Ming and Qing dynasties were golden periods in the history of the development of novels in my country. "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "Water Margin", "Journey to the West", "Jin Ping Mei", "Scholars", " Dream of the Red Chamber " are its important symbols.
They are each known in the novel for their unique style and exquisite attainments.
If "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "Water Margin" represent the highest achievements of historical legends and heroic legends, "Journey to the West" represents the achievements of gods and demons, "Scholars" mark the peak of satirical novels, and "Dream of Red Mansions" represents the end of classical novels, then it can be said that "Jin Ping Mei" marks the true awakening of novel consciousness.
The new concept of novels it has sprouted is undoubtedly a huge change in the history of Chinese novels. This article explores its aesthetic contributions around the new concepts of novel creation that emerged in "Jin Ping Mei".
(I) From one-way radiation to historical politics to a full-dimensional perspective of family society
The development of Chinese classical novels has experienced several different historical development periods such as the birth of the pre-Qin and Han dynasties, the development of Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the maturity of the Tang and Song dynasties, and the prosperity of the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Due to various conditions, the Chinese pre-Qin myth has never formed a masterpiece like Greek myth.
If we observe the myths of the pre-Qin period as a whole, it is not difficult to find that "magicality" is the basis of the character of the heroes in these primitive myths throughout the ages.
is like Pangu who created the world, Jingwei who carried stones to fill the sea, Kuafu who eliminated harm from the people during their lifetime and benefited people after their death, Kuafu who spared no effort to subdue the flood, Huangdi who subdued Chiyou and eliminated violence for the people, Nuwa who refined stones to repair the sky and saved humanity, Houyi , etc.,
They stayed away from secular life, and benefited mankind with extraordinary courage, extraordinary wisdom, and selfless spirit. These unattainable mythological heroes have nurtured and promoted the emergence of mythical or semi-mythical hero series in later novels. Myths and legends such as
have also become important information for us to trace the origin of the Chinese nation today.
Zhou and Qin and Han dynasties, history has become a highly comprehensive discipline that is almost all-encompassing. Sima Qian's "Records of the Grand Historian" has opened up a vast world where history and literature are integrated.
It not only became a criterion followed by historians in later generations, but also became a model for literati to remember people and write things.
In terms of its influence on later literature, it not only had a significant impact on the art of depicting characters in Chinese classical novels, but also became an inexhaustible treasure house of subject matters that literati of all dynasties engage in literary creation.
The accumulation of consciousness in the past dynasties has gradually formed a strong historical consciousness among literati and poets. People often call novels "strange history", "unofficial history", "remaining history", and "different history".
"Records of the Grand Historian"
This developed historical consciousness not only made novelists of all generations particularly favored historical subjects when creating novels, but among novels of various themes, historical novels are often particularly favored by the recipient subjects, but in my country's classical literature theory, most of the early novel critics were historians.
As Lu Xun said: "It is the job of a historian to judge art and literature." [1]
The consideration of a novel often takes whether it conforms to "reliable history" as an important value criterion. Even when writing historical books, they often absorb materials from novels, legends, and stories. For example, the "Book of the Five Emperors" in Sima Qian's "Records of the Grand Historian" obviously regards myths and legends as history.Although the novels of
Han Dynasty have been lost, judging from the list of 1,390 works of the fifteen 1,390 works recorded in "Han Shu·Yiwenzhi " and the records of Bangu , it may be a record of historical records, absurd and almost magical, or an explanation of profound philosophy, a record of customs and pastoral news, or a miscellaneous historical notes, or a technique of health preservation.
Especially after work, he said, "It is a test for the past."
bets in the fifty-seven chapters of "Qingshizi" and said, "It is a record of events." This shows the close relationship between novels and history.
Lu Xun made the following speculation about the novels of the Han Dynasty that most people accepted in " A brief history of Chinese novels ": "According to Ban Gu's notes, the books are generally based on ancient people or record ancient events; those who ask others are like sons but are shallow, while those who record recent history but are absurd."
As for Lu Jia's "Chu Han Spring and Autumn", Zhao Ye's " Wu Yue Spring and Autumn ", Liu Xiang 's "Biography of Leslie", "Biography of Dongfang Shuo", etc., although they have seen strange stories and sometimes even talk nonsense, they have never been able to get rid of their support for historical facts.
