《儒林外史》作为文人独立创作的小说，其文本体现出作者吴敬梓的思想与观念，即“小说意识”。在“小说意识”的驱动下，吴敬梓怎样完成了创作，这个过程即是《儒林外史》的“文本生成”。吴敬梓的“小说意识”与《儒林外史》的“文本生成”是两个相辅相成的问题，三章分别从三个角度对其进行分析。

第一章聚焦于《儒林外史》之“外史”。“外史”这个词来自于史学，与“正史”相对，有着被轻视的传统。在《儒林外史》之前，还有《武王伐纣外史》和《女仙外史》这样两部神魔化的“外史”小说。在这样双重不利因素的制约下，吴敬梓书写了一部生活化的“外史”小说，既借助自己的亲友作为原型人物完成了“当代历史”的书写，又深化了“外史”小说的内涵。同时，与同时代的人相比，吴敬梓表现出了一种反思性的史观。《女仙外史》的作者吕熊以狂想的方式改写历史，注定只能迎合特殊群体的情感；题咏“永乐大钟”的文人们以不痛不痒的方式反思历史，表面上的反叛透露出骨子里对权力的屈服与迎合；吴敬梓不直接表达自己对历史的态度，而是将明清时期社会上存在的各种关于明代历史的言论巧妙地化为小说人物的观点，在小说中营造出“众声喧哗”的场域。不事先预设任何一种立场，才能在综合呈现中找到反思的可能。

第二章将《儒林外史》和《明史》的《儒林传》《列女传》《孝义传》进行对比分析，关注三个特殊群体儒林、女性和孝子在作为小说的《儒林外史》和作为正史的《明史》这两种性质不同的文本中展现出了怎样不同的面貌。儒林、女性和孝子在《明史》中都是以类传的方式被收录的，同时他们都属于“边缘人物”，这导致身处群体中的个体面目是模糊的——这恰恰是《儒林外史》这样一部“外史”小说的价值所在。《儒林外史》体现出吴敬梓对儒林出路的反思、对女性多样化的审美以及对孝的日常性的倡导。无论是儒林、列女还是孝子，群体性不再是被强调的重点，群体中的每一个个体才是真正的主角。

第三章关注的是吴敬梓在《儒林外史》中运用了哪些叙事策略，重点关注的是重复叙事和散文叙事。吴敬梓在《儒林外史》中运用了一种特殊的叙事策略——重复叙事。叙事技巧同样是作者“小说意识”的充分体现，“重复”原本就大量存在于章回小说之中，但《儒林外史》的重复叙事仍然展现了吴敬梓的新意。第二节关注的是《儒林外史》的散文化叙事，特别是吴敬梓摒弃了“有诗为证”的传统，甚至在多处情节回避引诗，这是一种值得关注的特殊现象，当然也体现了吴敬梓的小说意识。

As a novel independently created by literati, the text of Rulin Waishi reflects the author Wu Jingzi's thoughts and concepts, namely "novel consciousness". Under the drive of "novel consciousness", how Wu Jingzi completed his creation is the "text generation" of Rulin Waishi. Wu Jingzi's "novel consciousness" and the "text generation" of Rulin Waishi are two complementary issues, and the three chapters analyze them from three perspectives.

The first chapter focuses on the "external history". The term "external history" comes from historiography and has a tradition of being underestimated compared to "official history". Before Rulin Waishi, there were two mythical "external history" novels, Wu Wang Fa Zhou Waishi and NvXian Waishi. Under the constraints of such dual unfavorable factors, Wu Jingzi wrote a life oriented "external history" novel, which not only used his own relatives and friends as prototype characters to complete the writing of "contemporary history", but also deepened the connotation of "external history" novels. Meanwhile, compared to his contemporaries, Wu Jingzi exhibited a reflective view of history. Lv Xiong, the author of NvXian Waishi, rewrote history in a wild and imaginative way, destined to only cater to the emotions of special groups; The literati who recited the poem "Yongle Bell" reflected on history in a painless way, and the surface rebellion revealed the deep-seated surrender and conformity to power; Wu Jingzi did not directly express his attitude towards history, but cleverly transformed various comments on Ming Dynasty history that existed in society during the Ming and Qing dynasties into the views of the characters in the novel, creating the polyphony in the novel. Without pre setting any position, one can find the possibility of reflection in the comprehensive presentation.

The second chapter compares and analyzes the "Biographies of the Scholars", "Biographies of Women", and "Biographies of Filial Piety and Righteousness" of Rulin Waishi and Ming History, focusing on how the three special groups of Confucian scholars, women, and filial sons exhibit different perspectives in the two texts with different natures, namely Rulin Waishi as a novel and Ming History as a formal historian. The Confucian scholars, women, and filial sons are all included in History of Ming in a biographical manner, and they all belong to the "marginal figures", which leads to the blurred appearance of individuals in the group - this is precisely the value of Rulin Waishi. Rulin Waishi reflects Wu Jingzi's reflection on the way out for the Confucian community, his diverse aesthetic views on women, and his advocacy for the daily nature of filial piety. Whether it is a Confucian scholar, a female scholar, or a filial son, group identity is no longer the focus of emphasis, and every individual in the group is the true protagonist.

The third chapter focuses on the narrative strategies employed by Wu Jingzi in Rulin Waishi, with a focus on repetitive and prose narratives. Wu Jingzi used a special narrative strategy in Rulin Waishi - repetitive narration. Narrative techniques are also a full manifestation of the author's "novel consciousness". "Repetition" is already widely present in chapter novels, but the repetitive narrative in Rulin Waishi still demonstrates Wu Jingzi's novelty. The second section focuses on the scattered cultural narrative of Rulin Waishi, especially Wu Jingzi's rejection of the tradition of "having poetry as evidence" and even avoiding citing poetry in multiple plot points. This is a special phenomenon worth paying attention to, which also reflects Wu Jingzi's novel consciousness.