行簡 of the mid-T'ang is a story of the love between the courtesan Li Wa and the son of an official, and was influenced by the popular tale Yi Chih Hua 一枝花 said to have been heard by the author's elder brother, the poet Pai Chü-Yi, 白居易 and Chü-yi's friend Yuan Chen, 元稹. In it are skilfully woven an abundance of T'ang period customs as well as place names of the Ch'ang-an 長安 of that time. In Sung the novel appears to have been recited as a story in crowded urban places, remembrances of which can be traced in the Tsui Weng tan lu 醉翁談錄 and the Lü Ch'uang Hsin Hua 綠窻新話. In the Yuan dynasty the work was adapted as a then very popular tsa-chu 雜劇 drama: the Ch'ü chiang ch'ih. The Ch'ü chiang ch'ih now available has been transmitted in two texts, the Yuan ch'ü hsuan 元曲選 and the Ku ch'ü chai ku tsa chu 顧曲齋古雜劇 and there are differences in the content of the two versions. In this essay the Ku ch'ü chai text is regarded as being closer to the original Yuan form, and the Yuan ch'ü hsuan text discussed separately as a Ming revision. Because of the restrictions imposed by the tsa-chü dramatic form the content of the Ch'ü chiang ch'ih in the Ku ch'ü chai version is rather different from the novel Li Wa Chuan, and the most important difference can be seen in the conclusion. That is the novel concludes with the father forgiving the son, while in the drama the son forgives the father. The tsa-chü Ch'ü chiang ch'ih by the early Ming author Chou Hsuan-wang 周憲王 shows in both its form and its content the character of a transition from Yuan tsa-chü to Ming ch'uan-ch'i 傳奇. The mid-Ming ch'uan-ch'i drama Hsiu ju chi, taking advantage of the characteristic length of the ch'uan-ch'i form, faithfully dramatized the entire plot of the novel Li Wa Chuan. But this faithfulness is no more than on the surface, for the personalities of the main characters are to a great extent distorted: the courtesan Li Ya-hsian 李亞仙 is portrayed as a completely chaste woman, and the leading male figure Cheng Yuan-he 鄭元和 as completely the scholar. The Ch'ü chiang ch'ih in the Yuan ch'ü hsuan of the late-Ming Wan-li 萬曆 period is a revision of the original Yuan work done following the editor Tsang Chin-shu's 臧晉叔 own inclinations. Although we can see evidence that he made special use of the phrases of Chou Hsuan-wang's tsa-chü drama Ch'ü chiang ch'ih as well as Chou's Yen Hua-meng 烟花夢, we can see his intention to rebel against the content of Chou's Ch'ü chiang ch'ih and the Su ju chi. This is particularly apparent in the conclusion. Thus the T'ang novel Li Wa Chuan underwent many revisions in the succeeding periods, and in those revisions are reflected the changes in the worldview of the various authors and periods. In this essay the course of these changes is considered on the basis of the works themselves.