The Six Dynasties period was an important period for the development of Chinese novels. A large number of singular people singular novels appeared. Although many works of "people ghosts and gods, praise the supernatural", they did not form a conscious novel consciousness.
"At that time, I thought that although the underworld was a different path, both humans and ghosts were real, so their narrative of different things was different from recording common things in the world, and they thought they were not sincere and delusional." [2] Many novels were included in the History Department.
In a sense, the Six Dynasties novels are exactly the "reliable history" and "historical facts" in the minds of people of the times. At that time, the choices for a novel were often based on whether it was true or not.
For example, in Jin Longhe (362), Pei Qi wrote "Yu Lin", which records the "verbal responses that can be called" from the Han and Wei dynasties to the Jin Dynasty. Because the records about Xie An are inaccurate, which was rejected by Xie An, and this book immediately turned from prevalence to the misfortune of being abandoned. [3]
Liu Xian praised Gan Bao's outstanding achievements in "Su Shen Ji", but only ranked Gan Bao with the good historian Dong Hu.
Ge Hong equated the " Miscellaneous Notes of Xijing " written by Liu Xin with Ban Gu's " Han Shu ", and proposed in "Miscellaneous Notes of Xijing" that "Miscellaneous Notes of Xijing" can "make the shortcomings of "Book of Han".
Excellent historians and historical works have become important reference systems for measuring "novelists" and "novels", which is sufficient to show the strong historical consciousness of the people of the Six Dynasties.
Tang Dynasty was the first golden age in the history of the development of Chinese novels.
Lu Xun once said in "A Brief History of Chinese Novels": "Novels are like poems, which changed in the Tang Dynasty. Although they are still not separated from the search for strange and elegant records, their narratives are melodious and elegant, and their writings are gorgeous and colorful. Compared with those of the Six Dynasties, the evolution of the plot is very clear, and the most prominent ones start to deliberately make novels at this time."
Compared with novels of the Six Dynasties, although Tang legend has the advantages of being broad in system, twists and turns in plots, and distinctive and complete characters, the content is far from the broad life reflected in poetry.
or search for strange and strange things (such as the Anonymous "The Legend of the White Apes of Bujiang"), or promote superstition and destiny (such as Wang Du's "The Ancient Mirror"). Even the excellent works that appeared in the mid-Tang Dynasty, such as "The Legend of the Pillow in the Middle-Tang Dynasty," "The Legend of the Prefect of Nanke", "The Legend of the Ren Family ", "The Legend of Liu Yi", and "The Legend of Huo Xiaoyu", are mostly limited to talented men, beautiful women, and noble men and women.
As for works that directly source the deeds of historical figures, such as "The Biography of Gao Lishi", "The Deeds of An Lushan", and "The Biography of Li Linfu", they even show the convergence of historical facts and monsters and monsters.
In short, since the development of the novel is still in its childish stage and lacks the necessary artistic accumulation, the Tang legend far from reflecting the colorful social life at that time, and the depth of the description also has obvious flaws.
As for people's attitude towards the art of novels, it is far from rational cognition. For example, the famous historian Liu Zhiji still regards novels as historical books in the "Collection and Writing" of " Shitong ", which is no different from the fact that "Sui Shu·Jingji" has included a large number of novels in the History Department.
Song and Yuan dynasties were an important era when novels transformed from elegant (classical Chinese) to popular (vernacular). According to records in "The Capital Jisheng·Washesanji", "Menglianglu·Fiction History", "The Prosperous Record of the Old Man in West Lake·Washi City", "Tokyo Menghualu·Jingwa Art", "Old Things in Wulin·Jushi Artists", etc., the art of "speaking" was quite mature at that time.
Among the subjects of "speaking", "novels" and "history telling" are particularly popular among the audience. The historical artist "all historians are all familiar with each other" (Volume 12 of "Dream Lianglu"), and there appeared Huo Sijue, who specializes in the story of the Three Kingdoms, and Yin Changmai, who specializes in the story of , Five Dynasties, and Volume 5 of "Dream Hualu of Tokyo").
From the existing historical storytelling books such as " New History Pingshu ", " The Song Xuanhe Left ", " Full-Shaped Pingshu ", although there are many unofficial history and folk legends, they always refer to it as not believing in history.
is the most influential "novel" at that time, and often seeks materials from historical facts. "Those who are not bad at novels can instantly break the stories of each dynasty and generation" ("Capital Jisheng·Washesan Ji").
