Chapter 14 Writing Skills and Extended Implications of "A Dream in the Garden"

The full text of Bai Xianyong's "A Dream in the Garden" is 17,800 characters long, which is about twice the average length of all articles.The structural form and thematic meaning of this novel are very difficult and complex. We must chew carefully and ponder over and over again before we can begin to fully understand the subtle development of the storyline, and then gradually appreciate the subtleties contained in it.This is a masterpiece of extremely delicate depiction, but also a masterpiece of extraordinary grandeur.I definitely think that in the history of Chinese literature, Bai Xianyong's "A Dream in the Garden" is the most exciting and outstanding creation in terms of the genre of short stories.

Among the novels we have discussed, there are several others that are very difficult to understand, such as "The Rhododendron Flower Red As Blood".But the difficulty of these articles lies in their mysterious nature and the exploration of the problem of the soul and the body.Therefore, we mainly rely on our intuitive understanding of life and our keen feelings to understand or try to understand the mysterious purpose of it.In other words, if we want to understand these novels, we only need to have sensitivity and intuition, and we don't need any special knowledge. "A Dream in the Garden" is not quite the same.If we want to deeply understand the connotation of this article, in addition to insight into life, we must also have a considerable degree of academic knowledge—especially knowledge about Chinese opera.For example, if we do not understand the content and origin of the Kunqu opera "A Dream in the Garden", it is impossible to have a deep and thorough understanding of the structure and meaning of this novel.

"A Dream in the Garden" Kunqu Opera drama originated from the most famous work of Tang Xianzu (1550-1616), a playwright of the Ming Dynasty.There are fifty-five plays in this play. The central story is that Du Liniang, the daughter of Du Dashou, was staying in her boudoir. Because of the annoying spring, she went to the garden and went back to her room to fall asleep.Dreamed of having sex with Liu Mengmei, a scholar who had never met before, at the Peony Pavilion in the garden, and died of lovesickness after waking up.Later, there was such a person as Liu Mengmei, who brought Du Liniang back to life, got married and had a reunion, so the script was also called "Resurrection". "A Dream in the Garden" Kunqu Opera is adapted from the tenth play "A Dream in the Garden". The plot is the part where Du Liniang visits the garden in spring and then has lingering sex with Liu Mengmei in her dream.This play can be divided into "Youyuan" and "Dream". The part about visiting the garden is "Youyuan".However, after Du Liniang fell into a dream, Bai Xianyong did not quote any of the passionate and bold libretto in the "Dream" part of having sex with Liu Mengmei, but replaced it with Mrs. Qian's "stream of consciousness" association of having an affair with Chief Staff Zheng in the past.And this long section of "sex" associations expressed through symbols or images is as passionate and explicit as the lyrics of "Dream".In this way, Mrs. Qian seems to have become Du Liniang, and tasted the taste of "dream" in the "garden tour" banquet held by Mrs. Dou, Tianmu, Taipei.

Madam Qian, whose stage name is Lan Tianyu, is the protagonist of this novel.She is in her early forties now. She used to be a vocalist in Nanjing, and she is best at singing Kunqu Opera.Once General Qian Pengzhi heard her singing "A Dream in the Garden" on the platform in Nanjing, and he was moved, so he married her back to be his house-filling wife.At that time, General Qian was already in his sixties, and she was only twenty years old. General Qian loved her like a daughter and allowed her to enjoy all the glory and wealth, but obviously there was no sex life between the two of them.Madam Qian is a decent woman who understands and cherishes her own identity.But because of "a wrong bone", she fell in love with Zheng Yanqing, General Qian's staff officer, and apparently had an affair with him once.But not long after, at the banquet where she invited Gui Zhixiang (one of the sisters who got Yuetai singing) to drink for her 30th birthday, Madam Qian’s own sister, Yue Yuehong, finally snatched Zheng Yanqing away. broken.Shortly thereafter, General Qian died of illness.This is Madam Qian's past background.

Today, Mrs. Qian, who has been widowed for many years and has lost her youth and wealth and social status, lives alone in the southern part of Taiwan, far away from her old friends and acquaintances. The plot and action of the novel "A Dream in the Garden" is the whole story of Mrs. Qian being invited to Taipei to attend the banquet held by Gui Zhixiang (Mrs. Dou).The novel begins when Mrs. Qian arrives at Dou's mansion, and ends when the banquet is over. From an objective point of view, that is to say, from the eyes of any onlookers other than Madam Qian, Madam Dou's banquet was extremely luxurious, extremely successful, full of laughter, and full of fun.In the magnificent hall shimmering with golden light and silver light, enjoy the delicious food like fairy food, and the guests in bright dresses salute each other with flower carvings.Isn't this heaven and earth!But from the perspective of Madam Qian—the novel mainly adopts Madam Qian’s point of view—because the characters and scenes at the banquet touched her memory of her past, in her mind, the past gradually penetrated into the "present", making the She had some past and present associations.After a few cups of Huadiao, the wine blurred her rationality, and she became even more confused about the past and the present, as if she had re-experienced what happened many years ago in a daze.

In order to create the impression effect of "replay of old events" or "reappearance of the past", the author makes extensive use of "parallelism" in this novel.When discussing other articles, I have mentioned Bai Xianyong's contrasting technique many times, but this is the first time I have mentioned the term "parallel technique".In fact, this technique is also Bai Xianyong's specialty, and it may not be used less than "contrast".Since the theme of the book is the comparison between the present and the past, it is only natural for the author to use more comparative techniques.However, in the book, the author also repeatedly creates images and activities that appear to be consistent or similar to the past, as an irony to human self-deception.This requires a great deal of brilliant parallelism.In "Autumn Thoughts", Mrs. Hua's Nanjing residential garden has a "handful of snow", and the Taipei residential garden also has a "handful of snow". This is an example of the author's use of parallel techniques.Or like Taipan Jin, who fell in love with Yue Ru who could blush back then, and now has tender feelings for a young man who also blush, this is another example.In fact, the two techniques of "contrast" and "parallel" can often coexist at the same time. For example, in "A Hand of Green", Xiao Gu is Guo Zhen's contrasting character on the one hand, and Guo Zhen's counterpart on the other hand. .Apart from "A Dream in the Garden", I am afraid that it is the one that uses the most parallel techniques.However, in this article, the author does not seem to deliberately emphasize the difference between the image and the substance, but instead integrates the image and the substance, implying that Juanjuan is the five treasures. This is why this article has no irony or social satire.

