Three stages of the author's signature on Journey to the West
1, Ming dynasty: anonymous
The earliest version of The Journey to the West today is The Journey to the West ("Shiben" for short) written by Shidetang in Jinling in the 20th year of Wanli of Ming Dynasty (1592). Without the author's name, it is clearly written in Chen's Preface to the Journey to the West: "I don't know who did it." What is particularly interesting is that Shiben did not name the author, but put the words "Huayang Dong Tian Master School" in a prominent position on the title page, as if deliberately "making games", using a "proofreader" to prevaricate, and even using a pseudonym to confuse the audience. Generally, The Journey to the West's hundreds of novels in the Ming Dynasty all follow the tradition of the world and tell the authors that they are anonymous.
2. Qing Dynasty: Qiu Chuji
During the reign of Kangxi in the early Qing Dynasty, Wang Lianyi named Notes on a Journey to the West as "Journey to the West", and the first author was Qiu Chuji, a Taoist priest in the early Yuan Dynasty (Qiu Ben erected a mound for fear of Confucius' political reform). The Journey to the West's preface, written by Yu Ji, a great writer in Yuan Dynasty, is placed at the front of the volume, which clearly reads: "The Journey to the West was compiled by Mr. Zhenren in Changchun, China." Wang Lianyi also added two appendices to the original preface, The Biography of Qiu Changchun and The Story of Xuanzang, which respectively introduced the life of Qiu Chuji and the historical facts of Xuanzang's schooling. These three appendices confirm each other, which convinces future generations that "Zuo Qiu" theory is popular all over the world. There are seven versions of The Journey to the West in Qing Dynasty that can be seen now. All of them were written by Qiu Chuji, and some of them were written by Qiu Changchun. I have to say that Wang Lianyi is an excellent book planner and is worth learning from today's publishers.
3. Modern: Wu Cheng'en
During the May 4th Movement, scholars such as Lu Xun, Hu Shi and Dong Zuobin searched for historical materials in many ways according to the clues provided by the Qing people. After comprehensive textual research and repeated argumentation, they first refuted Zuo Qiu's "rootless talk" and stripped off the long-term copyright of Qiu Chuji's "impostor". Finally, according to the records in The Records of Huai 'an Prefecture and The Apocalypse Wu Cheng'en's Journey to the West, The Journey to the West was determined to be the benefactor of Huai 'an. In 1930s, famous scholars such as Zheng Zhenduo, Sun Jiedi, Zhao and Liu Xiuye continued to quote and state. Since then, Wu Zhu has been widely known in academic circles, and all the authors in The Journey to the West published in the future are Wu Cheng'en. The Journey to the West CCTV TV series 1986, also wrote "The Original Works of Wu Cheng'en", saying that "Wuzhu" is deeply rooted in people's hearts.
Qiu Chuji PK Wu Cheng'en
In the new period, there suddenly appeared the author dispute in The Journey to the West. First, overseas scholars constantly put forward opinions against the theory of "Wu Zhu" on different occasions, and also made in-depth research on the theory of "Zuo Qiu" waiting for candidates. Finally, with 1983, Mr. Zhang's Hundred Books as a symbol, whether it was written by Wu Cheng'en (Social Science Front, No.4, 1983) was questioned in an all-round way, which opened a new round of unprecedented and influential debate. Today, just like throwing sand for gold, Xu Baiyun,,,, Chen, Zhu, Yan Xiyan and others have either been eliminated or basically withdrawn from the "election", leaving only Wu Cheng'en and Qiu Chuji to confront each other, showing a "two into one" situation.
1, Qiu Chuji (1148-1227), whose real name is Tong Mi, started as one of the "Seven Sons of Quanzhen" and was the founder of Quanzhen Sect. Later, Quanzhen Panxi School, Longmen School and "Da Dan Zhi Zhi" were founded. Because of the innate contradiction between his Taoist identity and the Buddhist theme of Xuanzang's scriptures, the theory of "Zuo Qiu" was questioned by many parties shortly after its establishment.
