《才子牡丹亭》的历史意蕴

《才子牡丹亭》是清康熙、雍正年间刊行的汤显祖《牡丹亭》的一种笺评本，笺注、评点为其时徽州吴震生、程琼夫妇。该书笺评长达30万言，超出原本五六倍，内容复杂，精芜并存，堪称古代戏曲第一奇评。书中大量征引历史资料，以史论曲，以史证曲，历史意蕴丰厚，但也有失误与缺陷。该书刊行不久即遭禁毁，存世极稀，近年来海内外学始予关注。

Historical Implications of The Poeny Pavilion, A Work of Genius

The Poeny Pavilion, A Work of Genius printed during the reign of Kangxi and Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty is an annotation to and commentary on The Poeny Pavilion, a masterpiece by Tang Xianzu. The book, whose author is Wu Zhensheng and Cheng Qiong, husband and wife from Huizhou, has a length of 300000 words, five to six times the volume that of Tang's original. As the most unusual commentary on ancient dramas and a masterpiece in the history of Chinese literary criticism, the book has a multitudinous content in which essence and dross co-exist. It makes an extensive use of historical documents, and expounds and testifies drama on the basis of history. While it has rich and profound historical implications, the book is not without faults and defects. It was banned not long after its printing and only very rare copies survive. Only in recent years do scholars home and abroad turn their attention to it.