南池子

作者:  Berezkin, Rostislav.
学校:  University of Pennsylvania.
论文题目：The Development of the Mulian Story in Baojuan Texts (14th-19th Century) in Connection with the Evolution of the Genre
学位:  Ph.D.
指导老师:  Mair, Victor H.,eadvisor（梅维恒）
学科:  Folklore.
来源:  Dissertation Abstracts International
出版日期:  2010
ISBN:  9781124062563
语言:  English

摘要
Baojuan precious scrolls) is a genre of Chinese prosimetric narrative literature, implying predominantly religious contents, which arose around the 14th century and is still a living tradition today. Baojuan are the texts intended for performance. They were written in simple classical Chinese with vernacular elements. Baojuan were transmitted in the form of manuscripts and printed editions. I examine the development of one particular story Buddhas disciple Mulian rescuing his mother from hell) in baojuan texts of different time periods in order to observe the changes of literary and religious characteristics of the genre, and also its social dimensions. It is the first attempt at an overall comparative study of the major baojuan texts on the Mulian story in world sinology. The dissertation focuses primarily on five texts, composed in the 14 th-19th century. I also employ sources of other genres of Chinese literature, however, as well as materials of modern live performances of baojuan, including texts dealing with Mulian. Data on these performances comes mainly from my own fieldwork in China. I analyze the transformation of the purposes baojuan performances---from Buddhist proselytizing to sectarian propaganda in the early period of development and then to an act of religious devotion connected with folk ritual in the later. I argue that several traditions merged in this genre: religious exegesis, popular sermons, sectarian eschatology, religious festivals, popular drama, and the novel. Conclusions of my research challenge the existing periodization of the history of baojuan genre. With the use of methodology of the modern theory of oral literature, I demonstrate how the connection with the oral performance shaped the special features of form and contents of baojuan texts. I argue that baojuan genre has a special status of performance oriented text and reveal the close interaction of oral and written traditions in baojuan texts.