The use of parallel techniques in "A Dream in the Garden" pervades all the elements that constitute a novel.Now, I will discuss how the author applies the parallel technique to the characters, setting, plot, structure and narrative point of view of "A Dream in the Garden" according to the method of discussing the contrast technique in "A Hand of Green". In order to create the illusion of "the present is the past", the author made some characters who appeared in Mrs. Dou's banquet match up with the characters Mrs. Qian met in Nanjing in the past.First of all, Mrs. Dou, who enjoys extreme wealth and splendor today, is equivalent to Mrs. Qian herself in the past.Mrs. Dou is "not old", she is dressed like a fairy, with silver lights shining, she looks very "elegant and dignified". "Dou Ruisheng's official position has grown, and Gui Zhixiang has also helped to upright", just like Qian Pengzhi was a general in the past, and Lantian Wang was "a serious house-filling lady", no more than "the wives of those officials", Mrs. Dou talked about ostentation and style, and held a grand banquet to treat guests, just like in the old days, "Meiyuan New Village, Mrs. Qian's banquet style may not be as loud as the whole Nanjing city. The banquet money in Qian's mansion is used by 'Yuan Datou' to offend flowers." la's".Gui Zhixiang has a flirtatious, coquettish younger sister—Tianjiao Jiang Biyue.King Lantian also has a younger sister with the same personality——Julyue Hong.Like the "decent" Mrs. Qian, Mrs. Dou is also a serious and sensible sister: "When it comes to understanding the world and being responsible, there is no other person except her sister Gui Zhixiang. Gui Zhixiang's cheap, The hot peppers in the sky can be considered exhausted.”

Jiang Biyue, of course, is the projection of Yueyuehong.The men who had both robbed their own sisters "specially picked their own sisters to kick under their feet".The two not only have the same personality and style, but also look and dress alike: at the banquet held by the Qian Mansion in Meiyuan New Village, Nanjing, "Yue Yuehong wore a big gold and red satin cheongsam, as gorgeous as a parrot, with a pair of eyes, The cuckoo is full of water." Today, at Mrs. Dou's banquet, "Jiang Biyue wore a fiery red satin cheongsam, and on both wrists, she wore eight twisted gold silk bracelets. When hooking people very well...the more powerful you are, the more peachy you will be", "a pair of eyes are like two pills of black mercury".

Staff Officer Cheng—the staff officer of Commander Dou today—is obviously the image of Zheng Yanqing, General Qian’s staff officer in the past. When Madam spoke, just like Staff Officer Zheng used to, he kept calling her "Madam".On the lapel of his military uniform jacket, "a pair of golden plum blossoms is pinned to the lieutenant colonel's collar badge, and a pair of short leather shoes are close together, smooth and black"; white teeth".And the Zheng Yanqing in Mrs. Qian's memory was wearing a slanted belt, "wearing a golden collar patch... a pair of black and smooth riding boots with copper thorns leaned against each other with a snap."He, too, had "a mouthful of snow-white teeth."

In the novel, not only the above-mentioned important characters have their own equivalent roles, but even some unimportant characters have their parallel counterparts.For example, at Mrs. Dou's banquet, Mr. Yang, a fancier invited from "Tianxiang Box Office", "really plays the huqin, and there is no other person in Taiwan for his flute."His identity is exactly equivalent to the "first flute Wu Shenghao" who was invited from the "Xianni Society" to collect flutes at the banquet of Mrs. Qian in Nanjing.The chief secretary who held the banquet for Mrs. Dou used to be the famous cook of Huang Qinzhi's Huang minister's family in Shanghai. It was obvious that he was hired by Dou's chief Gao Jin after he came to Taiwan.His status can also be compared to that of the chef who "spend ten yuan to pick him up from Luliuju in Taoyedu" when Mrs. Qian held a banquet in Nanjing.

The location background or layout of the novel also presents a parallel or equal phenomenon between the present and the past.Madam Dou's feast today is rich and luxurious, comparable to Madam Qian's feasts that "overwhelmed the entire city of Nanjing" ten or twenty years ago.And this feast was especially parallel to the banquet where Mrs. Qian invited Gui Zhixiang's 30th birthday wine the year before she left Nanjing.The grandeur of Mrs. Dou's banquet and the glittering and incomparably gorgeous scene are described by the author with extremely delicate brushstrokes.This kind of ostentation, pomp and style of banquet is exactly what Qian Pengzhi, who used "the world's gold and silver treasures...to please her", encouraged Lantian Yu to play tricks in every possible way.The two banquets in the past and the present have been hosted by famous chefs, and famous fanciers have praised the seedlings. This point has been mentioned just now.Both parties drank Huadiao, had sideshows of opera singing, and both sang Kunqu Opera "A Dream in the Garden". In the complex plot structure of this novel, the author uses a lot of parallel techniques.During the banquet, Mrs. Dou entrusted Mrs. Qian to be accompanied by Staff Officer Cheng.Madam Qian obviously looked at this "extraordinarily handsome" and "gentleman" man differently immediately, and secretly scrutinized him carefully.We know this