汉人及后代目录学家没有视《新序》、《说苑》、《列女传》为“小说”,但是现在不少的研究者又把《新序》、《说苑》、《列女传》视为小说。它们到底是不是小说?该如何看待《新序》、《说苑》、《列女传》的性质?笔者着重从汉人“小说”观念、创作中“名实错位”现象、小说文体的渊源关系以及小说的特征等方面探讨《新序》、《说苑》、《列女传》的性质问题。

The Han people and their posterior bibliograghers did not regard《Xinxu》、《Shuoyuan》and《lienuzhuan》as novels while many researchers do in present time. Whether they are real novels or not ? how to evaluate the characteristics of《Xinxu》、《Shuoyuan》and《lienuzhuan》? Upon these questions, the author tries to give a discussion by focusing on such aspects as the phenomenon of “mismatching of tile and content"in literature composing、the background relation of novel literary style and the unique qualities of novels.