In China, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, The Water Margin, A Dream of Red Mansions and The Journey to the West are widely known as "four classical novels". The ancients also said, "... it is better to read the water margin than to read the Three Kingdoms. The characters in the Water Margin are real, although they are better than the illusion of Journey to the West, but they are out of thin air at will, and their ingenuity is not difficult, but there is no room for change when the three countries say something in the end. However, due to the ingenuity of the pawn, the three countries are rich in talents, all of which are excellent in writing, with thousands of people such as Wu Yong and Gongsun Sheng at the top. I call it the purpose of the book of talents, and it is appropriate to take the romance of the Three Kingdoms as the first. "
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The Water Margin is a great novel written by Shi Naian based on his own life experience and the peasant uprising in the Northern Song Dynasty. This novel vividly describes the people's actions against oppression. It summarizes the struggle road from awakening to resistance of people of different classes at that time. It is these artistic achievements that make Water Margin one of the four great literary masterpieces in ancient China.
The Water Margin is a heroic legend and one of the representative works of China's ancient novels. It is based on the story of Sung River Uprising. Sung River Uprising took place in Huizong period of Northern Song Dynasty, and it is recorded in History of Song Dynasty, Biography of Huizong, Biography of Hou Meng and Biography of Zhang Shuye. Since the Southern Song Dynasty, the story of Sung River Uprising has been circulated among the people. Zuiwengtan Record records some independent legends about heroes of the Water Margin, while The Legacy of the Song Dynasty combines many stories of the Water Margin, which is very close to the novel. There were many water margin plays in Yuan Dynasty, and a group of Liangshan heroes appeared as stage images. "Water Margin" is based on the long-term spread of the story of Sung River Uprising and absorbs the nutrition of folk literature.
The Water Margin is one of the most popular vernacular classical novels. It came into being in the Ming Dynasty, and was created by the author on the basis of stories, scripts and operas about the Water Margin since the Song and Yuan Dynasties. The theme of this book is the peasant uprising led by Song Jiang, which artistically reproduces the tragic picture of the ancient people in China's resistance to oppression and heroic struggle. The works fully exposed the decay and cruelty of the feudal ruling class, exposed the sharp social contradictions and the cruel reality of "officials forcing the people to rebel" at that time, and successfully created a number of heroes such as Lu, jy, Lin Chong and Ruan. The novel has twists and turns, vivid language, vivid characters and high artistic achievements. However, his works praise and beautify Song Jiang, advocate "loyalty" and "justice for heaven", showing serious ideological limitations.
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Journey to the West mainly describes the Monkey King's story of protecting Tang Priest's Buddhist scriptures in the West and going through 81 difficulties. It is a true story in history that Tang Priest learned the scriptures. About 1300 years ago, in the first year of Zhenguan of Emperor Taizong (627), Xuanzang, a 25-year-old young monk, left the capital Chang 'an and went to Tianzhu (India) to study alone. After starting from Chang 'an, he passed through Central Asia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and finally arrived in India. He studied there for more than two years and gave a speech at a large-scale debate on Buddhist classics, which was well received. In the 19th year of Zhenguan (645), Xuanzang returned to Chang 'an and brought back 657 Buddhist scriptures. He traveled to Wan Li in 19 before and after this Buddhist pilgrimage, which was a legendary Long March and made a sensation. Later, Xuanzang dictated what he had learned about his journey to the West, which was compiled by his disciples into a 12 volume of "Records of the Western Regions of Datang". But this book is mainly about the history, geography and transportation of countries seen on the road, and there is no story. As for "Datang The biography of Master Sanzang" written by his disciples Huihe and Yan Cong, it adds a lot of myths to Xuanzang's experience. Since then, the story of Tang Priest's Buddhist scriptures has been widely circulated among the people. There were poems by three monks in the Tang Dynasty in the Southern Song Dynasty, Tang Sanzang and Pan in the Jin Dynasty, Tang Sanzang's "Learning from the Western Heaven" in Wu Changling, and "Great Sage" in the Fifth Ming Dynasty, all of which laid the foundation for The Journey to the West's creation. It is also on the basis of folklore, scripts