本論文主旨在探究關於明末文士徐文長的傳說與故事，主要以民國以後筆者所蒐集的徐文長的傳說與故事的二十九個文本為研究範圍，並兼及同型之明清筆記小說、少數外國故事與民國後非徐文長之故事。論文中釐清傳說與故事之義界，探究徐文長之生平及文藝，述及徐文長傳說之特色，並依AT分類法而得五十二個已成類型的故事以做討論。可以得到如下結論：在真實與虛構的徐文長之間存在的關係在於故事講述者的視角。其差別在於徐文長傳說是依照徐文長的特色發展而出的，而徐文長故事，則是已先有同樣的故事模式，徐文長其人只是其中一個被借用的角色而已，因此，不具有典型的代表性。
This thesis is designed to explore the folktales related to Xu Wen-Chang, a scholar in late Ming dynasty, with the study cope of 29 texts of folktales related to Xu Wen-Chang after 1912 mainly collected by the author, also on the same type of notes and novels of Ming and Qing dynasties, and a few foreign and non-Xu Wen-Chang’s stories after 1912. In the thesis, the definition and meaning of legends and stories are clarified, Xu Wen-Chang’s life and arts are explored, describing the characteristics of Xu Wen-Chang’s legends, and 52 classified stories derived according to Aarne-Thompson Classification System are discussed. It can get the following results that the existing relationship between real and imaginary Xu Wen-Chang depends on storyteller’s perspective. The difference is that Xu Wen-Chang legends were developed in accordance with Xu Wen-Chang’s characteristics, but Xu Wen-Chang stories first had same story mode, and Xu Wen-Chang was a role borrowed only; therefore, there was no typical representative.
