Kitay_i_okrestnosti_Mifologia_folklor_literatura

!Ш-

Also in the performances of the Wu Song story by renowned performers of the earlier generation that were recorded for book publication, do we find the same detail, for example in the Saga of Wu Song in Shandong Clappertale{Shan-

...The wine jars trembled with a ringing sound...

• (Shandong kuaishu Wu Song zhuan 1957: 47).

Shandong clappertale is particularly rich in details about the hero Wu Song. In this tradition we seem to find traces of episodes that may have very old roots in oral tradition. However, in the present case it is difficult to say if the little motif— the echo of the wine jars in the empty tavern—goes back in oral transmission to the time when Liu Jingting (and other storytellers at the time?) told the story this way, or if the detail was incorporated at a later stage from written sources, having ultimately the reminiscence of Zhang Dai at their origin. In Shandong clappertale fromthe twentieth century the detail belongs apparently to the fixed topics that are consistently transmitted from master to disciple and will as a rule belong to every performance of this tale.8

7Quoted from oral performance of 'Wu Song Fights the Tiger (Wu Song da hu ïÈfôfTiÊ) in the genre of Shandong clappertale (Shandong kuaishu [JLfjflftiir) by Sun Zhenye ЩШШ, published on CD,cf. Shandongkuaishu1999.

8Also in other editions of the tale of Wu Song and the Tiger in Shandong clappertale do we find the same detail, with only little variation. Therefore there seems to be no doubt that this detail belongs

The Testimony of Orally Preserved Performances

We shall first consider the versions that exist in oral form on tape and video, since edited versions published in written texts are subject to the editor's rewriting, and it might be hard to decide whether such a detail as we are talking about here, might have been added by editors (inspired, for example, by Zhang Dai) to 'improve' the oral text (cf. B0rdahl 2003). Our first sample is from a performance by Wang Shaotang for Nanjing Radio in 1961. After Wu Song has been invited into the tavern by the young waiter, we hear the following:

... Highly pleased Second Master Wu followed Xiao'er to the door and stepped into the hallway of the inn. They passed through a half-door and came to the next wing with a small courtyard and a thatched hall just opposite. The thatched hall was clean and nice, with seven or eight tables. But there was not a single customer. What was the reason? It was already long past the lunch-time rush. The sun was slanting steeply towards the west.

-явнч • шип • s

Somewhat later in the same performance Wang Shaotang tells about the formidable sound of Wu Song's voice in the room of the empty tavern:

"In case you want to travel on, and in case you are going west, as I can see you are, I'm afraid you cannot cross our Jingyang Ridge, and what will you do then?"

"What nonsense are you talking? Are you poking fun at an outsider for having no drinking capacity? I can drink thirty bowls and still go straight across the ridge! Bring the wine!"

"Oh!"

Xiao'er was frightened. The voice of his guest resounded like a bronze bell and the whole place trembled at his shouting — it was deafening.

We can see how what was apparently told as one sequence by Liu Jingting, namely the emptiness of the tavern and the ringing sound of the wine jars that tremble under the sound waves of Wu Song's mighty voice, is here told as two separate items of information: first the fact that the tavern has no other guests, since Wu Song is late for lunch; and secondly the effect of his voice

10 Cassette tape copied from radiotapes of Nanjing Radio. The whole performance is transcribed andtranslated in Bordahl and Ross 2992: 171—197.

when he later becomes angry about not being served as much wine as he would like.

With the disciples of Wang Shaotang we find an interesting pattern of distribution of the information on the tavern and the ringing sound. This is how Wang Xiaotang (1918—2000), a nephew brought up and educated by Wang Shaotang as his own son, performed the episode in 1992:

The tables and stools of the hall were neatly arranged, the whole place fresh and cool. But there was not one single customer. Quite right, it was already long past the lunch-time rush. Wu Song took down his bundle, placed it on a bench beside him, and seated himself at a table right in the middle.

Again, the information about Wu Song's voice resounding like a bronze bell and making the whole place tremble is only mentioned later, and this time the fact of the emptiness of the tavern is repeated:

After sitting and drinking for some time, Wu Song became more rude and rough in shouting his orders. Since his voice resounded like a bronze bell, the moment he said something, the whole place started to tremble, and even the young innkeeper at the counter out in the front was alerted. The young innkeeper lifted up his gown and stepped down from the counter, then went over to the door in the corner and looked inside. Oh, there was only one single customer sitting in the hall and drinking with Xiao'er attending to him!