because the author, who has always followed Madam Qian's point of view, immediately described in detail the appearance, clothing, and every word of Staff Officer Cheng after Qian and Cheng were introduced to each other by Madam Dou.Staff Officer Cheng really touched the strings of Madam Qian's memory.But at the beginning, she probably only associated him with Zheng Yanqing subconsciously.She felt a little uneasy and uncomfortable, "when she met Officer Cheng's gaze, she immediately turned her head away", but she didn't quite understand why. Madam Qian's association with Jiang Biyue, who was dressed in gold and red, and Yue Yuehong was roughly the same.It was hidden in the subconscious at first, but gradually appeared in the consciousness as the banquet progressed.This association, in Mrs. Qian's heart, the timing of crossing the boundary between upper and lower consciousness, according to our inference, is the moment when Jiang Biyue walked to Mrs. Qian's dining table, holding a cup of Huadiao, and affectionately wanted to have a double cup with "Fifth Sister" .At that time, Mrs. Qian had already had a drink with Mrs. Dou. She was worried that she would hurt her throat if she drank too much wine.And subconsciously, she probably really didn't want to make out with Jiang Biyue.So she said that "you will get drunk if you drink this way", and refused to drink.Jiang Biyue then said: "After all, I don't want to reward the girl's face. I'll drink a double portion. When I get drunk later, let them carry it back at most." As he spoke, he drank two glasses in a row.Madam Qian had no choice but to drink up a cup of Hua Diao too. Apparently, it was Jiang Biyue's sentence "I don't want to show my sister's face", which touched the associations of past and present in Madam Qian's consciousness.We can deduce from the following large section of Mrs. Qian's "stream of consciousness" narration that a very similar situation has happened before.From here on, the parallel relationship in the plot of the novel is greatly displayed.At the banquet in Nanjing, Yueyuehong, who was wearing a big gold and red cheongsam, held up a glass of flower carvings and booed, saying, "Sister, we sisters also come to have a drink, let's have a good time." Madam Qian refused to drink at that time. (On the one hand, she was afraid of having a hoarse voice while singing, and on the other hand, she was unwilling), because according to her conscious records, Yue Yuehong also said at the time: The elder sister doesn't reward the face, she said, the elder sister doesn't reward the younger sister's face, she said. Immediately after Yueyuehong, Zheng Yanqing "followed me to mess around. He also held a full glass of wine, grinned his snow-white teeth and said: Madam, I will also offer a toast to Madam. His cheeks were bright red after drinking." ".Madam Qian's thinking progressed to this stage, and was suddenly interrupted by a sentence from Staff Officer Cheng: "It's my turn now, ma'am," Staff Officer Cheng stood up, raised his wine glass with both hands, and said with a smile. As he said that, Staff Officer Cheng drank three glasses in a row, "his entire face was covered by a drunken dizziness." More than ten years ago, Staff Officer Zheng followed Yueyuehong and toasted "Madame" loudly, his cheeks were bright red.Today, Staff Officer Cheng, who followed Jiang Biyue, also clamored to toast to "Madame", and was also dizzy from drinking.The parallelism between past and present actions becomes obvious when we understand the order of the novel. In the passage of Mrs. Qian’s conscious narration mentioned above, although the boundaries between the present and the past have been blurred, they still exist.The complete annihilation of the boundary between the present and the past occurred in the short time after the banquet, when Mrs. Xu sang "Walk in the Garden". There are about three factors that contributed to Mrs. Qian's confused state of mind: 1. The Hua Diao she drank, because she drank it too fast and failed to disperse, the stamina flared up fiercely, blurring her reason, so her thoughts were no longer under the control of reason. 2. The content of Kunqu opera "A Dream in the Garden" that Mrs. Xu is singing, that is, Du Liniang and Liu Mengmei's lingering sex in a dream, reminds Madam Qian of the only time in her life that she has a lingering sex with the opposite sex.With the development of the lyrics of the opera, she was in a trance, as if she was Du Liniang, and she was about to fall asleep, and Liu Mengmei (Zheng Yanqing) was about to enter the venue to have sexual intercourse with her.So, in her unclear mind, she seemed to experience the physical intercourse with Staff Officer Zheng again. 