論《紅樓夢》早期續書的承衍與改造

Abstract

乾隆五十六年（1791）一百二十回本《紅樓夢》出版後，市場上很快地掀起一股續作風潮，其中《後紅樓夢》、《續紅樓夢》、《紅樓復夢》、《綺樓重夢》是清代嘉慶、道光年間最早的四部續書，也有人稱其為「紅樓四夢」。研究發現，四部早期續書對原書進行承衍及改造工程時，各自為後繼者起到不同的續寫指引；另一方面，四部續書也各自反映出類似的通俗取向，這和同時期其他世情小說一樣，都有向非精英讀者為主的小說市場靠攏的趨勢。

A tide of sequels of The Dream of the Red Chamber (Hong Lou Meng) was stirred up quickly in the novel market after 120 chapters edition was published in the 56th year of Qian-Long. Among them, Hou Hong Lou Meng, Xu Hong Lou Meng, Hong Lou Fu Meng and Qi Lou Zhong Meng called “four dreams of Hong Lou” were the first four ones between emperor Jia-Qing and Tao-Kuang in the Qing dynasty. Acording to study, the four sequels effected different examples on successores when they inherited and redeveloped from the original book. On the other hand, the four sequels reflected similar tendency towards popular to non-elite readers.