and operas that Wu Cheng'en completed this great literary masterpiece that the Chinese nation is proud of through hard re-creation. Wu Cheng'en, like a Chinese character, was born in Yangshan, Huai 'an Prefecture (now Huai 'an City, Jiangsu Province). Born in the 13th year of Hongzhi in Ming Dynasty to the early year of Zheng Dechu (1500— 15 10), died in the 10th year of Wanli (1582). Wu Cheng'en's great-grandfather and grandfather were both scholars, and both served as lecturers and lecturers in county schools. But in his father's generation, due to his poor family, the Xu family became redundant. "So he attacked the Xu family and became the boss" and became a small businessman. Nevertheless, the Wu family has not lost the tradition of reading. It is said that although his father Wu Rui is a businessman, he is not only decent, but also good at reading and talking about current affairs, which naturally has a great influence on Wu Cheng'en. Wu Cheng'en was very clever since he was a child, and he entered school very early. He was very successful as a teenager and was famous in his village. Volume 16 of The Apocalypse of Huai 'an Prefecture said that Wu Cheng'en was "quick and wise, and learned a lot of books, whether poetry or prose." However, Wu Cheng'en, as an adult, encountered many setbacks on the road to the imperial examination. He didn't make up for one-year-old Gong Sheng until he was in his forties. In his fifties, he worked as a county magistrate in Changxing, Zhejiang Province, and later as a king's residence, Jishan. This is a sinecure, with the same level as the county magistrate. Wu Cheng'en created The Journey to the West after middle age, or was considered to have done it in his later years. The exact time cannot be determined. Besides The Journey to the West, he also wrote long poems "Erlang Song Sou" and "Yu". Sheyang Survival Draft consists of four volumes, including one volume of poetry and three volumes of prose, which were edited by Du Qiu after Wu Cheng'en's death. The complete works of Journey to the West have one hundred chapters, which can be divided into three parts from the big structure. The first time to the eighth time is the first part, mainly about the birth of the Monkey King, his apprentice, who made a scene in heaven. This is the most wonderful chapter in the book, very vivid. The Monkey King had a good meal in heaven and earth, which showed his rebellious character to the fullest. Chapters 8 to 12 are the second part, mainly describing the origin of Tang Priest and the reasons for learning from the scriptures. The thirteenth to the last time is the third part, mainly about Tang Priest's Buddhist scriptures. On the way, I received three apprentices, the Monkey King, Pig Bajie and Friar Sand. After eighty-one difficulties, I finally got the true scripture and got the right result.
Journey to the West shows people a colorful world of ghosts and gods, and people are all amazed by the author's rich and bold artistic imagination. However, any literary work is a reflection of a certain social life, and The Journey to the West, as an outstanding representative of ghost novels, is no exception. As Lu Xun pointed out in A Brief History of China's Novels, The Journey to the West "satirized and mocked the world at that time and described it in an extravagant way". He also said: "The author's nature is to restore a beautiful and humorous drama, so although he said something sudden, he also said something confusing, which made all gods and demons have a human touch and sophisticated." That's true. Through the illusory world of ghosts and gods in The Journey to the West, the projection of real society can be seen everywhere. For example, in shaping the image of the Monkey King, the author's ideal is entrusted. The Monkey King's indomitable spirit of struggle and fearless spirit of sweeping away all monsters and ghosts reflect the wishes and demands of the people. He represents the power of justice and shows the people's belief in overcoming all difficulties. Another example is the monsters encountered on the way to the scriptures, or the illusion of natural disasters, or the symbol of evil forces. Their greed, ferocity, insidious and cunning are also the characteristics of the dark forces in feudal society. Not only that, the Heavenly Palace ruled by the Jade Emperor and the Western Heaven under the jurisdiction of the Buddha have also been heavily painted with the color of human society. The author's attitude towards the supreme ruler of feudal society is also quite interesting. In Journey to the West, there is no competent emperor at all. As for the incompetent Jade Emperor, the King of Guo who loves monsters, and the King of monks who want to use childlike innocence as medicine, they are either bad kings or tyrants. The portrayal of these images, even if handy, is of great practical significance. The Journey to the West not only has profound ideological content, but also has made great achievements in art. With rich and peculiar artistic