"Tokyo Dream Hualu" book and film
The historical events of the rise and fall of the dynasty are still its important source of subject matter; the interests of narrators and listeners are still the success or failure, rise and fall of political affairs in previous dynasties.
Therefore, compared with the Tang legend, although there are individual articles based on real life in the Song and Yuan Scripts, these works are far from forming a powerful formation and competing with historical novels; the characters in real life in the works are far less attractive than historical heroes, and the joys and sorrows of all living beings are just an embellishment in the works; people's aesthetic emotions also show their inclination to historical political affairs, and their appreciation interest also reflect their preference for historical heroes.
The novels in the early Ming Dynasty did not develop along the new concept of describing life in the Song and Yuan dynasties, but instead appeared the two peaks of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "Water Margin" which were based on the belief in history.
"Romance of the Three Kingdoms" revolves around the dispute between Wei, Shu and Wu, and raises the question of what means to use and what kind of virtue and ability to unify the world. The reappearance of political governance and chaos, the longing for wise monarchs, the praise of loyalty and righteous character, and the profound reflection on traditional culture constitute the tone of the book.
The author's ideal is fully revealed in the specific description of "being support for Liu and against Cao", but at the end of the novel, the author attributed the great cause of unifying the world to the evil side he repeatedly criticized, and the contradiction between feudal ethics and real society was highlighted.
"Water Margin" describes the opposition between the Green Forest and the court, and shows Song Jiang and others' "hands on behalf of the heavens".
Here, the corruption of the court formed a sharp contrast with the enlightened and beautiful green forest. The rulers who dominate the world are far inferior to those who occupy the mountains and become kings. What people see is that "all evil will return to the court, and all beauty will return to the green forest."
Feudal institutions have lost their administrative functions to govern society. This is the contradiction embodied in "Water Margin" - the inconsistency between orthodoxy and justice.
However, Song Jiang and others finally embarked on the road of reunion amid the sings of victory and "unorthodox" was finally incorporated into the track of "orthodox".
As for the final destruction of Song Jiang and others, it is just an inclusion of the traitors and slanderous and loyal people in history, leaving people with deep historical thinking.
As for the evaluation of novels, people of course make more judgments from the perspective of historical information.For example, Yongyuzi (Jiang Daqi) pointed out that "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is "the fact that the truth is true, and it is almost a history" [4], Xiuyanzi (Zhang Shangde) also believes that Luo's work "can be said to be a person who believes in history without violating it" [5].
Later, Lin Han believed in the "Preface to the Popular Romance of the Sui and Tang Dynasties" that Luo Guanzhong's "Sui and Tang Dynasties" "still many missing" and "read all the books on Sui and Tang Dynasties" based on Luo's works, so that "the gentleman... will compile it as a supplement to the official history, and do not use the official and wild officials to look at it." Yu Shaoyu also proposed that novel creation should be "according to the actual record" [6] and follow the opinions of classics and history. Yuxiang Dou , Chen Jiru and others echo each other. Hu Yinglin even criticized Tang legends and "water Margin" for "no basis", "unfounded", "science", and contrary to the official history [7] in the tone of orthodox historians.
Even Feng Menglong, who strongly advocates novels and is famous for his compilation of short stories that reflect secular human feelings, also claimed that the novels he compiled can be used as the "supplement to the history of the Six Classics" [8].
From the above brief review, it can be seen that Chinese novels have always been the main objects of expression from their budding, development to maturity and prosperity, the rise and fall of historical dynasties, the changes in political struggles, and the outstanding achievements of national heroes.
The vast number of historical classics provide novels with inexhaustible creative materials; the reappearance of history and reflection on political gains and losses have formed a powerful novel creation tradition, thus making Chinese novels present a unique style - historical literary and stand out among the world novels.
However, in terms of its development of the aesthetic field, what it provides to the appreciating subject is often lower-level satisfaction and lacks higher-level pleasure; although some works show a certain color of the times while describing historical events, they cannot see the richness of the times in the reappearance of history.
Therefore, to a certain extent, historical novels are easy to inspire people's admiration and difficult to arouse people's sense of intimacy.
