Chapter 35 The seventh floor "Red Mansion" inkstone (1)

The original title of Xueqin's original book shows that the "zhibi" is an integral part of the original book, rather than the general commentary, which is a dispensable text added by later generations.Therefore, who is Zhiyanzhai?There are many speculations, such as Hu Shi thought that Xueqin criticized it himself, Yu Pingbo said it was Xueqin's "uncle", and later there were some "uncle" claims, and so on. My humble opinion is different from other schools, and I think Zhiyan is a woman, which is actually the "prototype" of Xiangyun in the book.There are a lot of evidences, and now we only pick one or two of them, so that we can get a glimpse of the leopard's spots and come up with wonderful ideas.

The poem says: Mobi Jin Shengtan, who criticized the book, was an outsider in "Water Margin" and "The West Chamber". Only Zhiyan is different from it, and the critics call themselves "middlemen". There is a huge disparity in the dream outside the game, and the rouge research inkstone produces a different fragrance. There was a sound of daughter-in-law, Fang Wu Zhiyan is Xiangyun. Grease inkstone Cao Xueqin wrote the book under the circumstance of being ridiculed by everyone and hated by everyone, without any material assistance or spiritual comfort, the pain can be imagined.But he has a close person who becomes his only supporter.The name and family name of this person is unknown, but there is only one other office left, which is called "Zhiyanzhai".From Zhiyanzhai, Cao Xueqin got help and comfort.In Cao Xueqin's situation at that time, there was such a person as Zhi Yanzhai, which is really rare, so we have to have great admiration for him, and we should pay him high respect.

There is an opinion that underestimates the importance of Zhi Yanzhai and his comments.The main reason is probably the same: Not all of Zhiyanzhai's views are brilliant and correct, and his criticisms are just like Jin Shengtan's; Value to speak of. Regarding Zhiyanzhai's criticism of books, this text cannot go into details.But there are a few points that should be pointed out: First, for the opinions of novel critics two hundred years ago, of course we must criticize the choice and correctly evaluate, but this is not the same as erasing lightly.Second, the novel criticism school, although its content contains a lot of dross that should be discarded by us, but on the whole, it is actually a popular form of traditional literary criticism and appreciation that is "communicable to the public", and we should give it to us. It is due attention, rather than belittle.Third, people like Jin Shengtan are just readers after a long time in the world. To put it another way, he is an "irrelevant" outsider to the author and the creation process of the novel, so his criticism is It can only be something within such a "category".However, Zhi Yanzhai cannot be compared with Jin Shengtan, because he is not only at the same time as the author, but also a very close relative; not only does he have a very clear understanding of the creative process of the author, but he is also an assistant involved in the writing. .Fourth, Jin Shengtan criticizes and even tampers with the author from a feudal standpoint and point of view, while Zhi Yanzhai cannot fully express the collaborator's standpoint and point of view, but he sympathizes with the author and defends the author's will and proposition in more aspects of. ——I am afraid that such a critic should not be compared indiscriminately with Jin Shengtan and others.It should be thought that it is extremely valuable research material to be able to obtain novels approved by such critics and fortunately passed down and preserved, which is also a rare exception in the history of ancient and modern literature in the world.We should take full account of these meanings.

Putting it this way, we can see the value of Zhiyanzhai: he is Cao Xueqin's most powerful support, encouragement and collaborator in his loneliness. What specific work did he help Cao Xueqin do?What we can still see now is the following: 1. He decided on the title of the book.For example, when he was "re-evaluating", he finally decided to still use "Story of the Stone" as the official title among the many different names of the novel, and with Cao Xueqin's consent, he wrote this reason into the text of the "Wedge" part of the frontispiece. in.In fact, the manuscripts that were first circulated during the Qianlong period were all named.

Second, he suggested that some important plots in the novel should be deleted.For example, the thirteenth chapter of the manuscript was originally titled "Qin Keqing's Obscenity in Tianxianglou". The main text states that Jia Zhen had an adulterous affair with Qin's wife, and was caught by a maid, and Qin hanged herself to death.Due to Zhi Yanzhai's suggestion, all the plain text on this matter was deleted and replaced with implicit writing, so the length of this chapter is less than that of his chapter; the chapter has also been revised to avoid taboos. 3. He corrected the text of the clear manuscripts.For example, in front of the seventy-fifth chapter of the "Gengchen Version", there is a line of "Qianlong 21st May 7th to the Qing Dynasty", which is a trace of evidence.

4. He sorted out the original manuscripts, grasped the situation, pointed out the missing parts at any time, and reminded the author to make repairs.For example, Chapter 75 of the novel originally took "appreciating new words for the Mid-Autumn Festival to get good prophecies" as the theme of the second half, but when Baoyu, Jia Lan, and Jia Huan wrote poems in sequence according to Jia Zheng's order, they all only caused the verses to appear. The word "Tao is" in the book, but no poems (some "Tao is" has a blank space below, indicating that there will be words below); Zhiyanzhai is convenient to write down the words "Lack of Mid-Autumn Festival poems, waiting for Xueqin".

