The most special thing about China's ancient novels is that there are two systems that cannot be confused: classical Chinese and vernacular Chinese. Classical Chinese originated from the miscellaneous notes of officials in pre-Qin period. It is a short record of gossip in the streets and lanes, and it is the so-called essay literature. Popular vernacular novels began in the Tang and Song Dynasties. They reprocessed and recorded the colorful stories of the speaker. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, a large number of scholars actively participated in it and got great development. Formed several novel genres, such as historical romance, heroic legend, ghost novel, human novel and romantic love. They are facing the broad masses of ordinary people. Basically, the two novels have different systems in style, origin and evolution.
First, the concept of original novel
In fact, the initial stage of the novel was the foundation laid as early as the pre-Qin and Han Dynasties. The first time I saw the word "novel" was in Zhuangzi's article: "It is rare for a husband to have a big fish. Because he is tired of uncovering the pole, he is interested in watering the gods." Decorating a novel with a county magistrate is far from dada; Therefore, I have never heard of the custom of the stone man, and it cannot be separated from the world. "Zhuangzi _ 231; Miscellaneous articles _ 231; Here, Zhuangzi made a relative comparison between "novel" and "da", in which novel refers to superficial theory, which does not attach importance to justice and reason, and is very similar to the concept of novel in the eyes of ancient literati.
However, in the Han Dynasty, the word "novel" was a general term for ancient and modern books. Han _ 231of Bangu in the Eastern Han Dynasty; There is a list of "novelists" in the book Yi, which reads: "Novelists are based on official flow, gossip and hearsay." "In fact, this is a topic corresponding to Emperor Wang Zhidao, gains and losses of politics and religion. The so-called novels should only be related to their own lives, such as villagers, food, clothing, housing and transportation.
Second, the origin of the novel
Lu Xun mentioned in A Brief History of Chinese Novels that novels originated from fairy tales told by people in their leisure time. Basically, I believe this statement, because the previous generation was in awe and fear of nature. They always thought that the phenomenon that nature should be cut was subject to God's will. This "God" is everywhere, and he arranged everything in the dark. In the eyes of the ancients, the complex problems that later generations thought were all explained by the phrase "animism". And fought hard with nature, visualized and artistically, and created a heroic image. In ancient mythology, there are two kinds of myths, one is a hero and the other is a natural god. The latter is like Lei Gong Dian Mu and Shi Feng Apollo, while the former is like Houyi shooting the sun and the mother snail mending the sky. In fact, it is very important here that the myth has not kept its original appearance after being absorbed by the novel, which can be verified from the evolution of the myth of the western queen mother. In Shan Hai Jing, the Queen Mother of the West is "as strong as a human being, with a leopard's tail and tiger's teeth, and she is good at whistling, which makes A Dai born". She is like a demon in seven points, which is terrible. Moreover, in Shan Hai Jing, we can't tell the gender of the Queen Mother of the West. By the Warring States period, the Queen Mother of the West had become a master. Later, in the biography of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the Queen Mother of the West has become "thirty years old, with short hair and both talents and looks." "The beauty. In the process of being transformed, myths are often added with moral lessons, philosophy of life and worldly wisdom by later generations. At this time, the myth has become history, and the ancient myth materials in China have lost their rough original appearance. I think this is the reason!
Third, pre-Qin novels
Although the name of novel as a style did not appear until the Han Dynasty, there were novel books in the pre-Qin period, but unfortunately, these books have long been lost. The novels we can see now, such as Shan Hai Jing and Mu Chuan, were gradually shaped in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. There are eighteen volumes of Shan Hai Jing today, which is noted by scholar Guo Pu. As for who the author is, there is still no conclusion. However, judging from its content, it should be based on ancient myths and geographical legends adopted by wizards and alchemists in the middle and late Warring States period, and it was not until the Qin and Han Dynasties that it was classified as Shan Hai Jing. The book contains rich myths and legends, mountains and rivers, natural history and other anecdotes. Relatively speaking, its geographical nature convinced the ancients that it was a reliable geography book. The same is true of Mu's biography. Shan Hai Jing is regarded by later generations as the originator of China's strange novels.
Fourth, the novels of Han Dynasty.