Literature is a reflection of life, and in turn it inspires life and guides the journey of life. We do not deny the importance of literature recreating history, but that alone is far from enough.
Only by extending the brushstrokes to the living reality, discovering the meaning of life, and describing the beauty and ugliness in reality can we inspire life more directly and infect people in life more strongly.
This turning point in the history of novels, from one-way radiation to shallow-level expressions to all-round perspective and deep exploration of social life, is marked by "Jin Ping Mei".
"New Embroidery Image Criticizes Jin Ping Mei"
Zheng Zhenduo said that "Jin Ping Mei" is "a very great realistic novel", "In "Jin Ping Mei" reflects a real Chinese society", "Those who express the real Chinese society may not be able to find a more important novel" [9].
"Jin Ping Mei" describes the life of an unknown businessman Ximen Qing and its complicated family life.
It uses the rise and fall of Ximen Qing as the structural clue of the book. It reaches the court, connects bureaucracies at all levels, and connects the municipal society at the bottom, weaves a bird's-colored bird's-eye view of social life, providing us with a three-dimensional picture of the society with a comprehensive perspective.
It changed the previous novels' careful and cautious reliance on historical records, and abandoned the great events in the world and the joys and sorrows of talented men and beautiful women that were focused on expressing in the past novels, and extended the tentacles of art to the Ximen Mansion in Qinghe County, focusing on depicting the various corruption and sins within this family and the various urban life scenes.The ruthless disclosure of the bureaucratic system, exploitation system, slave system, patriarchal system, private property system, and marriage system of feudal society is not achieved by a simple copy of historical political events, but by a detailed description of a living family's seemingly extremely ordinary daily life.
Zheng Zhenduo said in the "Illustrated Book History of Chinese Literature" that "Jin Ping Mei" "written the daily stories of the real civil society that were briefly seen in the Song and Yuan dynasties."
"She is not a legend, but a novel that is worthy of being the most in modern sense", it is "a surprisingly great realistic novel", and believes that "Jin Ping Mei is actually greater than "Water Margin", "Journey to the West" and " The Legend of the Gods ", saying that it marks the "highest peak of the development of Chinese novels."
This evaluation is undoubtedly based on the true degree and breadth of the novel's reflection on life, as well as the depth of digging into the essential characteristics of life.
Indeed, in "Jin Ping Mei", the civil and military achievements of court officials, the poverty and gains and losses of high-ranking officials, the grievances and grievances of beautiful men, and the honor and disgrace of bureaucrats at all levels have all retreated to the secondary position. The author's scrutiny focuses on the barbaric conquest and rampant movement of emerging merchants;
helps the idle film bragging, without virtue, without conduct; monks and nuns Taoist priests 's rituals and mystery Confused nature; cheating of aunts and sisters; flirting with prostitutes and actors; complexity and intrigue of family life; mutual struggle, open and secret struggle between wives and concubines... Through this urban social life scene, we can see the political life, economic conditions, official friendships, social consciousness, social morality, customs and habits, and human feelings at that time... From then on, Chinese novel creation has truly embarked on the track of socialization and humanization, and has become the mainstream of novel creation.
The value of "Jin Ping Mei" to the all-round description of family society is not only limited to its own exploration of the aesthetic field of novels, but also lies in the birth of a large number of excellent novels that use family daily life as the object of description and from a family to society under its influence. The most prominent manifestation is its influence on "Dream of Red Mansions", which represents the peak of classical novels in my country.
Although the changes in the times have determined that the description of "Dream of Red Mansions" is mainly concentrated in the Grand View Garden, and can no longer reflect the vast urban social life like "Jin Ping Mei", the structure, characters, writing style and even detailed descriptions of "Dream of Red Mansions" are all learned from "Jin Ping Mei".
Therefore, Zhiyanzhai said that "Dream of Red Mansions" "is deeply appreciated the "Jin Ping" (the thirteenth chapter of the Gengchen version), Yu Pingbo said that "Dream of Red Mansions" was born from "Jin Ping Mei", and there is no need to hide the fact that
especially had a direct influence on "Dream of Red Mansions", "is the vernacular novel "Jin Ping Mei" of the Ming Dynasty" [10], Mao Zedong praised "Jin Ping Mei" as the ancestor of "Dream of Red Mansions". Without "Jin Ping Mei", he could not write "Dream of Red Mansions" [11].