imagination, vivid and tortuous story, vivid characters and humorous language, he has built a unique art palace in The Journey to the West. But I think the greatest artistic achievement of Journey to the West is that he successfully created two immortal artistic images, the Monkey King and Zhu Bajie. The Monkey King is the first hero in the Journey to the West and a great hero. He has unlimited skills, fearlessness and indomitable spirit of resistance. He has the extraordinary bearing of a great hero, but he also has the disadvantage of listening to compliments. He is witty, brave and humorous. And his biggest feature is that he dares to fight. Dare to fight with the supreme jade emperor, and have the reputation of "Monkey King"; If you dare to hit a monster, you will never let go of a monster and show no mercy to the monster under the golden hoop; Dare to fight against all difficulties, never shrink back and bow. This is the Monkey King, a dazzling mythical hero. When it comes to Pig Bajie, his skill is far worse than that of the Monkey King, not to mention his brilliant and tall figure, but this image is also well portrayed. Pig Bajie is a cartoon character. He is honest, powerful and dare to play demons. He is the Monkey King's first right-hand man. But his mind is full of problems, delicious and delicious, taking advantage of small things, liking women and being afraid of difficulties. He often gives in, always thinking of Gao Laozhuang's daughter-in-law. He likes to lie sometimes, but he is all thumbs. From time to time, he provoked the Tang Priest to recite a spell, which made the Monkey King suffer. He even hid some private money in his ear. He has many problems, which is a bad habit of small private owners. The author's criticism of Zhu Bajie's shortcomings is severe, but it is also kind. He is not a denied figure, so people don't hate Pig, but think it is real and cute. The image of Tang Priest is well written, but it is much worse than that of the Monkey King Pig Bajie. Friar Sand lacks distinctive personality characteristics, which is the shortcoming of Journey to the West. Nevertheless, The Journey to the West's artistic achievements are still amazing. The Monkey King and Zhu Bajie, two images, with their distinctive personality characteristics, have established an immortal artistic monument in the history of China literature.
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"The paper is full of absurd words and bitter tears. Dou Yun's author is stupid, who knows the taste? "Endless dream of red mansions, endless Cao Xueqin. It has been more than 200 years since A Dream of Red Mansions was written, but there are different opinions about Cao Xueqin's "speech" and "taste" of A Dream of Red Mansions. Many redologists spend their whole lives, and they are only "original".
There is no conclusion.
A Dream of Red Mansions has been debated for more than one hundred years. Many puzzles are far from becoming clearer and clearer, and will be solved one day. More are foggy, unknown so. Like a very basic thing, there are different opinions about whether A Dream of Red Mansions was written by Cao Xueqin. Furthermore, where is Cao Xueqin's native place? Is he Han Chinese or Manchu? What year was he born? How old did you live? What dynasty is A Dream of Red Mansions written about? Judging from Hongyan Zhai's re-evaluation of The Story of the Stone, the manuscript of A Dream of Red Mansions was written 1 10 times. Why did you lose it for the last 30 times? Was the last forty chapters written by Gao E? Is Zhi Yanzhai a man or a woman? What is the relationship between Cao Xueqin, Zhi Yanzhai and deformed man? ..... There is a long list of questions about a dream of red mansions.
China Museum of Modern Literature invited three generations of domestic red scholars, including Zhou, Wang Meng, Zhou, Sun, Hu Deping, to give lectures on A Dream of Red Mansions and discuss many issues. This book is a collection of speeches on 12 special topics, which is helpful to savor A Dream of Red Mansions and understand its deeper meaning.
As far as I know, Jin Shengtan was the first to rank popular novels. According to him, he intends to comment on Zhuangzi, Li Sao, Historical Records, Du Fu's Poems, The Water Margin and The West Chamber. During the reign of Kangxi in the late Qing Dynasty, Mao Zonggang and his son revised the History of the Three Kingdoms under the guise of Jin Shengtan, calling it the book of the first scholar-Romance of the Three Kingdoms (which can also explain some problems entrusted by them in the name of Jin Shengtan instead of earlier people). At that time, there was the theory of "four wonders of Ming Dynasty", and its proposal should also be regarded as a commercial means of booksellers (booksellers at least played a propaganda role); Later, the Red Chamber replaced Jin Ping Mei as the "Four Wonders of Ming and Qing Dynasties", and the four wonders were finalized. "Four Classical Novels", as the modern expression of "Four Wonders", is naturally not too early.
