文體、舞宮、身體：論程小青《霍桑探案集》中的舞影謎境

Literary Genre, Ballroom, and Bodies: The Ballroom Labyrinthine in Cheng Xiaoqing’s Huo Sang Detective Series

Abstract

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract also in English.

程小青（1893—1976）被認爲是民初最具代表性的中國偵探小說作家，中國大陸的評論者立足於民族主義，對程氏的創作讚揚肯定，爲當前相關研究最主要的觀點。其小說文本具有因應文類的特質，改變了中國固有文體的敘事方式。而程氏筆下的洋場風情，與同時期關注都市體驗的中國新感覺派小說十分不同。“舞廳”是體現三〇年代上海現代性的重要物質空間，也是新感覺派作家穆時英小說中的核心場景；舞廳裏妖嬈嫵媚的舞女在諸多海派作家筆下，幾乎是上海的代名詞。本文以程氏代表作《霍桑探案集》中的《舞宮魔影》、《舞后的歸宿》爲主要討論文本，分析其作品如何形塑舞廳與舞女、觀看舞女的身體與屍體、映射上海的城市圖景與犯罪問題，從而開創迥異於域外偵探小說的風格特色，並探討其背後所隱含社會文化的實質意義。

Cheng Xiaoqing (1893-1976) was known as the most representative local writer of detective fiction in Early Republican China, and his works are well recognized by Chinese critics. The commendation for Cheng’s works was based on a nationalist perspective, an approach that has been further developed into a major viewpoint for related research. However, this paper takes a different approach to Cheng’s works and aims to explore how they transformed the traditional Chinese narrative style according to the traits of genre. Moreover, from the perspective of Shanghai urban space, it contrasts Cheng’s works on the urban experience with those by Chinese Neo-Sensationalist writers to find out the different presentations of life in the Concession Zone. “Ballroom” is a significant material space that demonstrates the modernity of Shanghai in the 1930s and was the core scene of most novels by Mu Shiying (1912-1940), a Neo-Sensationalist writer. In the writings of most Shanghai style novelists, enchanting dancers at ballrooms may be considered synonymous with Shanghai. This paper discusses Cheng’s masterpieces “Evil shadows at the ballroom” and “Permanent home of the dancing queen” of the Huo Sang detective series to explore how Cheng portrayed ballrooms and dancers; how readers would interpret the living and dead bodies of the dancers; and what scenes of Shanghai city and its crime issues were reflected. It also discusses the substantial social and cultural meanings in his works. Through these means, Cheng founded a literary style that differed from Western detective fiction.