Professor Hou Hui of Capital Normal University

Fill in the blanks with a piece of literary knowledge and ask who is the author of Water Margin, and you will probably fill in "Shi Naian". Strictly speaking, this is not accurate. But you can find a Water Margin at once and pat the cover for me to see: What's the matter? -Don't worry, you listen to me.

Needless to say, the book "The Water Margin" you took was only seventy times, and the story ended at Dajuyi. This is a book cut by Jin Shengtan, a scholar in the late Ming Dynasty. This book is indeed signed by Shi Naian, with a preface by Shi Naian in front (sorry, this preface was forged by Jin Shengtan); It's just the latest version of Water Margin.

There are mainly three versions of Water Margin (here refers to the traditional system), the first one is 100, followed by 120, and the last one is 70.

Baihuiben was recruited by Zhao 'an, Liao and Fang La after Juyi. The version with a history of 120 years is between Liao and Fang La, and Wang Qing (this version is also called "Water Margin" or "Water Margin Biography"). -Jin Shengtan's "Seventy Copies" was made on the basis of 120 copies, and the content after the great gathering was deleted and polished. This book is also called "The Water Margin of Shi Naian", the book of the fifth gifted scholar, hereinafter referred to as "The Water Margin".

So, how was the early Baihui edition signed? —— The earliest hundred copies we can see are Rong Yu Tang, a Hangzhou edition published around thirty years of Wanli in Ming Dynasty, with the title "Mr. Li Zhuowu's Criticism on Loyalty and Righteousness". But we can't find the author's name from beginning to end!

A masterpiece with hundreds of thousands of words, without indicating the author, puts the critic "Mr. Li Zhuowu" above the title. Whose rule is this? -in fact, in the eyes of people at that time, this practice was commonplace and commonplace.

Looking at the novels published in Ming and Qing Dynasties, there are many similar titles: Mr. Li Zhuowu criticized The Journey to the West, Mr. Zhong Bojing criticized The History of the Three Kingdoms, Mr. Chen Meigong criticized Biographies of Countries in the Spring and Autumn Period, and Cheng Peng Zhang Zhupo criticized Jin Ping Mei ... Even the early manuscripts of A Dream of Red Mansions re-evaluated The Story of the Stone with "Zhi Yanzhai"?

"Zhi Yan Zhai" is not the author, but the pen name of the critic. Who is the author? The book has never explained it. It is only said that the manuscript was copied by an empty Taoist priest on a big stone, and it was compiled by Cao Xueqin after "reading it carefully for ten years, adding and deleting it five times, cataloguing it and dividing it into chapters". Although most readers recognize Cao Xueqin's authorship, this birthright was not officially granted to him in the book!

Speaking of it, the treatment of ancient and modern novelists is really a world of difference! Today, a writer published two bestsellers and printed them on the cover. Not only did royalties roll in, but he also signed books everywhere and received applause and flowers, which can be described as fame and fortune! In ancient times, the situation was very different.

Since ancient times, the literary world has only centered on the eight masters of poetry, music, fu and Tang and Song Dynasties, and novels are not allowed to enter the stage. Scholars who are a little "water-based" will not attack the four books and take the imperial examination. Only those who are worthless and have no ambition stay at home to write novels and make a living. When they sell the manuscript to booksellers, they should probably tell them: Never reveal my name, it is the shame of my ancestors, and I can't afford to lose that person!

So we see that many novels don't use their real names, but only pen names, such as Journey to the West's Master Huayang Cave, Jin Pingmei's Lan's The Story of Awakening Marriage and Xi's ... Some people simply don't sign their names.

Booksellers are happy to stop if the author doesn't fight for his right of authorship. But if he wants to sell books, he has to do marketing promotion. The usual practice is to ask celebrities to make comments, stand on the podium and support the venue. Li Zhuowu, Zhong Bojing and Chen Meigong mentioned above were all academic celebrities at that time. It's a bit like writing a few words of recommendation on the cover or waist cover when publishing a book today. Speakers are horribly famous authorities and experts, and the reason is the same.