Nerve was written in the Han Dynasty, but the author is still uncertain. This book was produced under the influence of Shan Hai Jing. No matter in content or brushwork, it imitates Shan Hai Jing, but the author adds the concepts of immortal magic and Confucianism. Liang Wudi has heard the story of Hanwu, the minister of Hanshu, all his life, and the part about how he became immortal is particularly detailed. Because the story of Hanwu combines history with fantasy, and its style is elegant, it becomes a typical mystery novel. The more famous one should be Yan Danzi! His author and writing date are still not correctly inferred. The only thing that can be confirmed is that this is a work of the Han Dynasty, which should be affirmed. The book tells the story of Jing Ke stabbing the king of Qin. It is only because people in that era added a lot of content and plots in the process of "listening to biography", which made the plots more vivid and tortuous, but they were farther and farther away from historical facts, and were written on the basis of folklore.
Verb (abbreviation of verb) Anecdotes of Wei, Jin and Six Dynasties
The so-called anecdote novel, also known as Zhi Ren novel (inferred by Lu Xun according to the name of Zhi Guai novel), the first anecdote novel should be Shi Shuo Xin Yu, written by King Linchuan in Southern Song Dynasty, with Wei Liu's note. Thirty-six articles on politics, morality, speech and literature recorded anecdotes from the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Although their contents are trivial, they vividly show the thoughts and living conditions of scholars in Wei and Jin Dynasties, and write the negative and world-weary atmosphere of scholars. Many of these stories are the themes of later dramas and novels.
Sixth, strange novels in Wei and Jin Dynasties.
The rise of mystery novels should originate from the mystery novels in the pre-Qin period, such as Shan Hai Jing and Mu Zhuan. This is the case with natural history, which, like Shan Hai Jing, records trivial essays of geographical natural history. The highest achievement of mystery novels should be "Searching for the Gods"! He is different from geography and natural history novels. He mainly records ghost stories, but also includes some wild essays. The author is Gan Bao of Jin Dynasty, and his Search for the Gods is a magical experience of his father's servant and brother coming back from the dead. On the one hand, he "recorded his book before taking the exam", on the other hand, he "accepted his legacy and fled for a while". When writing this book, Gambao made mistakes because he overcharged his books, and he also had his own opinions to deal with them. Of course, there are still omissions and shortcomings, so Lu Xun called him a "half-true and half-false book." There are many familiar stories in Searching for God, such as Mo Xie, the wife of Donghai, and The Fairy Marries Yong Dong, many of which have been adapted into operas.
Seven, Tang and Five Dynasties novels
In the Tang Dynasty, there were two popular novels: legends and stories. The legend of the Tang Dynasty is basically derived from the strange novels of the Wei, Jin and Six Dynasties, but his writing style is written in the form of a writer's biography. In its heyday, some famous works appeared, such as Sleeping on the Pillow Story, Biography of Li Wa, Biography of Yingying and Biography of Conan. However, in contrast, the predecessor of popular storytelling novels in Song and Ming Dynasties, The Story of the Tang Dynasty, may also be due to the prevalence of Buddhism in Chang 'an, the capital of the Tang Dynasty, both in justice and among the people. Monks' preaching to the world is divided into monk preaching and vulgar preaching. The monk's lecture is, of course, to tell the Buddhist scriptures to the monk, while the popular scriptures explain the Buddhism to the whole world and also have the purpose of giving alms. Because proverbs are suitable for the general public, it is necessary to absorb folk speaking skills and evolve them into a complete and rich skill. This is undoubtedly of great significance to the development of language in Song and Yuan Dynasties.
In the novels of the Tang Dynasty, what really makes this legend shine is Ji's Ren Zhuan. This is also a story about the mythical ghost who passed the test of layers of love and died together. However, Gigi's well-known masterpiece is not this one, but the Pillow Story. Discrimination will find that previous novels are all novels with positive educational significance, so as to satirize those rich and powerful officials. Adding some creativity to the old theme and enriching the plot with your own imagination is indeed something that has a far-reaching impact on the future performing arts, such as Tang Xianzu's "Handan Ji".