In short, the new concept of novel creation that emerged in "Jin Ping Mei" is a great revolution in the history of novels and the arrow of modern realist novels.
"Collected Works of Mao Zedong's Literature and Art"
(II) From the focus on the rise and fall of the world to the perception of ordinary life
The culture of Chinese feudal society is, after all, a kind of Confucian culture. Although Taoism had some impact on society and life in a certain historical period, it was in the end that it compromised and moved closer to the Confucian culture, which was the foundation of Chinese local culture, and found its own place of existence.
Due to the long-term accumulation of Confucian traditional culture and the influence of all dynasties, the Chinese nation has formed a duty-oriented spirit of taking "the world as its own responsibility" and a serious attitude towards life that actively enters the world and makes achievements.
"The rise and fall of the world, every man has his responsibility " has become a common pursuit of life; fame is impressed in history and will be remembered forever, becoming the ultimate goal of realizing the value of life.
In addition to the influence of traditional culture, the frequent rise and fall of China's history also contributed to this kind of life pursuit of "taking the world as one's own responsibility"; the turbulent social background caused by troubled times determines the long-lasting chant of the rise and fall of the world and the achievements of literati of all generations.
examines the development of Chinese novels. The stories of "Three Kingdoms" and "Water Margin" have experienced many circulating experiences over the centuries, while the Song, Jin and Yuan dynasties are a time of frequent border affairs and frequent wars.
The ruling group competes for each other, and the ruling hall changes its masters many times. Who can dominate the Central Plains? What kind of governance model should be adopted? How to deal with the rampant traitors? What choice should be made in the face of the severe reality of the aspiring man Qu Chen’s subordinates? ...This series of questions is placed before the world.
The era provides a background for thinking about the governance issues in the world, and history puts forward the task of social governance and chaos.
Luo Guanzhong and Shi Nai'an are at such a historical turning point in choosing a monarch, choosing politics, and choosing a governance model.
When they processed and created "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "Water Margin", they certainly absorbed the feudal orthodox ideas that have permeated such stories in the past dynasties and reflected the aesthetic emotions of the people, but their search for various legends and historical records undoubtedly condensed their love, hate, praise and criticism. In the process of processing and combining, they poured more into their own joys, anger, likes and dislikes, and mixed them into their own ideals. The main manifestation is the praise of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" for the loyalty, kindness, benevolence and righteousness of , Cao Cao's treacherous and brutality, and the concept of life reflected in "Water Margin" of "being in the rivers and lakes" and "heart hanging on Wei Que" reflected.
combined with the preserved historical materials about Shi and Luo, Luo Guanzhong once "has aspirations to draw kings" [12], and seems to have been related to the leader of the peasant uprising at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, Zhang Shicheng [13]; Shi Nai'an was an official in Qiantang, but he abandoned his official position and returned home because he was incompatible with the precepts;
Then they contacted them for many of their lives, mostly for the dynasty and the achievements of heroes galloping, and thus showed that "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "Water Margin" actually also show their strong sense of crisis and their active desire to participate in the world in times of troubled times, as well as their strong sense of responsibility for social chaos.
"Compilation of History"
The emergence of "Jin Ping Mei" has completely different characteristics of the times.
The establishment of a unified empire, more than a hundred years of rest and recuperation, and regional economic prosperity have made the entire society relatively stable.
History has not raised the issue of unifying the world to people, and the Zhu Dynasty is also working hard to prevent the occurrence of turmoil.
The prominent feature of their ruling power is the strict prevention in political and ideological aspects. Using Cheng Zhu Neo-science to regulate people's thoughts and speech, reject dissidents, and suppress heresy. Li Zhi's persecution to death is proof of this.
It is undeniable that a considerable number of historical legends and heroic legends appeared in this period, but most of them are interpretations of historical events and reappearance of heroic deeds, focusing on reviewing ancient past events and fewer sustenances in the era.
The problem people faced at that time was the distortion of human nature by society, and normal human desires were suppressed or even strangled; and the result of the logical movement of "everything will turn against each other" led to the erosion of society and the flow of desires.
It forces people to no longer be intoxicated by the rise and fall of history and heroic achievements, but to turn to their understanding of the foundation of life.