SIT!

In performances of the next generation of disciples the detail about the empty tavern is sometimes expressed, sometimes not. Ren Jitang (1942—), in a performance of 1989 does not mention the emptiness of the tavern or the voice of Wu Song at all. Wang Litang ЗЕМ ^ (1940-), the daughter of Wang Xiaotang,

11 Performance recorded on tape by the author in 1992. The whole performance is transcribedand translated in Bordahl 1996: 247—286.

in her broadcast series for Nanjing Radio in 1998, does not mention anything about the tavern being empty, but this performance is clearly shortened also in many other respects to fit the timetable of the radio. The last disciple of Wang Shaotang, Chen Yintang (1951—), in a performance of 1989 tells about the empty tavern in the first place, butdoes notmention anything particular about Wu Song's voice shouting in the room.12 Finally, in a performance of 2003 by the young storyteller MaXiaolong ЦВЦМ (1980—), thedetail about theempty tavern is again found, butnot theearsplitting sound of Wu Song's voice:

The hero followed the waiter inside the door of the tavern, went round behind the screen, passed through a half-door and came to the next wing with a small courtyard. When he looked towards the rear wing, he saw that it was a thatched hall. The tables and benches of the thatched hall were clean and nice, but there was not a single customer. What was the reason? It was because it was now already long past the lunch-time rush.

The Printed Versions

We shall now turn to the question of how this detail is rendered in theprinted versions of Yangzhou storytelling. Here is the passage from the book edition of Wang Shaotang's WuSong (1959):l4

The hero stepped inside the tavern, went through the hall, passed the screen and entered a halfdoor. The next wing was a thatched hall, nicely arranged with seats. But there was not a single customer. What was the reason? It was already past the lunch-time rush.

12Performance recorded on tape by the author in 1989. The whole performance is transcribed and translated in Bordahl 1996: 352—364.

13Performance recorded on tape by the author in 2003. The whole performance is transcribed in Bordahl 2006 (in print).

14Duan Baolin 1990:85 notices the existence of this detail in the Shandong clappertale tradition, but finds it absent from the Wang school repertoire. His source material is obviously the book version of Wang Shaotang 1959.Since his article was already published in a periodical in 1989, there is little chance that he would have seen the version in Wang Litang 1989. The tape recording of Wang Shaotang was not available at that time, and Chinese scholars of Yangzhou storytelling in general worked with the published editions, and had no access to tape recordings of live performances at this time. Since the detail of the empty tavern is only a very short remark in Wang Shaotang 1959, it is not strange that Duan Baolin overlooked it. However, his explanation about why such an ornament would have disappeared from the Yangzhou storytelling—that it contained elements of romanticism which were transformed into realism—seems less convincing to me.

1999). Sometimes we may be able to find evidence that the storytellers were not exclusively (and maybe not even preponderantly) based on the written novels for their storytelling tradition, but were based on—believe it or not—oral transmission.While this thought is very natural, if one considers the way the storytellers of the early twentieth century were educated by 'transmitting by mouth and teaching from the heart' (kouchuan xin shou), it is often hard to prove in detail that such was the case, since we have so little evidence about the oral performances of earlier times. In some cases one may, however, find traces of such transmission going back to the early storytelling period before Ming or during the Ming period. Riftin has adduced the following example which I would like to quote more fully:

The first part of San guo zhi Pinghua had long been lost in China proper and was only rediscovered in Japan in the 1920s. We may, of course, imagine that the two storytellers have used Chinese facsimiles of the San guo zhi Pinghua. But we should not exclude the following possibility: Some episodes from Song time storytelling which are reflected in the San guo zhi Pinghua, but which have not been written into the novel San guo yanyi, may have been continually handed down among the storytellers generation after generation, and in our time this has been recorded. The two storytellers both use this special appellation, but none of them use it in the exact form from San guo zhi Pinghua, the 'Great King without Surname' {Wu xing da wang). In our view, these facts are indications that our hypothesis is not unfounded, (note) The question can still not be solved completely, but one point must be emphasized: In several modern storytellers' versions we can, apart from the tradition of San guo yanyi, detect remnants of storytelling traditions (shuohud) going back to the middle ages and reflected in San guo zhi Pinghua.These traditions would, of course, not be brought to a halt because the San guo yanyi romance was published (Riftin 1999: 141).16

Even if it is true that the main plot of storytelling is often relatively close to that of the Ming novels, this fact does not exclude that the storytellers are based on oral transmission rather than on adopting the written novel as a blueprint, since the novel and the storytelling tradition may to a large degree depend on the

16 In 1954 I recorded the tale about 'Xue Rengui goes East' as told by the Dungan people who live in the Kirghiz Republic (in Chinese called the Hui minority). The man who told the story, a groom, was not able to read Chinese characters and neither were his fellowmen among the Dungans. He told the story in a way that was very similar to the novel version of Xue Rengui goes East. But there were some details that were the same as in the Pinghua version from the 13th century, Xue Rengui zheng dong shi lue, and which are not found in the novel, cf. Riftin 1977: 322—338 (and analys pp.494—505).

