著者

王 竹

出版者

桃山学院大学

雑誌

国際文化論集 (ISSN:09170219)

巻号頁・発行日

no.47, pp.297-322, 2013-03-28

---

Looking back over the history of Chinese studies of the philosophy of Dream of the Red Chamber 紅楼夢, we can find Commentary on the Dream of the Red Chamber 紅楼夢評論, written by Wang Guowei 王国維, which treated the novel in the context of Chinese literature and philosophy. Building on from Wang Guowei's study, Hu Shi 胡適established a new research method for approaching the novel, demonstrating not only that the author of Dream of the Red Chamber was Cao Xueqin 曹雪芹, but also that the novel should be considered as Cao's autobiography. After that, many more scholars took up the study of Dream of the Red Chamber, and it is now recognized throughout the world as a reflection of Chinese culture rather than just a novel. Various genres for the study of Dream of the Red Chamber have appeared over the years since research began, but research into the philosophy that underlies the book has lagged far behind even though it has been long been considered important by scholars. Together with basic comprehension of the standard genres for approaching the book, this paper, by making a detailed study of Cao Xueqin's favorite work of philosophy, Zhuangzi 荘子, will seek to gain a better understanding of Dream of the Red Chamber. In the eighty chapters of Dream of the Red Chamber, there are at least sixteen situations which refer directly or indirectly to Zhuangzi, and many more situations which reveal Cao Xueqin's Zhuangzi consciousness. Believing that the philosophy of Zhuangzi is the key to understanding Dream of the Red Chamber, the paper undertakes a detailed study of the situations in which Cao Xueqin's debt to Zhuangzi may be identified.