3. When Mrs. Xu began to sing "Garden Tour", Jiang Biyue came and sat next to Staff Officer Cheng.The two leaned close to each other, and turned their faces to Madam Qian while talking.Madam Qian, in a daze from alcohol, saw the red and golden light of the collars of the two men intertwined together, and saw Jiang Biyue's eyes like "two pills of black mercury", and Staff Officer Cheng's eyes "shooting a compelling sharp light" . "Both faces are facing her, grinning their white teeth together, smiling at her, and the two dimples, shiny red, gradually move closer together, grinning their white teeth, smiling at her" .This scene coincided with the heartbreaking scene she saw at the Nanjing banquet.At that banquet, after drinking, Madam Qian came on stage to sing "A Dream in the Garden".On the one hand, because she drank too much Huadiao, her voice was unreliable, and on the other hand, because she was full of suspicions about Yue Yuehong, she couldn't concentrate on singing, so when she started singing "You Garden", she felt that something was wrong, and asked Wu Shenghao to play the flute down. Some, but Wu Shenghao still played very high.She reluctantly continued to sing until she reached the last verse of "Hillside Sheep", which means "Po Cansheng" (meaning "Poor Life") in the last line of "Flooded Fry, Splash the Remnant Life and Get Rid of the Heaven". Yue Yuehong sat next to Staff Officer Zheng, "The two drunken red faces gradually came together, and at that moment, I saw their eyes: her eyes, his eyes, it's over, I know, right here At that moment, Chu Wentian—" She only sang "Chu Wentian" and then "got dumb", and could not sing any more.Obviously, in the eyes of Officer Zheng and Yue Yuehong, she saw the mutual communication of lust, and knew that everything was "over". The faces of Jiang Biyue and Staff Officer Cheng gathered together now were imprinted together with Madam Qian's painful memory; thus, in her consciousness, "present" and "past" melted into one ball for a while, confusing them.The author not only uses parallel skills in dealing with the scenes of the past and the present, but also makes the present and the past parallel and seem to be equal in the case of Mrs. Qian's dumb throat.At the banquet in Nanjing that year, she only sang "Qu Wentian", then "dumb", and failed to continue singing "Dream".At the banquet in Taipei today, it was her turn to sing "Dream", but when she experienced the pain again, she suddenly couldn't sing anymore, saying: "My voice is hoarse." Her "dumbness" was apparently caused by drinking too much alcohol in the two banquets in the past and the present, but in fact it was caused by inner pain.But now, her throat seemed to be cut hoarse again, "It seems that the throat was cut by a blade, and it started to sting." Jiang Biyue refused to let Madam Qian go, grabbed her hand and insisted on her singing. "Mrs. Qian suddenly threw Jiang Biyue's hands away... I felt like all the blood in my body was rushing to my head, and my cheeks were hot."It can be seen that although Mrs. Qian has "woke up" at this time, she still has lingering resentment towards Jiang Biyue who reminds her of Yueyuehong. In the plot of the novel, there is another place where the parallel technique is used, but it is only hinted by the author. It is not clear whether it is true or not, which is quite intriguing.As I have said, Mrs. Dou is the counterpart of Mrs. Qian in the past.And Staff Officer Cheng is the equivalent role of Staff Officer Zheng.So if the author fully utilizes the parallel technique, wouldn't there be a "personal relationship" between Mrs. Dou and Staff Officer Cheng?When we read the novel "A Dream in the Garden" carefully, we can indeed feel the author's vague hint to this.First of all, at the beginning of the novel, we learn from Adjutant Liu's pleasant conversation with Mrs. Qian that Chief Dou is quite busy with official business recently.Mrs. Dou held such a big banquet, but Chief Dou was not present, "I went to the south for a meeting."We can imagine that she was probably quite lonely in the boudoir, just like when Lan Tianyu married the old General Qian, although she enjoyed the wealth and glory, "many grievances cannot be complained."However, Staff Officer Cheng is always by his side. We noticed that in the dialogue between characters that weighs heavily in this novel, Mrs. Dou and Staff Officer Cheng actually only spoke three sentences.The first sentence was what she said when she entrusted Mrs. Qian to his service: "Consultant Cheng, I entrust Madam Qian to you. If you don't take good care of me, you will be punished tomorrow." In the second sentence, she told him to persuade Mrs. Qian to drink: "Staff Cheng, try to persuade me to drink well. Your chief is not here, so you can be the host at that table for him." From the tone of these two ordinary words, we can already feel the degree of intimacy between the two.And the phrases such as being the host, being the master for your chief, etc. in the words are more suggestive in meaning.However, the author's biggest hint of the relationship between the two, and the place that makes us readers most puzzled and curious, is a section at the end of the novel when the banquet is dissolved and Mrs. Dou sees off the guests at the steps outside the house. The first car to drive in was the brand new black Lincoln owned by Madam Lai, the banquet guest, and took Madam Lai and Commander Yu away. ... The second car that came in was Mrs. Dou's own car, and sent away several fancier guests.Then Staff Officer Cheng drove in a jeep military vehicle by himself, Jiang Biyue immediately went down, picked up the cheongsam, and stepped into the car, Staff Officer Cheng rushed over and helped her onto the seat next to the driver, but Jiang Biyue was halfway out The body came to laugh and said: "This jeep doesn't even have doors. I'm afraid I won't be thrown off the road when I turn around." "Be careful, Staff Officer Cheng," Madam Dou said, and called Staff Officer Cheng over again, whispering a few words in her ear, Staff Officer Cheng nodded and smiled in response: "Madam, please rest assured." Careful and sensitive readers