424 Классическая литература

same pre-novel tradition. It should be kept in mind that the Wang school of Water Margin has a repertoire that is about ten times the size of the Shuihu zhuan, considered from a comparison of those portions that are found in both (the Wang School only tells the four ten-chapter cycles of Wu Song, Song Jiang, Shi Xiu and Lu Junyi, as well as a shorter cycle from the later Water Margin).

If we now return to the detail of Liu Jingting's oral performance of the empty tavern, heard and recorded by Zhang Dai in 1638, what conclusions can we draw from our findings above? As mentioned, we find it in Shandong clappertale as a very clear and stable ingredient in that tradition, and we find it in Yangzhou storytelling, too, but here as a relatively clear ingredient, even if split up into two different places in the oral performances of Wang Shaotang and his son, Wang Xiaotang.

With the later generation, it seems as if the detail is less stable and the way it is told, when it is included, seems so close to the printed version of Wang Shaotang's repertoire, the Wu Song 1959, that it could hardly be a coincidence. The younger storytellers may have been under considerable influence of the printed version, where the second half of the episode (the resounding voice of Wu Song) is left out. Apart from the choice of words and expressions, the most clear indication of this is the fact that Chen Yintang and Ma Xiaolong both include what is included in the book, the detail about the tavern being without guests, and they both omit what is omitted in the book, the description of the 'bronze bell sound' of Wu Song shouting for more wine. The fact that Ren Jitang and Wang Litang did not have these passages in their versions could be due to a number of reasons, but it seems probable to me that this detail was not in their generation felt as an important or indispensible ingredient in the story, but only an optional description to be handled according to circumstances. This stands in marked constrast to the elder generation who learned the art and had their mature years as storytellers ata time when no written version of their repertoire existed. Both Wang Shaotang and Wang Xiaotang have these passages in their oral performances, and comparing their performances one can see that there is no fixed book version learned by heart at the basis of their performances. The tell the episode in a more free manner, reflecting oral memory rather than learning by heart from a book version.

How did the detail of the empty tavern enter into Shandong clappertale and how did it enter into Yangzhou storytelling? The novel of Shuihu zhuan and the known drama versions cannot be the source, as we have seen. One possibility is that the reminiscence of Zhang Dai (which had several reprintings in Qing and Republic, cf. postscript by Tai Jingnong to Zhang Dai 1986:147) circulated so broadly in society during the Qing period that this ingredient was most likely to have been taken over from his written memory as an embellishment of the later

storytelling and clappertale. Secondly, the detail could have been invented separately by the storytellers of the modern traditions that we know about. Finally, there might be the possibility that this detail existed in early performed literature, both in pinghua and kuaishu and has been transmitted through four centuries or more in oral tradition. Which is the more plausible of these possibilities?

In the case of Shandong clappertale the empty tavern detail is very close to that described in Zhang Dai, so close that one might well suspect that our first possibility is the better explanation in this case, but the second and third cannot be excluded.

In the Yangzhou storytelling, as known from oral performances preserved on audio tape, the situation looks differently. Here the detail has a weak form and the information given in Zhang Dai's description of Liu Jingting is not given as one stretch of words, but we get one part first and another part later. If the Yangzhou storytellers had taken over this detail from Zhang Dai's book in order to embellish their own tale, it is not likely that they would make so little out of it, something which has resulted in gradual loss with the third generation after Wang Shaotang. The possibility of accidental creation of similar description cannot be ruled out. However, it seems—until evidence to the contrary appears—like we might in this case have a rare testimony to an unbroken oral tradition in Yangzhou storytelling from the time of Liu Jingting to the present.

References

Bordahl, Vibeke (1996): The Oral Tradition of Yangzhou Storytelling, Curzon Press: Richmond. (2003): 'The Storyteller's Manner in Chinese Storytelling', Asian folklore Studies, Vol.

