从“五四”新文化运动以后的新文学立场回看晚清小说，无论梁启超的“新小说”、鲁迅的“谴责小说”，还是旧文人的“鸳蝴派”小说，都被归入了“旧文学”的营垒。但若以小说观和女性观来衡量的话，曾朴的《孽海花》都是“新小说”而非“旧小说”。其“以掌故为小说”的文学实践，不仅打通了章回体与笔记体的传统小说样式，也能以西方文学的小说观念为参照，在清末民初的转型期，适成为新旧文学的桥梁。《孽海花》写了才子佳人，但不再是传统才子佳人小说的写法，而是其终结；写晚清历史，也不是历史演义体，而有丰富的生活细节，是一种风俗志式的呈现；作为描摹官场士林之小说佳作，从类型小说的角度，也可视之为中国“学界小说”之先驱，上继《儒林外史》，下开《围城》，倘与欧美“学界小说”所描写的士林画像及学术场域对照磨勘，更可知曾朴的《孽海花》有其不可磨灭的文学贡献。

From the perspective of New Literature after the May Fourth New Culture Movement, Liang Qichao’s “new fiction”, Lu Xun’s “satirical fiction” and old scholars’ fiction from “the School of Mandarin Ducks and Butterflies”, are all classified as old literature. Yet from the perspective of both fiction studies and feminism, Zeng Pu’s A Flower in a Sinful Sea is a new, instead of an old, novel. Its literary practice of “transforming anecdotes into fiction”, by integrating the style of the chaptered novel, note-form fiction, as well as western fiction, connects the old and new literature during the late Qing dynasty and the Republic of China. Other than historical interpretation, A Flower in a Sinful Sea’s brilliant depiction of Late Qing history and its officials and gentry contains rich life details and customs. As China’s pioneer of “academic fiction”, it links The Unofficial History of the Scholars and The Besieged City, thus making an indelible contribution to Chinese fiction.