5. There is more than one case of such deficiencies; some were not made up in time until Xueqin's death, and Zhiyanzhai made up for it.For example, the mid-autumn poems mentioned in the previous article still have no verses in the later version, and the words "Tao is" are also deleted, and even the traces of shortages have been eliminated: it can be seen that these three poems have not been completed in the end.And the 22nd Chapter "Making Lantern Riddles and Jia Zheng's Sad Prophecy", at the end of the chapter, it only ends with the mystery of Xichun, with Zhu commenting on his eyebrows: "It will be lost later, and it will be replenished later." The text of Chai Zhi's riddle and a seven-character poem, followed by the commentary: "Qin has passed away before this return, sigh!" It can also be seen that a short section added at the end of this return in the later version is Zhiyanzhai's sorrow and sigh of snow. Qin died and made up for it by himself.

Sixth, he not only fills in fragments and gaps, but also writes the entire chapter.It turns out that the original manuscript has been borrowed by friends for a long time, so it is sometimes lost. For example, the twenty-sixth chapter of the "Gengchen Version" commented: "The prison god temple has a large chapter of Qianxue and Hongyu, but it is a pity that it is lost and there is no manuscript, sigh !" "It's a pity that Wei Ruolan's writing in Shepu is lost and has no manuscript, sigh!" are all examples.As in the sixty-seventh chapter, Gao E's so-called "one has the other, the title is the same, the text is different, and the stone is indistinguishable", there is indeed no such thing in the "Gengchen Ben". There are seventy chapters, eight chapters in total, and it is noted at the beginning of the volume: "Sixty-four or sixty-seven chapters are missing." , in the 25th year of Qianlong, when Xueqin was still alive); but in the later edition, there are both sixty-four chapters and sixty-seven chapters.For example, Chapter 67, researchers believe that it is a later forgery, and the flaws cited are quite reasonable.In fact, this kind of "forgery" is by no means comparable to the forgery of the irrelevant posterity; judging from the age and quality of its supplementary work, it can only be made by Zhi Yanzhai.

7. He has mastered the chapters of the manuscript and suggested changing the design.For example, Chapters 17 and 18 of the current edition are connected together in the "Gengchen Version", which is a large chapter; Zhiyanzhai wrote before the chapter: "This chapter should be divided into two chapters. . ” The later editions were indeed divided into two chapters, and the division method of each edition was not the same.The person who tried to break it down was Zhiyanzhai. 8. He made annotations for hidden words and rare words in the book.For example, the names of the four sisters of the Jia family, "Yuan", "Ying", "Tan", "Xi", and "Original Sigh", and the names of the six "Guogong" who sent Qin Keqing's funeral, allude to the twelve earthly branches, etc., It is difficult for people who are not close to the author to understand the original meaning.There are too many examples to list.For example, "Golden Yi", it is marked: ", Yin Lei, a Zhou vessel." "Glass", it is marked: ", Yin Hai, a large vessel for wine." There are also different examples.

9. For this book, he made "common rules" and listed them at the beginning of the volume, and inscribed the general poem, which is the seven laws of "every word seems to be blood, ten years of hard work is unusual".This makes us understand more about Cao Xueqin's painstaking efforts and bleak management in writing. 10. He commented on the whole book.From the moment the book was finished, he commented on it, until after Xueqin's death, every two or three years, he reviewed the annotations once, at least eight or nine times in total.These comments are related to Cao Xueqin's creative psychology, generalization methods, artistic skills and other aspects.Neither Cao Xueqin nor Zhiyanzhai considered these comments as appendages that were created out of nothing later, but appeared in the form of "Zhiyanzhai re-evaluated the stone story" from the first biography to the world.Forty or fifty years before Qianlong, there had never been a book with only white text and no commentary.From this point of view, the nature of Zhiyanzhai's commentary is by no means the same as that of other novels (such as "Three Kingdoms", "Journey to the West", "Water Margin", etc.).This level of meaning does not seem to have received sufficient attention generally.

The above is what we can see from some traces and clues. In addition, what else Zhi Yanzhai helped to do, although it is unpredictable, it should be more than the above ten items.Therefore, Zhiyanzhai is indeed a very important assistant and even a collaborator of Cao Xueqin; there is no doubt that his labor and achievements are included in the writing. It goes without saying that Cao Xueqin felt so relieved and excited when he had such a comrade, close friend, and relative to write books.In addition to the original intimate relationship between the two of them, this career cooperation process was added, so their relationship was even more extraordinary and comparable.When Xueqin died, Zhi Yanzhai was deeply saddened, and repeatedly mourned in the comments, saying: "The book was not completed, and Qin died because of tears; I have cried for Qin, and tears will be exhausted!" Can't help but burst into tears! Where was the writer thirty years ago?" "From now on, I hope that the Creator will produce another celery and fat. What a blessing for the book, and the two of you will soon be happy in Jiuquan!" etc. Then, he once wrote a poem, in which there is a sentence "Mr. Qiansha has infinite love, how much Mr. Zhiyan hates". Therefore, when introducing Cao Xueqin, it is only comprehensive to introduce Zhiyanzhai together.