The Language of Sex in Jin Ping Mei

Abstract

abstract:The sexually explicit contents of Jin Ping Mei have long given the book a notorious reputation. The question remains: What does the novel's language of sex accomplish in terms of its aesthetics and narrative function? The answer requires considering the artful use of language and imagery and also how the author uses such description to comment on characters and situations. The novel's sexually explicit scenes can be divided into two modes. In the high-erotic mode, the author exalts sexual acts in euphemistic and figurative language, albeit also often parodic language. In the graphic mode, he describes sex in terms of its raw sights and sounds, its unfiltered excess. Jin Ping Mei inherits the first mode from its past, but the graphic mode is something that came to fruition in the novel's own Ming era and to which Jin Ping Mei contributed profoundly.摘要:《金瓶梅》的情色描寫向來給它帶來有傷風化的聲名。然而，讀者不應忽略此種描寫在美學與敘述上所起的重要作用。小說中的性描述可分兩種，一為委婉比喻，二為直露狀摹。前者作為傳統由《金瓶梅》承用，後者則是明中晚葉才趨成熟，乃《金瓶梅》對文學史的巨獻。