Lanling Xiaoxiaosheng grasped the pulse of the times, used his huge pen like a rafter, and used a million-word masterpiece to experience the interests of the world and the complex social life, thus making "Jin Ping Mei" achieve incomparable achievements in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "Water Margin" and "Journey to the West". No wonder Xinxinzi called it a work that "relying on the customs of the times" [14], and Lu Xun called it a "world love letter" [15].
In the 57th chapter of "Jin Ping Mei", Ximen Qing said a horrifying thing to Wu Yueniang:
... There is still yin and yang in the world, and men and women will cooperate naturally. Those who have affair in this life are all divided into previous lives, and their marriage name is noted in this life, and they still have to be... We heard that the Buddha's West Heaven is just to pave the ground with gold; the underworld requires some papers and burials.
We only use this private business and do good deeds, so we raped Change , raped Weaver Girl, kidnapped Xu Feiqiong, and stole the daughter of Queen Mother of the West, and did not reduce my wealth.
It can be said that this is Ximen Qing's principle of dealing with things and his life declaration. As a businessman in the 16th century in China, he had a unique and profound understanding of the value of money; and his recognition of money means his affirmation of his own value.
He pursues money by any means and opens up a variety of ways to accumulate money, including lending loans with monthly profits up to five cents, making huge profits in business speculation, not marrying a big girl but only marrying a rich widow with money, pretending to be public and private, corruption and abuse of power, etc.
At the same time, he realized that the value of money is not in money itself but in exchange for material pleasure and functional pleasure.
Of course, this life value is decadent, reactionary, and depravity, but this is a true reproduction of the psychology of Chinese businessmen in the 16th century, and it has important significance for us to engage in the historical, political, social, economic and literary research of the Ming Dynasty.
In "Jin Ping Mei", Ximen Qing greedily seized, conquered barbaricly, enjoyed the most, and finally died in the comfort nest he painstakingly built; Pan Jinlian pursued functional satisfaction without rational and modest, and was indulged without moral constraints, and finally died on the moral judgment stage;
Li Ping'er carried her husband to welcome the tragedy, was lewd and vicious, and was finally plotted against by her opponent; Pang Chunmei helped the evil and did not regret the past, and died in lust; Song Huilian was frivolous and lewd, vain and wealth, and finally brought about tragedy in the family and self-destruction; Chen Jing was greedy for flowers and sex, and stole fragrance and jade, and finally became a ghost under the knife; those sympathy before Ximen Qing's birthday were like brothers and sisters before Ximen Qing's birthday , Inseparable from his brothers, they changed their families one by one before his bones were cold, and even ungrateful... The arrangement of this ending is intended to illustrate:
is rich and unkind, and indecent, which will inevitably lead to disaster and destruction; without the maintenance of emotions, the relationship between the two genders that trade with money and wealth can only end up with the extinction of wealth; friendship based on food, drink and money will eventually end with the exhaustion of wealth...
This is probably the conclusion drawn by Xiaoxiaosheng after thinking about ordinary life in Chinese society in the 16th century, and it is also a remembrance of life that he left for future generations.
In short, what "Jin Ping Mei" focuses on the rise and fall of history and the gains and losses of political affairs, but the reality of the world and the return of human nature.
It should be noted that the era of "Jin Ping Mei" is an era of alternating between old and new. The natural personality suddenly awakened after breaking free from the shackles of rational personality. This made the human nature, which had just awakened from ignorance, lose its control beacon in the voyage of development. As a result, the extreme of the alienation of human nature (the extreme of social personality) of realistic norms and feudal morality to the extreme of the flood of human nature (the extreme of social personality); the sudden awakening of human nature has no spiritual support and lacks reasonable moral constraints, and moves towards unscrupulous indulgence and wanton satisfaction.
This also led to the description of "Jin Ping Mei" not taking the healthy track of sublimating the beauty of human nature, but instead mistakenly entering the wrong path of showing human primitive instincts.
However, as long as we adhere to the view of historical materialism and measure all this with the perspective of historical development rather than with moral standards, we have to admit that it has the significance of human liberation to a certain extent and has a distinct human nature.