The greatest work of Tang legend should be Bai Xingjian's Biography of Li Wa. This article should have been read in Tai Ping Guang Ji. The three twists and turns in the story make the story firmly grasp people's hearts, so it is no wonder that it will become a masterpiece through the ages. The portrayal of the heroine Li Wa also shows the calmness and sobriety of a dusty woman. When she saw the tragic experience of Xingyang's son, she aroused her sympathy and helped him. She is greater than Huo Xiaoyu in that she doesn't even want to be married for eight years, and she is more free and easy emotionally. That is, they can't be combined with their relatives because of their portal views, and this is also the origin of the familiar set of "top scholars" in novels and operas. There is another novel in the Tang Dynasty that can't be ignored, that is, The Biography of Yingying, which has the greatest influence, and the dramas written in later generations are also based on it. The author is Yuan Zhen, and some people say that this is Yuan Zhen's own personal experience, but many researchers have different opinions, so I won't elaborate on it. The biggest difference between Yingying Biography and previous novels is that the heroine is a talented woman with reasonable knowledge and aristocratic family, which is different from the roles of prostitutes and goblins in the past. The last peak of the Tang legend in its heyday was Jiang Fang's Biography of Huo Xiaoyu. It is also a love story between a scholar and a prostitute. Just because of Huo's little desire, Li Yi will have to wait for eight years before she can start another portal. I didn't expect Li Yi to be ruthless, which led to Huo Xiaoyu's death and revenge as a spectre. Realism with clear love and hate directly shows the fragility of human nature and becomes one of the representative works of Tang legends. The works in the late Tang Dynasty are not as good as before, and the later ones are Tu Xue's Biography of Wu Shuang and Wu Ming's Biography of Lingying. Although both of them are innovative in techniques, they are inferior to their previous works in essence.
Eight, Song and Yuan scripts
Because the development of novel art in Song and Yuan Dynasties is not in classical Chinese, the achievements of classical Chinese novels are not as good as those of popular novels. Driven by the rich cultural baptism and economic prosperity in the Tang, Song and Yuan Dynasties, various distinctive oral forms from the people were born in this period and laid a solid foundation.
There was an art called "talking" in the Song Dynasty. The performance venue is called "Washe" or "Wazi", which is a large-scale comprehensive amusement park. The place where various operas are performed is called "Goulan". Of course, "speaking" is most easily accepted by ordinary people, and among many subjects, the most easily accepted by ordinary people should be historical stories. Its content is mostly related to the rise and fall of dynasties and military affairs. The reference history books include Hanshu, History of the Five Dynasties, Spring and Autumn Annals of the Seven Kingdoms, etc. , and the most popular is undoubtedly the reflection. At the end of Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of Ming Dynasty, there was Luo Guanzhong's popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which opened a precedent for China's historical romance novels. In the Song Dynasty, because of national politics, ordinary people liked to listen to the content of "Breaking the Golden Drum Biography", which immediately reflected the national luck, the popular uprising and the resistance to foreign invasion in the Song Dynasty. Most stories are about heroes, and themes like Yang Jiajiang and Water Margin are the most popular, which set a precedent for heroic novels. There is also a genre that is still popular among the people in the Song Dynasty, that is, case-solving novels, which show people's dissatisfaction with corrupt officials and their expectation for "Master Qing Tian". Bao Qingtian still meets the people's expectations of the government. Another kind of vernacular short stories, namely "San Yan" by Feng Menglong and "Er Pai" by Ling Mengchu, have no remarkable achievements.
Among the existing scripts of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, love and case-solving have the most works and the highest achievements. The masterpiece of love novel Rolling Jade Guanyin shows the determination of ordinary people to love. Even if they become ghosts, they should show their determination to risk their lives to pursue their own happiness. The representative case-solving novel is Wrong Chop Cui Ning. It reflects the indiscretion and disregard for human life of officials in the Southern Song Dynasty, and the author questions and criticizes the judicial malpractice. Because people who speak with vivid words face a wide audience every day, it must be a major feature of this period to be familiar with the spoken language used by ordinary people and to express the vitality of characters and dialogues through the proficiency of the speakers.
Nine, Ming Dynasty novels
China's novels flourished and matured in Ming Dynasty. The four major novels in Ming Dynasty are represented by Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin, The Journey to the West and Jin Ping Mei, which respectively represent novels in four fields: historical romance, heroic legend, ghosts and gods, and human feelings novels. By the way, these four books were written by Li Yujiang, a man of A Qing Dynasty, and they are called the Four Wonders in the novel world.