Therefore, the formulation of "Four Great Classical Novels" (the four fantastic books) must have appeared after the book A Dream of Red Mansions was written.
However, some people have verified that the statement of "Four Wonder Books" should have been established in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties.
Li Yu once said in the preface to The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the printed edition of Drunken Classics Hall: "Feng Menglong also has four fantastic books, namely The Three Kingdoms, Water Margin, Journey to the West and Jin Ping Mei. ..... "It can be seen that in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, Feng Menglong had formulated the four wonderful books mentioned by Li Yucheng and published them as the" first wonderful book "in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, so the reference to the" four wonderful books "has been quite fixed and popular.
But in any case, the expression of "Four Wonder Books" is the original expression of "Four Classical Novels", which should be confirmed.
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A Dream in Red Mansions
A dream of red mansions, endless, endless, is really a wonderful book!
A Dream of Red Mansions is the most famous, widely circulated, read and published novel in ancient China. Since the publication of this classic, critics have mushroomed and commented on it, naturally forming a remarkable school-A Dream of Red Mansions. People are still publishing, reading and studying A Dream of Red Mansions. This is the eternal charm of this classic and this is the immortal value of this classic. Master of North and South Chinese painting, it took two years to create 350 colorful Chinese paintings. The painter artistically reproduces the rich social life and vivid characters of the original with pictures, descriptions of modality, performance of scenes, splashing ink and thick ink, or meticulous sketches.
[Literary Works] Journey to the West
Wu Cheng'en's mythical novel The Journey to the West, with its grand scale, tortuous plot, vivid language and rich imagination, is a treasure in China's ancient novels. "Famous Artists Painting Four Classic Novels Journey to the West" invited more than 40 famous painters, including Dai Dunbang and Zhao Hongben, to draw 240 Chinese paintings with high artistic content, either rough and bold, or simple and beautiful, with colorful paintings of people, gods, demons, monsters, mountains, water, flowers, insects, birds and animals, sketched with meticulous brushwork, or freehand brushwork, or rough and bold. Words add elegance to the painting, and the painting has a unique charm, with pictures and texts alternating.
The Water Margin?
Shi Naian's novel Water Margin has extremely vivid life scenes and colorful characters. Water Margin 108 is a wonderful work in China's ancient novels, with different identities and temperament. The essay "Four Classical Novels of Water Margin Painted by Famous Artists" integrates 293 Chinese paintings, which are jointly drawn by 4 1 Chinese painting masters such as Dai Guobang, He Youzhi and Chen Baiyi. All painters have painted vivid life scenes, vivid characters and far-reaching significance.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
In the history of China literature, perhaps no work has attracted so many readers for so long as The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. For hundreds of years, she has been handed down from generation to generation by our whole nation. Reading The Romance of The Three Kingdoms has penetrated into every corner of our national life. Famous painters Dai Guobang, Chen Baiyi, Dai Honghai and other 35 painters drew four great classical novels, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and drew 292 Chinese paintings with colored pencils. You painters have different styles, various schools, meticulous brushwork or freehand brushwork, such as flowing water in one go. They have richly displayed the grand war scenes and many characters in the Three Kingdoms period, reached the peak of painting creation in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and also displayed the unique charm of Chinese painting, which is not a treasure of China. In particular, some well-known chapters, such as Taoyuan Jieyi, Fengyi Pavilion, the theory of cooking wine heroes, three visits to the cottage, a thousand battles of Confucianism, borrowing arrows from grass boats, and Meng Huo's seven escapes, are brilliant.