It can be said that it is a counter-argument to 年1年1年1期 年2年1期 有年1期 年1期 有年1期 有年1期 有年1期 有年1期 有年1期 有年1期 有年1期 有年1期 有年1期 有年1期 有年1期 有年1期 有年1期 有年1期 有年1期 有年1期 有年1期 有年1期 有年1期 有年1期 有年1期 有年1期 有年1期 有年1期 有年1期 有年1期 有年1期 有年1期 有年1期 有年1期 有年1期 有年1期 有年1期 有年1期 有年1期 有年1期 有年1期 有年1期 有年1期
Of course, the meaning here is not to defend the display of the same meat and the negative and vulgar tastes in "Jin Ping Mei", but blindly obliterating its value and meaning is definitely not an objective attitude.
"Compilation of Water Margin Materials"
(III) From "literary carrying the way" to the return of literature to human nature
Literature is an art that expresses social life, and reflects social life is the fundamental task of literature. The emergence and emergence of Chinese literature originally originated from the expression of individual emotions, that is, it originated from the human-centered sense.
For example, as early as in "Shangshu Yaodian", there was a saying that "poetry expresses one's aspirations, songs speak forever, sounds rely on eternity, harmony of the rules, harmony of the eight tunes, harmony of the relationship, and harmony of gods and men". "The Book of Music" also believes that "all sounds are the ones that bring about human hearts. Emotions are moved in the middle, so they are reflected in sounds, and the sounds are written as sounds."
Should literary creation be "Tao" or human-oriented? This should be a question without suspense, but it has been repeatedly repeated in the history of Chinese literary theory and literary creation, and it is difficult to maintain the argument.
Since Confucius combined poetry with political, education, ritual and music systems into one, and proposed the theory of "prosperity, observation, group, and resentment", and the function of literature has been used as the determination and normative of social, political, religious and moral principles, Xunzi has regarded the core of literary expression of enlightenment, sages, and secting scriptures.
Han Emperor Wu "deposed all schools of thought and respected Confucianism alone", and Confucianism became the ideological basis of feudal rule; " Mao Shi Preface " regards literature as a feudal tool for irony of the upper and lower worlds. "In order to be filial to couples, we should be respectful, respectful to human ethics, beautify education, and change customs" has become the fundamental purpose of literary creation.
Originally, the literature and art that was centered on people was gradually replaced by the "Tao" that was attached to feudal ethics and feudal rule.
Because of the distinctive auxiliary role of Confucian culture, it is legally designated as an official culture. It has been the spiritual pillar of the feudal edifice for more than two thousand years, shaping the national character with a strong sense of rationality and becoming the dominant national spirit.
In terms of its influence on literature, it is manifested as focusing on ethics and neglecting individual will, and focusing on utilitarianism and neglecting life interest.
The focus of "Zhuangzi" is on the basis of emotion, the emphasis and expression of self-worth by literati of Wei and Jin Dynasties, and the flash of human nature occasionally shown in Li Shangyin's works have never been able to form a force that can compete with the powerful formation of "Tao"-based literature.
is the " Peony Pavilion " that shouted out the strongest voice of the times in the romantic thoughts of personal liberation in the middle of the Ming Dynasty. It is also in the arrangement of "emotion" and "reason", and at the end of the play, dragging a "bright" tail of "reason". From here, we can feel the strength and stubbornness of the "Tao"-based power in literary history.
According to the Confucian tradition of "poetry education" and creative norms, the core of literature should be political and ethical concepts.
The king, the minister, the minister, the father, the son, the son, and the son must be the criterion that the secular world must respect, and is also stipulated as the social responsibility that literature and even all arts must fulfill; uprightness of the mind, self-cultivation, management of the family, governing the country, and pacifying the world have not only become the goals pursued in life, but also the "sacred" content that literary creation must be interpreted and interpreted.
All literature that does not conform to this norm are denied as a wrong path and will never be qualified to enter the hall of elegance.
The neglect of landscape poetry, the expulsion of palace style poetry, and the long-standing debate on works that reflect human feelings and human nature are typical examples.
Due to the long-term influence of this concept, the creation of Chinese classical literature often does not examine people's own value, does not focus on expressing people's personal desires, and does not care about the multiple desires of life, forming an oriental characteristic that is completely different from that of Western literature focusing on individuals.
is reflected in the thesis, which makes ancient Chinese novel creation and commentary often pay too much attention to political education and neglect the pursuit of aesthetics, pay too much attention to the auxiliary role of novels and ignore the exploration of life values, and pay too much attention to the truth of history and ignore the true interest of novels. To put it bluntly, it is the replacement of the Taoist principle on the human nature.
