近現代以來，古典小說的研究，主要路數大約有四：一為版本考證，以定其真偽、繁簡、良窳；二為從純文學觀點，詮釋作品自身的母題要素、主題意義、敘述結構、場景與人物描寫的修辭技法，以及由此所產生的審美效果，並評斷其藝術價值；三為從「文學實用」的觀點，詮釋或評斷小說在政教諷諭上的功能、效用；四為離開小說自身文本性的位置，另從庶民社會史或文化史的觀點，將小說當作「史料」，考察它所承載的古代社會或文化的歷史經驗現象及事實。本論文從上述四種研究路數轉向，另拓創新的詮釋視域：不離開小說自身的文本性位置，亦即研究對象是「小說」文本，而不是僅將小說當作「史料」，去研究庶民社會史或文化史；但卻不預設「純文學本位」觀點，而轉從社會、文化的進路，詮釋小說內、外在之「意義生產」的因素、條件及過程。從這個研究進路，本論文所提出的創發性論點是：中國古典小說名著都具有「文化原料性」的特質，故其文本沒有一種繫屬於「定身作者」或繫屬於「定式結構」的「定指主題」之意義；而始終處在多數參與者不斷進行「不定式文本再製」，從而再現其意義，並兌現其價值的生產過程中；故而沒有唯一固定的作者、沒有不可更改的「定本」、也沒有封閉不變的「意義」。從作者身分到文本形式、內容都始終處在「開放性」的狀態中，而不斷進行「意義」的再生產。

The modern-day study of Chinese classical fiction contains four main approaches: 1. Comparative Bibliography: to identify the true and false, the merit and the defect. 2. Literary Criticism: to interpret a context on the aesthetics. 3. Sociology Criticism: to value how a fiction practice on a political level. 4. Historical Reference: to alienate from literature and explore the culture and the community that the context reflects. In spite of the approaches, this thesis aims a perspective which studies the context itself. That is to say, a fiction is reviewed as a creation of the society which represents a certain culture background. A pure literature departmentalism is not considered, but how the connotation and the appearance of the fiction was manufactured. This innovative approach is to indicate that within all canons of Chinese classical fiction, there exists the ＂Culture Ingredientability.＂ A context is not designate to one specific orientation. In the quest of research, a context was produced by many different authors, modified in historical timeline, and recreated with different values. There is no way to identify the author, nor to define a specific genre, its content is open and fluent. Thus the process of revealing a context, one will find the representation of the social reality. A fiction therefore is the negotiation of cultural merits with multiple ingredients which reflects the panorama of the society.