一部僞／續書的形成：民國初年百新本《老殘遊記》下編的製作

How a Forged Sequel Came into Being: The Making of the Baixin Edition of the Sequel to The Travels of Lao Can during the Early Republican Era

Abstract

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

劉鶚的《老殘遊記》初編二十回於1906年在報刊上完整發表後，引起了極大的迴響。除了不同出版社相繼刊印初編單行本，同時也出現了多種續書。1916年上海百新公司出版精校批注本的《老殘遊記》上下二編。該版本上編爲劉鶚原著的初編，下編則是百新公司借劉鶚之名所續的續書。近年學者開始注意百新本對於《老殘遊記》在民國初年的傳播的重要性。本文的目的是藉由百新公司這一出版項目的個案研究，勾勒出民國初年商業出版與國族認同建構之間關係的一個側面。不同於過去相關研究以該書本身的序言以及内容爲主要分析對象，本文將百新公司的宣傳及銷售廣告納入考察的重點。本文探討百新公司如何利用廣告宣傳和引入時事來打造小説的“預言書”的形象。百新公司在百新本《老殘遊記》下編的製作和出版中不僅關注商業利益，更巧妙地將商業利益、政治表態、國族情感以及對神秘主題的渴望融合在一起。

After the completion of its serialization in newspapers in 1906, Liu E’s (1857-1909) 20-chapter novel, The Travels of Lao Can, elicited considerable attention. Its prominence motivated multiple publishers to reprint the novel, and it also inspired the creation of several sequels. In 1916, the Shanghai Baixin Company released a detailed annotated edition of The Travels of Lao Can in two parts. The first part comprised Liu E’s original 20 chapters, while the second introduced a sequel authored by the Baixin Company but falsely attributed to Liu E. Recent scholars are increasingly aware of the pivotal role of the Baixin edition in popularizing The Travels of Lao Can throughout the initial years of the Republican period. The present paper uses the Baixin Company’s publishing endeavor as a case study to delineate the relationship between commercial publishing dynamics and the formation of national identity during the early Republican period. Unlike previous studies that predominantly focus on the book’s preface and main content, this research focuses on Baixin Company’s promotional strategies and sales advertisements. It explores how the Baixin Company leveraged marketing and contemporaneous events to endow the novel with a “prophetic” persona. In its editorial and publishing endeavors for the sequel, the Baixin Company adeptly amalgamated commercial pursuits, political inclinations, nationalist emotions, and a fascination for the esoteric.