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Romance of the Three Kingdoms is very popular among ancient people in China. Song and Yuan dynasties came to the stage, and Jin and Yuan dynasties performed more than 30 kinds of Three Kingdoms operas. From Yuan Dynasty to Zhinian, the Pinghua of the Three Kingdoms published by Yu's family in Xin 'an came out. At the end of Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of Ming Dynasty, Luo Guanzhong synthesized folklore, drama and scripts, combined with historical materials such as the History of the Three Kingdoms by Chen Shou and Notes by Pei Songzhi, and based on his personal understanding of social life, he created the well-known Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The earliest existing edition was published in Jiajing period of Ming Dynasty, commonly known as "Jiajing Edition", with a total of 24 volumes. During the reign of Emperor Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty, Mao Zonggang, the father and son of Maureen, collated historical events, added or deleted words, and revised them into the current 120 Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
There are many versions of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, mainly including: Ming Hongzhi version of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, with simple words and simple content; Romance of the Three Kingdoms, a commentary added or deleted by Mao Zonggang in Qing Dynasty, was written in the early years of Kangxi, and it is the most widely circulated book in the society. People's Literature Publishing House reprinted many times.
author
Luo Guanzhong (1330- 1400) was a popular novelist in Ming dynasty. His native place is Taiyuan (now Shanxi) and Qiantang (now Hangzhou, Zhejiang), so he is not sure. According to legend, Luo Guanzhong was a screen guest of Zhang Shicheng, a peasant uprising army at the end of Yuan Dynasty. In addition to the popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms, he also wrote popular novels such as Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties and plays such as Meet the Dragon and Tiger of Zhao Taizu. In addition, quite a few people think that the last thirty chapters of Water Margin are also his works.
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author
There are three views about the author of Water Margin:
All the books are written by Luo Guanzhong.
Shi Naian and Luo Guanzhong wrote it.
Shi Naian wrote the whole novel by himself. This view is the most familiar to everyone.
The earliest statement was put forward before the Ming Dynasty. Some people who support this view think that Shi Naian is a fictional character and does not exist in reality.
People who hold the second view also have the following two opinions:
Some people think that the first seventy chapters of Water Margin were written by Shi Naian, and the last thirty chapters were written by Luo Guanzhong.
The Book of Hundred Rivers, a Confucian scholar in Ming Dynasty, called Water Margin "The Book of Qiantang Shi Naian, edited by Luo Guanzhong". In other words, it was mainly written by Shi Naian and edited by Luo Guanzhong. This view is quite influential in academic circles.
Another view is that Water Margin belongs to cumulative mass creation. Undoubtedly, Shi Naian referred to, used for reference and absorbed a lot of materials in the process of creation, including historical records, notes, some complete novels, opera works or some fragments of them, but Shi Naian's creation cannot be denied.
Shi Naian (1296- 1370), China novelist. The author of Water Margin, one of China's four classical novels. Born in Jiangsu generation, Xinghua baijuchang people. There is some controversy about the correctness of his biographical data. Some people say that there is no such person. The author of Water Margin is controversial. It is verified that the book was not written by Shi Naian at all, but by Luo Guanzhong. In the TV series Water Margin filmed by CCTV, the authors were written as Shi Naian and Luo Guanzhong.
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Academic controversy about the author.
The author of The Journey to the West is generally regarded as Wu Cheng'en of the Ming Dynasty. All The Journey to the West editions published now are signed by Wu Cheng'en. However, since the advent of The Journey to the West, there has been controversy about his author.
The Journey to the West, which was circulated in the Ming Dynasty, has no signature in various versions. In The Journey to the West, the king of Qing Dynasty suggested that The Journey to the West was written by Qiu Chuji in Southern Song Dynasty. After this view was put forward, most scholars in Qing Dynasty agreed with it. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Ji Yun and others began to doubt this theory, thinking that The Journey to the West described the customs and habits of the Ming Dynasty in many places, and Qiu Chuji was a person at the end of the Southern Song Dynasty (a dynasty before the Ming Dynasty); In addition, Huai 'an dialect is used in many places in The Journey to the West, while Qiu Chuji has lived in North China all his life and never lived in Huai 'an. There are also Taoist priests and literati in Ming and Qing Dynasties who think that The Journey to the West is the book of Taoist alchemy.
