以“父”爲名：《紅樓夢》中的賈政新論

In the Name of the Father: A New Study on Jia Zheng in The Dream of the Red Chamber

Abstract

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

《紅樓夢》聚焦於貴族階層，書寫百年世家面臨末世的歷程，其主軸之一即家業傳承之必須，因此特重門風與子孫教育，尤其每一代的家族繼承人最是攸關重大，關於資質禀賦、性格特質、培育塑造皆有一定的脈絡可循，並建構出榮國府之世代軸心群，尤以賈政最體現了完整乃至完善的“貴族子裔之成長模式”。本文納入“父親”的概念以及“男性成長”的啓蒙議題，聚焦於賈府第三代的賈政，採取回歸傳統雅文化脈絡的視角、把握文本内容的全面基礎而重新探討此一人物的立體面相與縱深層次，就其以“政”爲名、以“存周”爲字，再以幾乎成爲杜甫之代稱的“工部員外郎”爲職銜的設計，闡發諸特定詞彙所内藴的文化指涉，並彼此互文而强化出一個正統菁英分子的完美典範，即以周公、杜甫與第一代始祖賈法爲重像，結合“正”字所代表的方正、官長之義，以及“攵”字所象徵的父親之義，從煉石場走到補天域，完整演繹了寶玉的前驅、同道與未來。明乎此，更能奠立堅穩的人物評論參照系，爲《紅樓夢》的創作宗旨、文化意義提供正確的定位。

The Dream of the Red Chamber narrates a story of a century-old aristocratic family (世家), which would finally face its decline. One main concern of an aristocratic family is to assure the endurance of its family career (家業). For this concern it is very important to educate the children, especially the family heirs, to keep the family reputation (門風). The Jia mansions education covers the recognition, cultivation and shaping of youngers’ talents and personality traits. Its long-lasting achievements constitute the generational axis of the Rong-guo Mansion (榮國府). Among these generation heirs, the Jia Zheng case well represents a complete and almost ideal “growth model” of an aristocratic male- child. The article incorporates the notion of “Father” and the enlightenment issue of “male growth” and focuses on Jia Zheng, the third-generation heir of the Jia mansions. I adopt a perspective of returning to the traditional elegant cultural context and re-discuss the three-dimensional aspect and depth of this character on the basis of the overall text content. Regarding the design of his name (政, “Politics”), his courtesy name 字 (存周, Cuenzhou, keeping Zhou), his official career title (工部員外郎, which has almost become Du Fu’s surrogate name), I explain the cultural references contained in this specific vocabulary, which mutually connoting each other to strengthen an ideal example of orthodox elites, namely, a combined image of Zhou Gong (周公), Du Fu and Jiafa the first-generation ancestor of the Jia Family. Further, the name 政 is combined from 正 and 攵; the former connotes a meaning of rectitude and ruler, the latter symbolizes the father. Thus, in the mythological and allegorical image, from the stone-in-smelting to the stone-patching-the-broken-sky, Jia Zheng leads and exhibits a role for Jia Bao-yu’s forerunner, on-the-way company, and a would-be future. The analysis on Jia Zheng helps to establish a firmer reference frame for comments on characters of The Dream of the Red Chamber. It also helps to provide a correct positioning for the creation purpose and cultural significance of the novel.