明淸 笑話 중 文獻笑話의 의미 재탐색 — ≪明淸笑話十種≫을 중심으로

Abstract

The Ming-Qing Dynasties can be called the heyday of the development of Chinese Xiaohua(笑話). At that time, various forms of Xiaohua collections appeared. From the source of Xiaohua, it can be divided into Xiaohua which collects folk stories and stories collected from ancient books. This paper names the former Minjian Xiaohua(民間笑話) and the latter Wenxian Xiaohua(文獻笑話). The purpose of this study is to explore the significance of Wenxian Xiaohua again in the collection of ≪Ming Qing Xiaohua Shi Zhong(明淸笑話十種)≫, a collection of 10 Xiaohuas published in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. This book contains Xiaohua from two sources. This paper briefly introduces 10 kinds of books and explores four kinds of Wenxian Xiaohuas. The four Wenxian Xiaohuas explored in this paper regarding ‘Laughter’ as the core value in the compilation. It can be said that this is a strong basis for Xiaohua to be defined as Xiaohua, rather than being regarded as other literary genres, such as Biji(筆記) or Xiaopin(小品), novels. There are two purposes for the literati to edit Wenxian Xiaohua. First, that is the long tradition of Chinese literature. It is psychological comfort through literary activities. The comprehensive knowledge of ancient classics, the vision of screening works, and editing skills, classification, critical ability, etc. A lot of literary abilities were required there. Second, the purpose of compiling Xiaohua is education. The Xiaohua criticizes people’s shortcomings, ugly and unreasonable social systems, and customs. Especially in the editor’s comments, we can find the enlightenment function. This includes the editor’s critical ideas and the trend of thought of the times. Furthermore, through such comments, we can know why the stories repeated in each era have a unique significance in this Wenxian Xiaohua. Wenxian Xiaohua in the Ming and Qing Dynasties expanded the scope of Xiaohua trapped in the category of folk literature. It is not a just propagation medium, but a collection of critical views of the times. Chinese literature has long been divided into the realm of elegance and vulgarity. Now, through this Wenxian Xiaohua, we can see that the boundaries between elegance and vulgarity have been broken and integrated. This is the greatest significance of the Wenxian Xiaohua.