One is Ji Yun, editor-in-chief of Sikuquanshu. He discovered the phenomenon of "multi-Ming system" (official system, official position) in The Journey to the West, so he suspected that what Zuo Qiu said was "out of date". Qiu Chuji was born in Song and Yuan Dynasties. How can there be many Ming Dynasty official systems and offices in The Journey to the West created by him, such as Royal Guards, Sword, Huitong Pavilion, Dongcheng Army and Military Divisions? On the contrary, since The Journey to the West is a "multi-Ming system", it must be "undoubtedly supported by the Ming people", and its author should be the Amin Dynasty, especially the Taoist Qiu Chuji in the Song and Yuan Dynasties. Borrowing the academic language of modern criminal investigation, he "has no time to commit crimes".
The second is Qian Daxin, a master of Ganjia Park research. He actually found and copied Qiu Chuji's two-volume Journey to the West in the orthodox collection of Suzhou Xuanmiao Temple in the 60th year of Qing Dynasty (1795). So the so-called high-speed journey to the west. It turned out to be a travel book written by Li Zhichang, a Taoist priest of Quanzhen Sect, which mainly described what Qiu Chuji saw and heard on his way to the snow-capped mountains with eighteen disciples for four years, and several conversations between Qiu Chuji and Genghis Khan. The thin two volumes are less than 50 thousand words, which are actually different books with the same name as the Baihui novel of Journey to the West. Taking Qiu Chuji as the author of The Journey to the West is totally false. (See Postscript of Changchun Real Journey to the West)
Relying on the materials provided by Ji Yun, Qian Daxin, Wu Yuxi, Ding Yan, Ruan Kuisheng and other Qing people, Lu Xun and Hu Shi conducted in-depth textual research and analysis on the theory of "Zuo Qiu" by using modern academic methods, and finally overturned it. For example, from the perspective of historical theory, Lu Xun revealed the reasons for the confusion between the two books from the history of the emergence and spread of Zuo Qiu's theory, and refuted all kinds of tricks of "carving the novel of Journey to the West in Qing Dynasty (actually Wang Lianyi), taking the preface to Changchun's Journey to the West as the first", thus reaching the conclusion that "rootless talk is becoming more and more difficult to pull out" as Zuo Qiu said. (A Brief History of Chinese Novels, article 17).
There are still people who insist on Zuo Qiu's theory in academic circles, and the defense of Qiu Chuji mainly focuses on the following aspects: First, it may not be enough to deny Zuo Qiu's theory with a real The Journey to the West in Changchun, and Qiu Chuji may be the co-author of two The Journey to the West novels. Secondly, The Journey to the West is a work accumulated from generation to generation, which was written by Qiu Chuji or The Journey to the West of primitive people. Thirdly, there are many Taoist Quanzhen religions in Journey to the West, and Qiu Chuji should be the best choice for Journey to the West.
In view of the charm of these "convinced" defenses, the analysis is as follows:
It is unlikely that Qiu Chuji will write two books of the same name by himself. Ancient literati have the pursuit of "harmony without difference is the most precious, harmony without difference". Even words of the same kind will definitely be refurbished and changed in the title, and at least one or two words will be marked. Therefore, putting forward this logical "sufficient method" has no practical credibility today.
"Primitive Man's Journey to the West" refers to The Journey to the West's works before The Journey to the West, such as Poems by the Master of the Tang Dynasty, Zaju of Journey to the West and Comments on Journey to the West. The problem is that 1 and The Primitive Man's Journey to the West are not equal to the Journey to the West, and the author of The Primitive Man's Journey to the West is not equal to the author of the Journey to the West. So the so-called "Qiu Chuji is the original author of The Journey to the West" is a false proposition in itself, which is equivalent to denying that Qiu Chuji once wrote hundreds of novels in The Journey to the West. 2. The signatures of these The Journey to the West's original works are quite clear: Shi Hua was written by an anonymous person in the Tang and Five Dynasties; The Journey to the West's Zaju was written by Yang Jingxian, a famous opera master in Ming Dynasty (according to Sun Jiedi); The complete version of Journey to the West Pinghua in Ming Dynasty has been lost. So far, only two fragments have been found, which are kept in Yongle Dadian and Interpretation of Shi Yan, an ancient Korean Chinese textbook. The author is anonymous, and there is no sign of Qiu Chuji at all. It can be seen that The Primitive Man's Journey to the West has nothing to do with the opportunity in early autumn. 3. In those days, Wang Lianyi compiled The Journey to the West's original preface in the name of Yu Ji, a great writer in the Yuan Dynasty, and called Qiu Chuji one hundred novels by The Journey to the West, with the words "Master Xuanzang learned stories from books" and "His books are fantastic and voluminous, with hundreds of thousands of words in mind", instead of referring to a certain kind of "primitive journey to the West" in vain. Taking Qiu Chuji as the "original author" of Journey to the West is just a beautiful dream that some Qiu Chuji fans talk about helplessly.
