九命奇冤

九命奇冤，清吴沃尧所著的小说。最初发表于梁启超主办的《新小说》杂志。共有三十六回，演述雍正年间发生于广东的梁天来案。

清雍正年间，番禺县梁天来与凌贵兴二家，本为亲戚，因风水问题竟致反目成仇。雍正七年，凌贵兴雇用一群强盗纵火烧死了梁家七人。梁天来之弟媳怀有身孕，故为七尸八命。梁天来愤而告官，乞丐张凤仗义作证。然而官府接受凌家的贿赂，反诬张凤挟嫌报复，将其夹棍致死，最终造成九条人命。梁天来赴京告御状，朝廷派钦差孔大鹏前往查办，才使冤案得以昭雪。作者根据旧小说安和先生所著的《梁天来警富奇书》而加以改作，原书内容驳杂，文字粗陋，经吴氏用较好的布局与描写，写成了一本动人的作品。

作者在第一回中说：“这件事出在本朝雍正年间，这位雍正皇帝，据故老相传，是一位英明神武的皇帝。……然而这个故事后来闹成一个极大案子，却是贪官污吏，布满广东，弄得天日无光，无异黑暗地狱。”可见作者是借历史上的公案，加以新的内容，来攻击当日黑暗地狱中的贪官污吏。

书中用倒装的叙事手法，把整个故事的前因后果，有机地连贯起来，这与《儒林外史》的形式不同，似乎是受了法国鲍福的侦探小说《毒蛇圈》的影响。胡适推崇本书是“西方侦探小说的布局”；又将《九命奇冤》纳入必读书目。1906年由上海广智书局出版。

A Strange Case of Nine Murders (C: 九命奇冤, P: Jiǔmìng Qíyuān, W: Chiu-ming ch'i-yüan) is a 1906 Chinese murder mystery novel by Wu Jianren (Wu Woyao). Douglas Lancashire and Edel Lancashire's English translation was published in 1998.

Plot

The Liang and Ling families were originally relatives during the reign of Emperor Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty, but they became enemies due to feng shui issues. The Ling family abused their power and allowed their followers to set fire to the Liang family, killing eight people. They also bribed the government to make the Liang family lose the case. Finally, the Liang family went to Beijing to file a complaint. Emperor Yongzheng sent an imperial envoy to investigate the case openly and secretly, and finally redressed the Liang family. The work uses ancient stories to attack the corrupt officials of the time, but it affirms the supreme ruler and shows a reformist tendency. The novel uses flashbacks and is greatly influenced by foreign literature.

Analysis

Gilbert Fong, the author of "Time in Nine Murders: Western Influence and Domestic Tradition", published in The Chinese Novel at the Turn of the Century, documented shifts in time. Fong argued that the manipulation received inspiration from foreign models, Cantonese ballads, and traditional Chinese crime stories (gongan). Fong also stated that the "time inversion" technique appears more often than the previous literature about A Strange Case of Nine Murders indicates. Robert E. Hegel, author of a book review of The Chinese Novel at the Turn of the Century, wrote that Fong corrected an opinion about A Strange Case of Nine Murders that had been written by Hu Shih. Doar wrote that Fong's writing was "an especially solid piece of scholarship."

Reception

Bruce Doar, who wrote a book review of The Chinese Novel at the Turn of the Century, stated that A Strange Case of Nine Murders was "regarded as one of the finest novels of the late Qing period." Doar argued that "due to the opening", it was "one of the most innovative" novels.