During the period of the Republic of China, Lu Xun, Hu Shi and others presumed that the author of The Journey to the West was Huai 'an Chengen according to the records of Huai 'an House in the Apocalypse of the Ming Dynasty and the theories of predecessors. This has become a conclusion.
In the late Republic of China, since the founding of New China, especially after 1980, the research on The Journey to the West's authors has gradually become a hot spot. Some scholars still question Wu Cheng'en's authorship. The reason is that writing Journey to the West has never been mentioned in Wu Cheng'en's poems or friends' words. Secondly, Wu Cheng'en wrote down the fact of The Journey to the West in the Records of Huai 'an Prefecture, which did not indicate that it was romance or official history, but in general, romance and official history were not recorded in local chronicles; Thirdly, The Journey to the West in Wu Cheng'en was classified as a geographical category in the Bibliography of Qianqingtang written by Huang Yuji, a bibliophile in Qing Dynasty. So some people suggest that The Journey to the West was written by Qiu Chuji, or by his disciples. There are also a few mathematicians who believe that The Journey to the West was written by Li Chunfang, the "Prime Minister of Qing Ci" in the Ming Dynasty. However, due to the scarcity and far-fetched arguments, most scholars do not agree with this statement. On the other hand, the argument that Wu Cheng'en is the author of The Journey to the West seems to be more and more convincing. Mainly: First, Wu Cheng'en's personal situation fully conforms to the characteristics of the creators of Journey to the West. Second, it gives a more reasonable and practical explanation to all kinds of questions. Thirdly, the most convincing is the dialect study in The Journey to the West's text. After 1980, there was a breakthrough in this field, which almost irrefutably proved that Wu Cheng'en was the author of The Journey to the West. (For related research, please refer to Liu Xiuye's works and Yan Jingchang's Poetic Rhyme and Journey to the West. )
Therefore, it is generally believed that religion prevailed in the Ming Dynasty, and biographies, legends, other religious legends and folk stories of Master Xuanzang's voyages to the West in the Tang Dynasty were widely circulated in the society. It is in this social and cultural background that Wu Cheng'en created the novel The Journey to the West based on the above biographies, legends and stories.
After Wu Cheng'en's re-conception, organization and compilation, compared with previous biographies, legends, stories and comments, the novel The Journey to the West is not only richer in content, more complete and rigorous in plot, vivid and full in characters, more colorful in imagination and simple in language. More importantly, the novel The Journey to the West has reached an unprecedented height in ideological realm and artistic realm. Can be described as a master.
Wu Cheng'en (about 1504—— about 1582) is a native of Huai 'an, Jiangsu.
Wu Cheng'en didn't get a one-year-old tribute student until he was about 40 years old. He went to Beijing to wait for an official position, but he was not selected. Because his mother was poor, he went to Changxing as a county magistrate and was finally falsely accused. Two years later, he left home. In his later years, he made a living by selling prose and lived nearly 80 years old.
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Please see: redology.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the question of "Who is the author of A Dream of Red Mansions" once caused a controversy in China academic circles, which continues to this day. Generally speaking, it can be divided into two theories: first, A Dream of Red Mansions was written by Cao Xueqin; Second, the author of A Dream of Red Mansions is another person.
As for A Dream of Red Mansions itself, in the first chapter, it is said that the real author of this story has been unable to be verified, and Cao Xueqin copied it several times, examined it several times and added and deleted it several times. Generally speaking, it is a mainstream view that Cao Xueqin is the author of this book.
Cao Xueqin (? 17 15? 17 16? 1724? 1725? —? 1763? 1764? ), real name Zhan, word,no. Xueqin, Qinpu people. My ancestral home is Liaoyang. The ancestors were originally Han Chinese, but later they entered the flag register, which is the Zhengbai flag. China was a famous writer in the Qing Dynasty. The author of the famous novel A Dream of Red Mansions.
Gao E (about 1738—— about 18 15) was a Manchu writer in Qing Dynasty. The word uncle LAN is a word cloud scholar. He was born in Tieling City, Liaoning Province, and wrote 40 sequels of A Dream of Red Mansions.