First of all, let me start with historical romance. As far as its content is concerned, historical romances are mostly based on official history. Mr. Sun wrote in China Popular Fiction Bibliography _ 231; In the classification description, it is mentioned that "playing with the history close to the past of a generation of historical events" and "playing with ancient and modern events with general history". These two points make us feel that although historical romance novels are based on history, their contents are different from the historical facts of Dachuan, and they should be more adapted, fictionalized and pinned on ideals and hopes. The storytelling industry in the Song Dynasty undoubtedly played a great role in promoting the richness and wide spread of the stories of the Three Kingdoms. Because there are many versions from the Three Kingdoms to now, the 120 edition of Mao Zonggang in the Qing Dynasty is the most popular. Because this book was written earlier than others, its style is still simple classical Chinese, and its content is so popular with people. I think it's because Luo Guanzhong's "supporting Liu and opposing Cao" fits their Taoist view, and each character has a distinct personality, which is very easy to attract people's recognition.
Shi Naian and Jin Shengtan, the authors of the heroic legendary novel Water Margin, mentioned in the preface of Water Margin: "Water Margin is about 180 people, each with his own temperament, shape and voice. ..... Shi Naian with one heart, one hundred and eight people into the wonderful, without him, once every ten years, with a pen, write a million people, so it's not difficult. The characters in Water Margin all have distinct personalities, such as jy, Lu, Lin Chong, etc., which are all brightly colored and meticulously crafted, and are the places where the brushwork is displayed in the characterization. Because Water Margin tells the story of 108 heroes in water margin, the color of savage heroes is serious, which makes people feel full of life.
The concept of ghost novels was first put forward and used by Mr. Lu Xun (see the fifth lecture of Lu Xun's Historical Changes of China Novels). China's popular novels developed to the middle of Ming Dynasty, but ghost novels should also appear. Because China people began to have this idea about immortals, ghosts and supernatural legends as early as the Shang Dynasty, folk myths have developed to this day, and literati like to participate in them. Since the beginning of self-defense, ghost novels have been flourishing, and because Chinese style is a country deeply influenced by religion, some religions of Buddhism, Taoism and western culture invaded China and merged and evolved with each other, and there were "lecturers" in the Tang Dynasty, so when popular novels matured in the middle of Ming Dynasty, ghost novels naturally flourished. Wu Cheng'en, the author of The Journey to the West, is based on the story of the Western Regions in the Tang Dynasty. In fact, we are all familiar with the figures, so I won't say much here. In fact, there is no lack of positive advice in the story, encouraging people to overcome difficulties and move forward actively. Although there is divine power to help them, how can they achieve anything without flexible minds?
Jin Ping Mei, the pioneering novel of human feelings, although many people think it is only a romantic novel, it writes the market customs of the society in the middle and late Ming Dynasty with exquisite brushwork, which is truly reflected in specific words. In this paper, a large number of colloquial expressions and proverbs are used to express the character, which makes us feel particularly emotional when reading, because the words used are very vivid and closer to the reader's heart. However, the obscene descriptions in it have been criticized by many people, but after all, it cannot be concealed that Jin Ping Mei is one of the most important works of China's popular novels and one of the four fantastic books in the novel world!
X. Qing dynasty novels
The highest achievement of novels in Qing Dynasty is undoubtedly Cao Xueqin's Dream of Red Mansions, which is a romantic novel. Of course, it's not just love, but also family, human feelings and intense feelings. I have been writing about Cao Xueqin's life, writing about human feelings with the ups and downs of the Cao family, and writing about the tragedy of an era. In fact, this novel was widely circulated between the Qing Dynasty and the Year of the Loong, and the style used was vernacular Zhang Hui novel. There are some good satirical novels in Qing Dynasty, such as Wu's The Scholars and Liu E's Travel Notes of Lao Can. The Scholars was taught in a civilian style. At that time, the literati pursued the degradation and pretence of fame and fortune in the imperial examination. Because the author hates the stereotyped imperial examination system, he uses brush strokes to describe the world and human feelings, so he can be harmonious, graceful and cynical, without any sweeping words and obscene words. But because of the cohesion of many short stories, it is a loose structure. The Travels of Lao Can is a social satire novel, although it is called Travel Notes. Many of its contents are related to exposing the evils of honest officials, among which the description of scenery is particularly unique, and he is good at comparing sounds with concrete things, which is his refined brushwork. In addition, it was mentioned that there were short note novels in classical Chinese in the Qing Dynasty, and Pu Songling's Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio was also written by immortals, but although it was a note novel, its structure was rigorous and it was systematically compiled and edited into a book. .....................。 . . . . . . . . . . . How about it (a lot about the four classic novels in ancient times)? Send it to you