can't help wondering: Mrs. Dou, what did Staff Officer Cheng say?Staff Officer Cheng replied with a smile, "Madam, please rest assured", referring to the matter of driving carefully?Or something else?What is Madam Dou worried about?Could it be that she was worried that Jiang Biyue would "snap away" Staff Officer Cheng, just like Mrs. Qian was worried that Yue Yuehong would snatch Staff Officer Zheng away many years ago?Is it "dangerous" for the two to leave together in a jeep?Can Jiang Biyue grab it?Madam Qian lost Zheng Yanqing at the banquet in Nanjing more than ten years ago.Now, at this banquet in Taipei, will Mrs. Dou also lose Staff Officer Cheng? This, then, is just a mystery.The author only hinted at this slightly, but did not answer it.In fact, it is impossible to answer, because since the author has been following Madam Qian's point of view, Madam Qian certainly has no way to know the secrets of Madam Dou's private life in a single night of social occasions.To solve the mystery, it becomes far-fetched, at the expense of authenticity.However, the author's suggestion of the ambiguous relationship between Dou and Cheng not only creates a vague irony of Gui Zhixiang, but also adds a layer of complexity to the plot of the novel.Because Madam Qian not only re-experienced the past experience in her own mind, she also vaguely looked at Madam Dou, and replayed her own (Madam Qian) past story again. And Mrs. Qian's dual identity—subject and object—is very worthy of our attention, because it not only involves the meaning of the novel, but also has a lot to do with the structure and narrative perspective of the novel.From the author's detailed sketching and conveying of Madam Qian's words, deeds, behaviors and inner thoughts, we know that Madam Qian is the most "isolated" person in the banquet, but also the most "deeply trapped" person.When she takes the guest position and deals with people and things outside of herself, she is very isolated and seems out of place with the banquet environment.The author expresses this "sense of disconnection" by means of her living in the remote south for a long time, wearing a fashionable cheongsam, feeling her heart beating when sitting in a seat, feeling ashamed because she doesn't have a private car, etc. Inside herself, because of the triggering of the surrounding scenes, she has associations with her past, but she has become the person most entangled with this banquet.These two identities seem to contradict each other, but in fact not only can coexist at the same time, but for some people, it is very possible to coexist at the same time. The narrative point of view and structural form of this novel are in line with Mrs. Qian's dual identities both externally and internally, which is formed by the combination of objective and subjective, and the external realism and internal "stream of consciousness" complement each other.In this way, there is also a parallel relationship between the structure of the novel and the protagonist of the novel, and we can also regard it as a manifestation of the author's parallel skills.The novel is written in the third person, and the author always follows Mrs. Qian's point of view.When Mrs. Qian examines the banquet environment and characters in isolation, the author adopts an objective and realistic framework.When the scene of the banquet aroused Madam Qian's past and present associations and feelings, the author probed into her internal thoughts, and then inserted some subjective thoughts and opinions into the objective and realistic writing.But at this time, the subjective part mostly appears in the form of "memory". In other words, Madam Qian knows that she is remembering.But when Mrs. Xu sang "Entering the Garden", Mrs. Qian was sucked into the maelstrom of memory by a violent current, and she immediately became dizzy.As a result, the past and the present have turned into chaos, and the parallel characters of the present and the past are suddenly merged together.At this time, the author of the novel skillfully and appropriately adopted the "stream of consciousness" narrative method. After Mrs. Xu finished singing "Garden Tour", Mrs. Qian woke up from a dream, and the boundary between the present and the past became clear again.Madam Qian resumed her original isolation attitude, and the author also resumed using the objective and realistic structure at the beginning until the end of the novel. To sum up, we can see how the author of the novel "A Dream in the Garden" uses a lot of parallel techniques to make the parallel phenomenon popular among the elements that compose a novel.Parallel technique is of course the most important and special writing technique in this novel, and other techniques such as metaphor, imagery, irony, contrast, foreshadowing, puns, and downstream connections cannot be ignored.Now I will briefly discuss with examples. First, let’s talk about metaphors and images. The final theme of this novel is "life is like a dream".Therefore, the author adopts the metaphor and imagery of "dream" everywhere, which makes people associate and impression "dream realm".First of all, the title of the novel "A Dream in the Garden" has the word "dream"; the content of this play is also Du Liniang's dream.During the banquet, Madam Qian really fell into an old dream.The kind of wealth and splendor Mrs. Qian enjoyed in the past is like a dream in retrospect today.Madam Dou's feast, with its