Synopsis

The story is set in the Song Dynasty. Wang Ze, a military commander, marries the sorceress Hu Yong'er. Hu was conceived after her mother burned an enchanted painting. She was taught magic from a fox spirit, enabling her to conjure armies with her spells. The three sorcerers, Zhang Luan, Bu Ji, and the Egg Monk Danzi Wang, join Wang after a series of adventures battling corrupt officials with their supernatural powers.

Wang leads a revolt to overthrow the government with the help of the sorcerers. The three sorcerers grow disillusioned with Wang's impropriety and defect to the government forces headed by Wen Yanbo, who had arrived to suppress the rebels. The Egg Monk disguises himself as a monk by the name of Zhuge Sui and aids the imperial generals Ma Sui and Li Sui. Together, the Three Suis defeat Wang and end the rebellion.

History

Legends of Wang Ze and his revolt, a historical event, were popular since the Yuan Dynasty and commonly embellished with elements from Chinese mythology. The novel attributed to Luo Guanzhong is a shenmo novel loosely based on Wang's revolt and published in the 16th century. It is not certain if Luo is the genuine author of the novel. The appearance of lijia, a social institution for local governance in rural areas, suggests that the text was written during or after the 15th century, but this may have been an alteration by a later editor. The original copies of the book attributed to Luo are lost. The only surviving works of Luo's earlier story are a revised edition published by Wang Shenxiu and the Nanjing publishing house Shi Detang. Three copies of the revised novel are still extant. It contains twenty chapters, separated into four juan or sections.

Feng Monglong wrote a new and longer version of the story to improve what he perceived as the novel's shortcomings. It was published by the studio Tianxu Zhai in 1620. The first edition was anonymously written and released as a work by the original author, but the second edition revealed that Feng was the new writer. His revision expanded the novel to forty chapters, of which fifteen precede the first chapter of the original novel. Parts of the older chapters were rewritten, or revised with entirely new passages. He provided backstories for many of the supporting characters that were introduced haphazardly in the original story. According to translator Nathan Sturman, Feng Menglong's version is one of the world's first psychological novels, which he compares to the Faust stories.

The novel was popular and critically acclaimed when it was originally released, but later faded into obscurity. Ota Tatsuo wrote the first extensive contemporary non-Chinese analysis of the work in 1967, and the scholarship and critical views of Patrick Hanan were important in following years.

Translations

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Adaptations

• Legend of Sealed Book, a 1983 Chinese animation film

簡介

《三遂平妖傳》多寫人間妖異事件，少談方外神仙鬼怪。羅氏此書，吸取和繼承了宋元以來有關記述鎮壓胡永兒、王則起義的史料、民間傳說、小說故事以及見於某些筆記小說中的神異故事來加以融合、整理而寫成的。王緱山稱羅貫中《三遂平妖傳》堪與《水滸》頡頏。

明代萬曆年間，通俗文學家馮夢龍從長安城購得羅貫中的二十回本，親自改編增補，廣泛吸收民間的妖異故事，以豐富小說的內容，編成《新平妖傳》，成為現在通行的四十回本。《三遂平妖傳》四十回本署名為：「羅貫中編次，馮夢龍補改」。

版本

• 泰昌元年《天許齋批點北宋三遂平妖傳》

• 《映旭齋增訂北宋三遂平妖傳》校點

注釋

參考

• 段春旭. 《平妖傳》散論. 明清小說研究 , 1999, (02) 161-174

• 歐陽健. 羅貫中研究三題. 東南大學學報(哲學社會科學版) , 2003, (05) . 104－111。