Friends who have dabbled in history and culture know that Li Zhuowu was a famous thinker in the Ming Dynasty and a "dissident" at that time. He has novel ideas and sharp words, and is very interested in popular literature. He even thinks that the Confucian classics "Six Classics", "The Analects of Confucius" and "Mencius" are all "the ammunition of Taoism and the cradle of dummies"; Only works from the folk, such as Water Margin and The West Chamber, are "the best in the world" without losing childlike innocence!

Li Zhuowu really wrote a preface for Water Margin. However, according to textual research, the comments in Rong Yutang's Water Margin were written by a down-and-out scholar named Ye Zhou under the pseudonym of Li Zhuowu. Ye Zhou is a drinker and often drinks on credit in hotels. When he woke up, he wrote down some comments and gave them to the bookseller to exchange money and pay the bill. However, his literary talent is really good, and the words written with wine often have flashes of light, imitating Li Zhuowu's tone, which is quite confusing! Rong, the banner is coming. Does it matter who the author is?

But then again, The Water Margin is not really a "motherless son". Gao Ru, a bibliophile in the Ming Dynasty, recorded the information of Water Margin and its author in the bibliography "Hundred Rivers Record":

One hundred volumes of "Loyalty and Water Margin" edited by Shi Naian and Luo Guanzhong in Qiantang.

The Water Margin collected and recorded by Gao Ru should have been published at least before Jiajing 19, because the Book of Hundred Rivers was written in this year (1540). The Water Margin has two names: Shi Naian and Luo Guanzhong. -We only know that Luo Guanzhong is the author of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. It turned out that he also participated in the creation of Water Margin. The so-called "(phonological) version" here refers to the real version; And "clip" can be understood as a clip. In other words, Shi Naian is the original author of this novel, and the manuscript has been polished by Luo Guanzhong. It's a pity that this is an earlier version of Birong, and we didn't have a chance to see it.

Wait a minute. A modern bibliophile, Mr. Zheng Zhenduo, said that he once collected a remnant volume of Water Margin, which should be Jiajing block print. On the title page of a surviving book, the words "Shi Naian Collection, edited by Luo Guanzhong" are engraved. "Collection" refers to the integration and re-creation of existing stories, right? I'm afraid "make up" means "make up". -Later, many versions of Water Margin were signed in this way.

In fact, both the people who wrote the preface to the Water Margin and Ye Zhou, who commented on the Water Margin, knew who the author was, because they all mentioned "Shi and Luo" in their works.

During the Chongzhen period in the late Ming Dynasty, Jin Shengtan made seventy copies of Water Margin, falsely claiming that it was originally written by Shi Naian, and said that some of the seventy copies were Luo Guanzhong's "The Dog's Tail Continues the Sable", so they were cut off. In this case, this version can only be signed by Shi Naian.

Strictly speaking, the signature basis of the work should be the original without addition or deletion. Facing the question "Who is the author of Water Margin", the correct answer should be: Shi Naian and Luo Guanzhong. -At present, the selected middle school textbooks "Song Wu Da Hu", "outwit the birth outline" and other fragments are all from seventy books, so when the author is involved in the notes, it is not wrong to mention only Shi Naian. I only hope that the Chinese teacher will say a few more words when giving lectures, and don't bury Luo Guanzhong's achievements.

As for some knowledge, it is enough for the teacher to know it himself, and there is no need to tell the students: that is, neither Shi Naian nor Luo Guanzhong is the ultimate author of Water Margin. Luo Guanzhong was born in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty, and Shi Naian should have been earlier than him. According to the inference of scholars, the hundred books we read today were finally written during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty. This writer should be a literary wizard. He greatly improved the thought and art of Water Margin, thus becoming an immortal classic-it's a pity that his name is unknown, so we have to place our reverence on Shi Naian and Luo Guanzhong!