magnificence and splendor and bright colors, seems impossible to exist in the narrow environment and polluted air of today's Taipei.It's a dream!It's heaven! The guards standing guard on both sides of the gate are like the heavenly soldiers guarding the Heavenly Palace.Gongs, drums, Sheng Xiao and cymbals and strings are reminiscent of fairy music that lingers around the beams.The sweet and fragrant candied dates and the mellow Huadiao remind people of fine nectar and jade liquid. Guests who are "like clusters of embroidered bushes... brightly dressed" gather in a restaurant that is "bright like a snow cave" and enjoy mountain delicacies and seafood. It must be that the gods are taking pleasure leisurely! Lan Tianyu and other acapella sisters, Tao, were born in Deyuetai, Nanjing.When entertaining guests in Nanjing, it was Wu Shenghao from Xianni Society who played the flute.Chef Si was picked up from Luliu Residence in Taoyedu.The friend Mrs. Dou invited today is from Tianxiang box office.Yang Piaoyou "has slender fingers, as white as ten tubes of white jade".Mrs. Xu's "slender figure was pushed gracefully onto the mica screen".Jiang Biyue pretended to be drunk and sang two lines, which were: Life is like a spring dream And drink a few cups to your heart's content Following Mrs. Xu's libretto for "A Tour in the Garden", Mrs. Qian gradually fell into an old dream, falling deeper and deeper.When "Du Liniang is about to fall asleep, and it's time for Liu Mengmei to play", Mrs. Qian, in anticipation of the "dream" tryst, naturally had another tryst with her Liu Mengmei psychologically.In this big section, the author uses a series of sexual symbols to express the meaning of the reenactment of the affair between her and Zheng Yanqing (in Mrs. Qian's consciousness).In this way, although the meaning of the content is bold and explicit sexual intercourse, the article is full of elegant poetry and a layer of dream color.This not only matches the theme of "dream", but also creates a parallel effect with the passionate, bold but beautiful words in the Kunqu opera lyrics of "Jing Meng" (Note). The sexual association of Mrs. Qian in Bai Xianyong's works is fresh and lively, appropriate and precise, and its meaning is fierce and bold, which is in line with psychological theory. There is probably no precedent in the history of literature.It is quoted here: …His black and slippery riding boots snapped together, and a pair of copper spurs made people's eyes hurt.He drank until his eyelids were full of peach blossoms, and he still called out: Ma'am.I'll help you up, madam, he said, and his breeches rounded out his long legs and clamped around the horse's belly like a pair of pincers.His horse was white, and the road was white, and the tree-trunks were white, and his white horse shone brightly in the fierce sun.They said: The road to the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum is lined with birch trees.His white horse galloped through the birch grove like a rabbit scurrying through straw.The sun shone on the horse's back, steaming wisps of white smoke.One white, one black—both horses were sweating.But his body was covered with horse sweat that touched his nose, his eyebrows turned green, his eyes were like two burning black fires, beads of sweat flowed from his forehead to his bright red cheeks, the sun, I shouted.The sun was shining so hard that one's eyes could not be opened.Those tree trunks are white and smooth, and the layers of bark have been removed, revealing the naked tender flesh inside.They said: That road is full of birch trees.The sun, I cried, the sun is shining directly on the eyes of the people. ... Action phenomena such as riding a horse and sweating, according to Freud's explanation, are signs of sexual behavior.Mr. Yao Yiwei has already raised this point in the article "On Bai Xianyong's "A Dream in the Garden"" and he said it very well.In this large section of text, almost every sentence is full of sexual symbols (mainly masculine symbols), and the burning desire and ecstasy of sex jump between the words.I let the reader slowly imagine and comprehend it by himself. There is one more point worth our attention.This paragraph of the author reflects Mrs. Qian’s flow consciousness. The reason why he uses a series of poetic and picturesque symbolic pictures is not only to create a “dream” scene and to match the lyrics of “Cool Dream”, but also has another purpose and function, which is to cooperate with and entrust Mrs. Qian’s Elegant temperament.Mrs. Qian is a very gentle and "decent" woman ("If you count a Confucius Temple, Lantian Jade sings the most decently").When she was sane, she could not entertain sexual fantasies; when her sanity was at its darkest, her sexual fantasies were not in the least of a vulgar nature.This not only shows that she has an elegant and reserved personality, but also shows that she has very taboos on sexual issues, and she dare not even think about it.But her repressed desire was boldly exposed in symbolic patterns in the "dream".This fits perfectly with Freud's interpretation of sex and dreams. Another metaphorical technique used by the author is to use allusions from Chinese operas.First of all, of course, it is Du Liniang as a metaphor for Mrs. Qian.In addition to the play "A Dream in the Garden", the novel also mentions "Luo Shen" and "The Drunken Concubine". These two plays also serve as metaphors and allusions. "Luo Shen" is