62/1, pp. 65—112.

(2004): 'The Voice of Wang Shaotang in Yangzhou Storytelling', CHINOPERL Papers,

No. 25, pp. 1—34.

(2005): 'Storytellers' Scripts in the Yangzhou pinghua Tradition', Ada Orientalia, No. 66, pp. 227—296.

Bordahl, Vibeke and Jette Ross (2002): Chinese Storytellers—Life and Art in the Yangzhou Tradition, Cheng and Tsui, Boston.

Chen Wulou (1985): 'Cong changpian xiaoshuo fazhan dao changpian pinghua', Yangzhou shiyuanxuebao, No 1: 107—114.

Duan Baolin ([1989] 1990): 'Wang pai "Shuihu" shïi de wenxue tese guankui', Yishu bai jia, 1989, No. 3, pp. 101—107, 114. Reprinted in Wangpai "Shuihu" pinglunji, Zhongguo quyi chubanshe, Beijing 1990, pp. 71—94.

Gao Yuanjun Shandong kuaishu xuan (1980), Renmin wenxue chubanshe, Beijing.

Gao Yuanjun (1997): Wu Song zhuan, in: Liu Hongbin & Zhao Lianjia: Zhongguo chuantong Shandong kuaishu da quan, Wenhua yishu chubanshe, Beijing, pp. 3—520.

Gao Yuanjun (1987): WuSongzhuan, Zhongguo quyi chubanshe, Beijing.

Nienhauser, Jr., William H. (ed.) (1986): The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature, Indiana University Press, Taiwan edition.

Qian Xiaoping (1990): 'Liu Jingting Taizhou guju kao', Yangzhoushi zhi, No. 4: 56—57.

Riftin, Boris L. (1970; 1997): Istoricheskaja epopeja i fol'klornaja traditsija v Kitae: ustnye i kniznye versii 'Troetsarstvija' [Historical Romance and Folklore Tradition in China: Oral and Literary Versions of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms], Moscow. With English summary. Chinese edition: Li Fuqing: 'Sanguoyanyi'yu minjian wenxue chuantong, Shanghai guji chubanshe, Shanghai 1997.

(1977): Dunganskie narodnye skazki i predanija [Folk-tales and Legends of Dungan], Nauka, Moscow.

(1999): '"Three Kingdoms" in Chinese Storytelling: A Comparative Study'", in: Bordahl (1999a) (ed.): The Eternal Storyteller, pp. 137—160.

Shandong kuaishu Wu Song zhuan (1957), told by Gao Yuanjun, Song Zongke, Liu Tongwu, Zuojia chubanshe, Beijing.

Shandong kuaishu (Shandong Clappertales) (1999), with performances by Gao Yuanjun, Sun Zhenye, Yang Lide and Zhao lianjia, CD,China Record Company.

Shen Jing (Ming) (1970): Xiuke Yixiaji dingben, Kaiming shudian, Taibei. Shuihu quan zhuan (1965), ed. by Zheng zhenduo, Zhonghua shuju, Hong Kong.

Sun Longfu: 'Yangzhou pinghua de lishi fazhan', Yangzhou shiyuan xuebao, 1962, No. 16,November, pp. 20—31.

Wang Cheng (1990): 'Liu Jingting nianbiao chu bian', Yangzhou shi zhi, No. 4, p. 55. Wang Litang (1989): WuSong, 2 vols, Zhongguo quyi chubanshe: Beijing.

Wang Shaotang ([1959] 1984): WuSong, 2 vols, Jiangsu renmin chubanshe: Huaiyin.

— — ([1961] 1979): 'Wode xueyi jingguo he biaoyan jingyan (My Artistic Education and Experience of Performance), Yangzhoupingtan, neibu ziliao, Yangzhoushi wenhuachu: Yangzhou 1961, pp. 58—89. Reprinted in: Shuo xin shu, Shanghai wenyi chubanshe: 1979, No.2, pp. 286—310.

(1985): Song Jiang, 3 vols, Jiangsu renmin chubanshe: Yangzhou.

Wang Zhixiang, Zhang Kuangtai & Yang Qinglu (1980): Shandong chuantong quyi xuan, Shandong renmin chubanshe, Dezhou.

Zhang Dai 5itg (Ming-Qing)(1986): Tao'an mengyi ЩЦШ9Ш (Recollections ofTao'an's Past

Dreams), Jinfeng chubanshe, Taibei.