As for "The Journey to the West has Quanzhen religion, and the author is a Taoist middleman", this theory is unreliable. Journey to the West is a treasure house of China culture, with three religions * * * and nine streams, and diverse cultural connotations. Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, or a hundred schools of thought contend, cannot be used by any party to win an exclusive prize for Journey to the West. As we all know, the world of ghosts and gods in Journey to the West is full of fascinating stories, among which there are many Confucian remarks. Can we regard The Journey to the West as The Analects of Confucius and Mencius and conclude that it was written by Confucius and Mencius?
In short, these excuses are basically unreasonable, and it seems that they can't fundamentally change the fate of "Zuo Qiu" and "rootless talk".
2. The popularity of "Wu Zhu" theory is not accidental, and there is sufficient evidence to support it. Mainly: Wu Cheng'en once worked in the Wangfu of Jingxian County, Hubei Province, which accords with the premise that "Journey to the West comes from the princes' palace" in Chen Xuzhong; Wu Cheng'en's life and personality, especially Wu Cheng'en's Journey to the West, are clearly recorded in Huai 'an Fu Zhi. Wu Cheng'en's Sheyang Survival Draft (now edited as Poems of Wu Cheng'en, Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House) and The Journey to the West prove each other; There are many geographical features in The Journey to the West, such as the prototype of the Monkey King is Wu Zhiqi, the monkey of Huaihe River, and the native place of Tang Priest is Juxian Village in Haizhou. Of course, it is also closely related to the lofty prestige of Lu Xun and Hu Shi, the best-selling books of People's Literature Publishing House, and the strong popularity of CCTV TV with the same name.
However, from an academic point of view, there are loopholes in the theory of "five masters" The short board of his experience is that Wu Chengen and Journey to the West are recorded in Huai 'an County Records, but the genre and volume of the novel are not indicated. According to the tradition of literature and history, this novel may not be included in local chronicles, and it must not be a novel. So it is very likely that, like Qiu Chuji's Journey to the West, it is also a record of Wu Cheng'en's travels to the west. Later, it was found that Huang Yuxi's Qian Qingtang Bibliography in the early Qing Dynasty contained a description of Wu Chengen and Journey to the West, but it belonged to geography, obviously belonging to geography (such as travel notes). In this way, there is another layer of proof of "non-Wu", and the theory of "Wu Annotation" is tied with a "dead knot".
Wu Cheng'en: A Questioned The Journey to the West Author
It should be noted that in the face of many doubts, "Uju" said that the camp had retreated. In many books and papers, there are euphemistic and rigorous expressions such as "Journey to the West is the author and Wu Cheng'en is the first" and "Wu Cheng'en is the author of The Journey to the West, but there are still differences in academic circles, so let's talk about it here".
In my opinion, under the current academic background, Wu Cheng'en has reason to be a reasonable reference for The Journey to the West, because after all, Wu Cheng'en is most likely to write The Journey to the West. There are many successful examples of this "pause" method, which has made useful reference for us. For example, before liberation, Mr. Ye Dejun wrote the Research Materials on Journey to the West, which pointed out at the beginning: "Book of Apocalypse of Huai 'an Prefecture, Book of Literature and Art, Book of Huai 'an County and Book of Kangxi of Huai 'an Prefecture all recorded Wu Cheng'en's journey to the West. It is doubtful whether this The Journey to the West is a popular novel, but before there is conclusive evidence to overthrow Zuo Wu's theory, we might as well regard him as a revised version of The Journey to the West. (Textual Research Series on Traditional Chinese Opera Novels (Volume II)) and based on this, the collection, arrangement and collection of The Journey to the West and Wu Cheng'en materials were started.
A wise man corrects his own mistakes through the mistakes of others. Since the theory of "Zuo Qiu" is unreasonable and we have the upper hand in the game between Qiu Chuji and Wu Cheng'en, we have no choice but to adopt the theory of "Wu Zhu". Since the reason is not sufficient enough to convince the public, it is the most reasonable choice to temporarily doubt-that is, take Wu Cheng'en as the reference of The Journey to the West's author. Otherwise, we can only go back to the chaotic state of "Anonymous" in the Ming Dynasty.