the story of Cao Zijian's affair with Concubine Mi.Concubine Mi died, Cao Zhi crossed Luoshui, dreamed of Luoshen (incarnation of Concubine Mi) and wrote "Fu of Luoshen".In the novel, the story of Luoshen alludes to the affair between Mrs. Qian and Zheng Yanqing. No wonder Staff Officer Cheng and Mrs. Qian discussed "The God of Luos". Although the two had just met at the time, Mrs. Qian felt uncomfortable. Immediately turned his head to the side", and felt that "Shou Cheng's slender eyes seem to cover everyone". The story of "The Drunken Concubine" is that Concubine Yang hosted a banquet at the Baihua Pavilion, and Tang Minghuang went to the West Palace to attend the banquet for Concubine Mei.Concubine Yang Guifei was burning with jealousy, felt lonely, and became drunk by herself.The play alludes to the triangular relationship between Lantian Yu sisters competing for Zheng's staff.In the novel, this play is performed by Jiang Biyue, especially when she sings and composes it with a joking attitude, which is a great mockery of Madam Qian. So we turn to discuss the irony and contrast of this novel. As far as the meaning of the novel is concerned, the irony of this article is obviously aimed at some people in the upper class of Taipei and their self-indulgent, numb and ignorant life style.More implicitly, it satirizes all human beings. In the illusory and impermanent life like a dream, they are obsessed with glory, wealth and personal relationships, thinking that these are permanent or have the potential to exist forever.When Lan Tianyu was unmarried, the blind wife of the platform used to tell her fortune, saying: "Fifth Miss, people like you have to marry older ones and treat them like daughters. How can you be reliable when you are young?" Said: "You are destined to enjoy the glory and wealth, Lantianyu, but it is a pity that you have grown a wrong bone, which is also the sin of your previous life!" These prophecies seem to be fulfilled in the future, but in fact they are only half fulfilled.The young are unreliable - well said.Zheng Yanqing was really unreliable.But is the elderly reliable?Can Qian Pengzhi never die?Mrs. Qian went to the banquet today without a private car, so how could she "enjoy" the splendor and wealth? The author outlines the scene of Mrs. Dou's brief banquet (a metaphor for a short life) as an eternal fairyland, which is of course the greatest irony.We also noticed that in a fish basket bottle in the front hall of Dou Mansion, there was "evergreen".When the gongs, drums, sheng and Xiao are sounded together, the inscription "Wannianhuan" is played. After Mrs. Qian "woke up from her dream", she couldn't sing, so everyone hugged the fat, bald, vulgar and funny Commander Yu, and performed the martial arts show "Eight Sledgehammers".With a drunken face and brows erect, he shouted a few times and walked around the living room, causing many female guests to scream, cheer and laugh loudly.Later, Mrs. Dou even compared him to Jin Shaoshan, and said with a smile: "Commander Yu's blackheads are really better than Duracell." The author's irony is obvious.我们还注意到，余参军长出来“献丑”，一开始就“做了个上马的姿势”，又“踏着马步”在客厅环走起来。对于刚又“梦”见郑彦青骑马的钱夫人，眼前这般粗陋的骑马姿态，是何等的讽刺。 小说里，“八大锤”那样粗俗的武打闹戏，紧接在《游园惊梦》这一出古典高雅的昆曲巨擘之后演出，而女客的尖叫欢笑，又紧接在钱夫人痛苦的心理经验之后猛然掀起，不但具有强烈反讽意味，亦有明显的对比作用。然而这篇小说最主要的对比，当然还是的一贯主题——今昔之比。 单就钱夫人个人的身世来说，以前在南京，她享有青春年华，而且，“除却天上的月亮摘不到，世上的金银财宝，钱鹏志怕不都设法捧了来讨她的欢心”。尽管她性生活苦闷，得不到满足，在钱将军那只描金的百宝匣儿里，却有“祖母绿”、“猫儿眼”、“翡翠叶子”（她嫁给姓“钱”的人，也是一种暗示）。何况既然保有青春，又有钱有势，总有机会和参谋之类的人交欢一下（愿不愿意当然是另一回事）。她可以一掷千金，设大宴请客；筵席之间，她总是从从容容的占主位。她的昆曲，“算是得了梅派的真传了”，唱得那样好，才能从一个清唱姑娘的身份，“一夜间便成了将军夫人”。 But now?她已四十出头，而且显然不是桂枝香那样“还没有老”的女人。身上穿的大陆料子的旗袍，“颜色有点不对劲儿”，裁剪的样式，更是完全不合时。钱将军早已亡故。私家汽车早已失去。开大宴等的“赏心乐事”，哪里还有她的份？入席时，窦夫人叫她坐主位，她“赶忙含糊地推辞了两句”，“一阵心跳，连她的脸都有点发热了”。分外英发的程参谋，固然和以前郑参谋一样，一口一声“夫人”，到底他是别人的参谋，别人的情人（？）。宴会里，人家还称她“昆曲泰斗”、“女梅兰芳”；可是她来台湾以后，“嗓子一直没有认真吊过”，终于还是“哑掉”，没有表演。人人嘴里说要领教夫人的昆腔。可是当她不唱，却没一人真正在乎。大家反而跟随余参军长团团围走，欢笑大乐。 钱夫人把“那么细致，那么柔熟”的大陆丝绸，和“粗糙，光泽扎眼”的台湾衣料互相比较，又把“那么醇厚”的大陆花雕，和“有点割喉”的台湾花雕互相比较，当然便是明示性质的今昔对比。 小说里还有一处，作者运用十分有力的对比呈现法。刚才我引录过那一节钱夫人的性之联想，是钱夫人的一大段“内心自白”（interiormonologue）之前半。在如此暴露青春狂喜的意象文字后面，紧接的后半段，主要是关于钱将军病死前的一幕： ……老五，钱鹏志叫道，他的喉咙已经咽住了。老五，他暗哑的喊道，你要珍重吓。他的头发乱得像一丛枯白的茅草，他的眼睛坑出了两只黑窟窿，他从白床单下伸出他那只瘦黑的手来，说道，珍重吓，老五……他那乌青的嘴皮颤抖着，可怜你还这么年青。 ... 这节文字里，满是死亡意象：“喑哑”、“一丛枯白的茅草”、眼睛“坑”出了两只“黑窟窿”、“白床单”、“瘦黑的手”、“乌青的嘴皮”。都令人震慑生畏。这些死亡意象，和紧接于前的那些闪跃着青春狂欲的生命意象，互相比对，产生十分惊人的效果。 钱夫人意识中，这样强烈对照的两幕，衔接出现，亦暗示她内心的矛盾冲突。她原是一个正派而有良心的女人，欲望和理性的争斗必当十分猛烈。在性联想之前的另一段意识流文字里，“钱将军”、“钱将军的夫人”、“钱将军的参谋”三句，反复回旋出现。此亦暗示她心理上的昏乱状态。 从“可怜你还这么年青”一句之后，钱夫人的“内心自白”就转向她妹妹月月红： ……荣华富贵——只可惜你长错了一根骨头。冤孽，妹子，他就是姐姐命中招的冤孽了，你听我说，妹子，冤孽呵，荣华富贵——可是我只活过那么一次。懂吗？妹子，他就是我的冤孽了。荣华富贵——只有那一次。荣华富贵——我只活过一次。 ... 从“只有那一次”、“我只活过一次”等语，我们可推断，钱夫人和郑彦青只幽会私通过一次。而幽会的时机和场所，大概真的就在一个艳阳天，白桦树林子里（杜丽娘也是在一个艳阳天，在屋外的大自然里和柳梦梅梦中交欢，而且也只交欢一次就死去）。他们大概真是骑马去的——一匹白马，一匹黑马。所以，钱夫人性的联想那一段，很可能不单是意象图片的组合，同时也是实况的摄影写照。 从“我只活过一次”等语，以及性象征的暗示含义，我们可知钱夫人把她和郑参谋那次的交欢，比喻为“活”，为“生命”，而把得不到性满足的富贵荣华生活，暗喻为“死亡”。我们且不管富贵荣华和死亡的关联，只论性的狂喜和生命的关联。我认为这一点，和白先勇小说世界的逻辑，有些不一致的地方。在白先勇绝大多数小说里，灵肉是对立的。青春和性欲是对立的。灵，和青春，代表“生命”；肉，和性欲，意味“死亡”。郑彦青一角，既象征青春活力，又象征性的诱惑，既具有灵的光芒，又富有肉的号召，是小说世界里绝无仅有的特别人物。《金大班的最后一夜》之月如，可能相似，他对金大班也曾有灵肉两方面的吸引力，可是月如给我们的印象，还是灵重于肉，缺乏肉体上主动的逗诱力，《游园惊梦》小说人物和题材的这一点特异性，来由当然就是作者要配合汤显祖的故事，制造情节上的平行现象。但有一点值得一提，就是，郑彦青也好，月如也好，都是青年男子。这便使我们觉得，在白先勇的小说世界里，灵肉并非绝对不可能合一。可是灵肉合一的例子，如果偶然出现的话，必须发生在年轻人身上，而且必定是男性。钱夫人和金兆丽，固然也都是肉体交欢行为的参与者，可是作者回叙这些往事，取用女主角主观的意识观点，所以我们完全不见她们当时的形貌，只透由她们的女性眼睛，看到郑彦青和月如的青春男体。至于白先勇客观描绘出来的女人，若是性感“肉颤颤”的，大约都没有灵性。若是“灵透灵透”的，必然没有性诱惑的特征。 但是，关于钱夫人的心理，有一点值得注意。她一方面固然崇拜郑彦青的肉体，把他那十分性感的身体视为青春生命的象征，另一方面却又大大诅咒他所引惹起来的她的性欲，而视他为她“命中招的冤孽”。她的崇拜心理，便是和世界的逻辑不大相合的地方。她的诅咒心理，则又和世界的逻辑完全一致（金大班就毫无这种诅咒心理。这不但因为她和钱夫人性格不同，主要还是因为月如的灵，远超过肉）。 现让我们回头，继续研讨小说里预示、双关语等的写作技巧。 程参谋和钱夫人初见面，坐在一起谈论《洛神》一戏时，蒋碧月突然插入他们两人之间。 “哦，原来是说张爱云吗？”蒋碧月噗哧笑了一下，“她在台湾教教戏也就罢了，偏偏又要去唱《洛神》，扮起宓妃来也不像呀！上礼拜六我才去国光看来，买到了后排，只见嘴巴动，声音也听不到，半出戏还没唱完，她嗓子先就哑掉了——嗳唷，三阿姐来请上席了。” 我已经说过，《洛神》一戏情节，影射钱夫人和郑参谋的私通。蒋碧月嘲笑徐娘半老的张爱云“扮起宓妃来也不像”，就好比嘲笑青春已逝的钱夫人，在心理上重演“宓妃”角色，而对程参谋抱着非非幻想。蒋碧月说的“半出戏还没唱完，她嗓子先就哑掉了”这一句。更值得注意。这是作者给我们的一大“预告”。主要是预射作者后来才要慢慢揭晓的钱夫人过去之痛苦经验：在南京那次宴会里，钱夫人真的是“半出戏还没唱完，她嗓子先就哑掉了”。另一方面，作者亦预示今日这个宴会里，钱夫人又将“哑掉”而不能唱戏。 在小说前半部分，作者这类的预示或预告，常常出现。譬如小说开始，钱夫人抵达窦公馆，“一踏上露台，一阵桂花的浓香便侵袭过来了”。我们初读之，觉得这是一句普通的描写文字，可是当我们跟着钱夫人走进前厅，和女主人会面，我们才知窦夫人原来又叫“桂枝香”——和“桂花的浓香”有关。而保留得住青春美色的桂枝香，享受着富贵荣华的桂枝香，对于年华已逝地位下降的钱夫人，至少在潜意识里是一个威胁。所以桂花的浓香，不是“飘送”过来，而是“侵袭”过来。作者此句，还有一个更微妙的含义：桂花浓香，是发自“露台”。露，瞬间即逝。作者如此暗中预卜：今日得意万分的桂枝香，好运也持不了多久！ 这篇小说里的预示技巧，和作者剥茧抽丝一般缓缓揭露故事情节的方法，有不可分离的关系。钱夫人刚抵达窦公馆时，我们根本不知她是个会唱昆曲的人，其他关于她的身世背景，当然也都不知道。慢慢的，从宴会客人一个一个和她的招呼谈话，我们的资料才一点一点增加。接着作者开始时而探入她的思想意识，一次比一次深入，终于使我们不但完全得悉她的身世背景，连她内心最深处的隐秘也给窥探了出来。 余参军长向她行礼打招呼的时候，提到他曾在南京励志社大会串听过夫人票的《游园惊梦》。这是小说里第一次提到《游园惊梦》这一出戏。有一种预示或令人预期的作用。可是当然，我们必须读到小说后半，才能开始彻底明白这一昆曲在钱夫人生命中的重要意义。 概括而言，作者此篇小说，叙述的一贯手法，是首先挑选出今日宴会场景里的某些形象，细加描绘；或者让某几个宴会人物，说出一些对话；可是这些形象或对白所特赋的含义，我们当时却不能明白，必须等故事发展到后来，必须等我们由细心拼凑而逐渐了解钱夫人往事经验的全部真相，才能恍然觉悟过来。但是这个时候，我们对于作者先前的细微描绘，可能只留下模糊印象，甚至可能因当时看不出有何特别意义，而遗忘殆尽。所以欣赏这篇小说，只读一遍是绝对不行的。 再举一个有趣的小例子。吃席时，程参谋劝钱夫人用菜。他“盛了一碗红烧鱼翅，加了一匙羹镇江醋，搁在钱夫人面前”。多年以前，郑参谋——程参谋的影射人——岂不也叫她吃过一大匙的醋！当然，钱夫人尝镇江醋的时候，我们还不知道她过去和月月红抢郑参谋的事。所以这也是一个预告或预示。又一个类似例子，即程参谋刚和钱夫人见面相识，递茶给她时，说了一句：“小心烫了手，夫人。”烫了手，就是在不留意的时候，不小心受伤。后来钱夫人在宴会过程中，果然出乎意料地，内心又一次被痛苦烫伤。这种例子，不但是预言预示，同时也是双关语的运用。 运用双关语，是白先勇的特长。双关语，其实就是具有暗示性质或是具有弦外之音的语言。我讨论每一篇，总是特别注重小说暗示含义的注释，因为暗示或隐喻的巧妙运用，是白先勇在文学创作艺术上最大的成就和贡献。可是不幸这却也是最未受人注意和赏识的一点。我上面已讨论《游园惊梦》小说的隐喻和意象，其实也就等于讨论了双关语技巧。现在我另举一两个例子，让大家看看。 当徐太太唱《游园》，唱到“淹煎，泼残生除问天”——就在那一刻，泼残生——就在那一刻，她坐到他身边，一身大金大红的，就是那一刻，那两张醉红的面孔渐渐的凑拢在一起，就在那一刻，我看到了他们的眼睛：她的眼睛，他的眼睛。完了，我知道，就在那一刻，除问天一（吴师傅，我的嗓子。）完了，我的喉咙，摸摸我的喉咙，在发抖吗？完了，在发抖吗？天——（吴师傅，我唱不出来了。）天——完了，荣华富贵——可是我只活过一次，——冤孽、冤孽、冤孽——天——（吴师傅，我的嗓子。）——就在那一刻，就在那一刻，哑掉了——天——天——天—— 这段里，出现的这么多个“天”字，有双重的意思，我们至此已知钱夫人的痛苦往事：在南京那次宴会里，当她演唱《游园惊梦》，唱到“除问天”，就痛苦哑掉，没继续唱下去。所以她唱的最后一个字，就是“天”。我们都知道，中国戏曲的唱法，注重运腔转调，多是一字一字，拉长唱的，句尾一字尤然。所以拉长的“天”音，写成“天——天——天——”，就曲音而论，是真确的写实。而她只唱到“天”字，便结束不唱。所以文中的“完了”、“天——完了”等语，可以说是钱夫人外表活动的记实，即指她自己已经唱够了，唱完了，不继续了。可是另一方面，就内心活动而言，“天”，以及“完了”，都是她在极端痛苦中的灵魂哀号，而用拖拉的“天——天——天——”表达，更显出凄婉悲切，颇有“无语问苍天”的意味，恰好也就是“除问天”三字的意思。这真是作者何等巧妙的安排！ 紧接于“天——天——天——”之后，便是： “五阿姐，该是你'惊梦'的时候了，”蒋碧月…… 笑吟吟的说道。 蒋碧月的意思，当然，是说轮到钱夫人唱《惊梦》部分。可是紧接在钱夫人的“梦”后面，就又仿佛在暗示着说：该是你惊醒自梦中的时候了！ 像这种自然而又机巧的上下文连接，也是白先勇的特长之一。让我再举几个巧妙文字连接的例子。 入席时，钱夫人被窦夫人等耸恿，坐到第二桌的主位，感觉一阵心跳脸红。这触发了她今昔之感，因而有一大段她回忆往事的主观叙述。当她正回想到南京那次大宴中，“大厨司却是花了十块大洋特别从桃叶渡的绿柳居接来的”。 “窦夫人，你们大司傅是哪儿请来的呀？来到台湾我还是头一次吃到这么讲究的鱼翅呢，”赖夫人说道。 赖夫人当然无从知道钱夫人正想到大厨司的问题。可是作者如此的上下文连接，达成了顺流成章、平滑和谐的叙述效果。 还有另一种连接法，经常出现在“意识流”叙述里。那就是由眼前的一件东西，一幕景象，或一个动作，触动记忆之弦，因而导致意识流的今昔联想。在《秋思》里，华夫人台北住宅花园里的“一捧雪”，便是引发今昔交流联想的转接枢纽。《游园惊梦》里，比如饮花雕的动作，或蒋、程二人凑拢在一起的脸，都有同样的转接功效。 以上，我已详论《游园惊梦》小说里最重要的平行技巧，也大略谈过比喻、意象、反讽、对比、预示、双关语、连接法等之巧妙运用。我想我们可以就此搁下写作技巧的问题，转而探讨这篇小说的主题和引申含义。 首先，我必须声明，小说主题原是所谓的“小说形式”（Form of Fiction）中之一有机元素，和小说写作技巧有绝对不可分离的关系（我们国内一些文学评论者，常把小说形式和内容当做两回事来评价，因而有“写作内容比技巧重要”等的言论口号。这却是完全忽略了小说内容和形式的一体性）。现在我所以分开来讨论，是因《游园惊梦》这篇小说的含义异常广大，异常复杂，和我们民族文化背景息息相关。如果夹在写作技巧问题里讨论，恐怕难免显出杂乱。 我在此文开头已经提过，欲深切了解《游园惊梦》小说含义，我们除了对人生之洞察力，还须具备相当的学问知识——特别是中国戏曲方面的学识。对于整个中国文化历史背景，也必须有一个笼统的概念。《游园惊梦》小说含义，和中国戏曲史上“昆腔”的兴起与衰微，有不可分离的关系。 昆曲，兴起于明嘉靖初，衰微于清乾隆末，独霸我们剧坛近三百年（约1522—1779）。明嘉靖之前，中国戏曲有南北曲之分，其间互有消长。忽然一种新的腔调产生，镕铸所有南曲之优长，又吸收一部分北曲的特点，成为一种极优美动听的音乐，这就是昆曲。到了晚明，戏曲作家逐渐往格律和辞彩的路上发展，早先元曲那种朴素愚直的形式内容就逐渐消失。于是昆腔戏曲变成文人雅士和宫廷贵族吟唱赏玩的精美艺术品，成为一种“贵族文化”，而和一般趣味凡俗的老百姓逐渐脱离了关系。这种趋势发展到极端，终于在清乾隆年间，属于雅部的昆曲被属于花部的“乱弹”所打倒。如此，高雅无比的纯艺术品，由于曲高和寡，引不起俗众共鸣，而含冤调萎。 花部（乱弹）诸腔，包括戈阳腔、高腔、京腔、皮黄、秦腔等等，经过一场角逐杀伐，终于由皮黄称霸，鼎定江山垂二百年。皮黄即西皮、二黄两种腔调之合称，这一剧种，发皇其命运于北京，故又叫京戏，因北京改为北平，所以又叫平剧。皮黄改用胡琴为主要伴奏乐器（昆曲则用笛萧），如此唱戏的入调门高低可以自由。皮黄之能战胜群雄，是由于它的通俗，但也因为通俗，在文学艺术方面的成就便远不及昆曲。许多文人不屑再写剧本，所以皮黄取代昆曲以后，真正成功的剧作家竟没有几个。 昆曲虽被皮黄取代，但昆戏之中一部分在故事、关目、排场等方面适合演出的剧目，在剧坛上依旧留存下来，《游园惊梦》便是其中最有名的一出。 清末民初，是京戏的极盛时期。民国以来，旦角如梅兰芳、程砚秋等，生角如余叔岩、马连良等，都是艺术造诣极深的剧坛演员。其中尤其梅兰芳，把自从有皮黄戏以来的旦行艺术，提携到最高巅峰。他也受过昆曲方面的严格训练，《游园惊梦》就由他唱得红极一时。他南下唱戏，演，多半是金少山的霸王，两人配得很好，引得观众疯狂喝彩。《游园惊梦》小说里，赖夫人和余参军长的对话，以及窦夫人最后对余参军长“黑头”的笑评，所指即与此有关。 梅兰芳时代过去后，京戏就急速走下坡路，主要也是和当年昆曲一样，脱离了现实俗众。现在一般人，看电视，看电影，看话剧，却不能和国剧发生共鸣。昆曲就更没人唱了。显然这种中国最古雅的戏剧音乐，已经到了尾声。这是中国戏曲史上的一大危局，一大悲哀。 当我们对中国戏曲兴衰史有了大致如此的概念，白先勇这篇小说，幅度便骤然增加。《游园惊梦》这出戏，是昆曲类型的代表。而昆曲是中国戏曲的精华，也是中国古典文化的精华。钱夫人终于“哑掉”，不能把此戏唱完，就是作者暗示中国的古典文化，到今日而戛然中断。 我们中国传统文化，有一个光辉灿烂的过去。可是就因为太讲究纯美、纯粹精神，丝毫不肯接受现实俗世的污染，在今日的平民世界里，已和一般人的生活几乎完全脱节，再也无法受到欣赏和了解。于是人人遗弃古老优美的中国文化，趋奔迎接崭新通俗的西洋文化，正如清乾隆年间，通俗的“花部”乱弹终于取代了优美的“雅部”昆曲。如此，小说里钱夫人的今昔感触，以及往日悼念，就有了更深一层的含义，而《游园惊梦》也就变得好像是作者对我们五千年传统文化的一阙挽歌。 除了采用昆曲兴衰历史之暗喻，作者还用别的方法来呈现传达小说的这种引申含义。钱夫人是南京夫子庙得月台清唱出身。“夫子庙”三字，就大有暗示作用，不必解释。得月台位于“秦淮河”，蓝田玉姐妹淘是秦淮河的歌女，这点也十分值得注意。秦淮河有重大的历史文化意义：六朝金粉，金陵春梦，朝代的兴衰，人事的更替等等，当然还有“隔江犹唱后庭花”的感慨。而这种千多年流传下来的秦淮文化，迄今也告一段落。如此，作者显然亦以蓝田玉的身世背景，影射中国文化的背景。蓝田玉嫁入侯门，成为贵族，更使象征含义获得一致性。今日她身份之下降，年华之消逝，暗示着什么，是显而易见的。 其实，“蓝田玉”这个名字，就有相当明显的象征含义。蓝田之玉是中国神话中最美最贵的玉石，李商隐就有一句诗曰：“蓝田日暖玉生烟”。（其他月月红、天辣椒等艺名，亦有暗示性：月月红即月季花，每月开，贱花也。天辣椒，影射蒋碧月之泼辣性格。）钱夫人不同于得月台那些姐妹，只有她一人是“玉”，而在我们传统文化中，玉，本来就代表一种高贵气质或精神。可是身为玉，是否就能永保华美光泽？钱夫人入窦公馆前厅，站在一株“万年青”前面照镜子的一幕，深具反讽意义。镜中出现的，当然，是褪了色的蓝田玉——一块已经黯然失色了的蓝田美玉。 如此，《游园惊梦》小说，从钱夫人个人身世的沧桑史，扩大成为中国传统文化——特别是贵族文化——的沧桑史。 同样的暗示含义，亦可引申到社会型态问题上，那就是，影射贵族阶级和农业社会的没落，平民阶级和工业社会的腾起，小说结尾，窦夫人问钱夫人：“你这么久没来，可发觉台北变了些没有？” 钱夫人沉吟了半晌，侧过头来答道： “变多唆。” 走到房子门口的时候，她又轻轻的加了一句： “变得我都快不认识了——起了好多新的高楼大厦。” “变”一字，就是这篇小说的中心主题。“起了好多新的高楼大厦”，即比喻工商业社会之兴起。我们还注意到，今日宴会里唱《游园》的后起之秀，是徐“太太”，不是徐“夫人”。作者如此暗示：“上流社会”虽然还存在，“贵族阶级”却已隐逝无踪。 从又一个角度看，小说的影射含义也达及艺术创作问题上。中国的昆曲戏剧，其音韵之优美，舞蹈之柔婉，词藻之典雅和格律之