"Zhuangzi"
Under the control of the literary concept of "Tao", the colorful life that should be expressed in the novel is often replaced by the model in which the main characters practice a certain moral concept. The singularization and stereotypeization of the characters have become a fatal injury to the creation of novels.
"Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "Water Margin" reveal the intention to reflect on Confucian ethics and morals to a certain extent, but in general tendency is still confined by Confucianism.
Cao Cao, who followed the historical trend but was not in line with orthodox, became the object of scolding and the embodiment of evil. He did not have any talent. Only the loyal, kind and righteous and representative orthodox Liu Bei became the ideal monarch praised by the author; the treacherous minister Gao Tai, Tong Guan , Cai Jing became the scapegoat of the foolish Song Huizong , the reason why Song Jiang and others The truth of being loyal and righteous in mind and having no way to serve the country is not because of the emperor's stupidity but because of the treacherous and treacherous. Although the author sang a song of destruction in the description that the rebel army was recruited will inevitably lead to destruction, the result was that Song Jiang and the bandits were forcibly included in the feudal orthodox state institutions, allowing them to "protect the country and follow the people" and eliminate Fang La, who dared to proclaim himself as kings and fight against the orthodox.
As for works such as "The Legend of Good" and "The Road Lights ", they are full of naked feudal preaching. The characters in the novel have simply become the embodiment of feudal ethics.
From here, we can clearly see the serious drawbacks brought by moral and ethical principle and the tradition of poetry education to literary creation, and the shortcomings and failures brought to the content and art of the work.
Ming Dynasty society was a special era in Chinese history, with morality and desires fiercely colliding, and rationality and human nature fiercely clashing.
On the one hand, Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism has reached its peak, and the rights that people should have been entrusted and denied by Neo-Confucianism; on the other hand, the restless consciousness of citizens is becoming increasingly aggressive, revealing a fresh breath under the suppression of the dead society.
A group of keen thinkers felt that this new atmosphere of thought was touched, and broke through traditional prejudice and stood up and shouted for it.
is reflected in the literature field, and is reflected in Xu Wei's unrestrained by etiquette and law, and expresses the praise of human nature unrestrainedly; Tang Xianzu's bold praise and affirmation of "love"; Wu Cheng'en's rebellious spirit of breaking away from all constraints and breaking through all shackles; the praise of material desires and lusts in secular society in "Three Words" and "Two Shots"; Li Zhuowu's affirmation of "eating", "dressing", "good goods", and "lustfulness" and the public security party's praise of "spirituality".
This progressive literary trend with a certain humanistic color is undoubtedly a liquidation of the literary tradition of "understanding" and "carrying the way", and marks the return of literature to human nature.
"Jin Ping Mei" is at an important turning point in the novel's return to life from the truth.
In the history of Chinese novels, the protagonists in works such as the bearded man, the Kunlun slave, the red-lined girl, and even the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the Water Margin, the Yang Family Generals, the Tang Dynasty, and the Yue, are mostly practitioners of some kind of ethics and morality.
As people's ideal heroes, they can arouse readers' sense of sublimity and be satisfied with appreciating the psychological level of the subject's hero worship.
However, as a "people", they are extraordinary and out of reach. After all, they are far away from people's real life, and it is difficult to arouse the kindness of readers.
"Jin Ping Mei" broke the ethical interpretation-style creative pattern that dominated theories for nearly a thousand years from the Tang Dynasty to the middle of the Ming Dynasty. It was a shocking first time in a novel that featured people's secular desires, which truly expressed their emotions and six desires.
's profound experience of secular desires has become the fundamental symbol that distinguishes "Jin Ping Mei" from previous novels.
In the description of "Jin Ping Mei", we can no longer see the constraints of Confucian rational norms on life. On the contrary, the blasphemy and rebellion of patriarchal politics, hierarchical order, feudal ethics, and Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism under the conditions of the new era. What we see is the depreciation of traditional values in civil society, the enjoyable life in life and the diligent pursuit of enjoyment in this world.
Of course, it contains original barbarity and wildness, but behind this diverse world, there is a profound historical connotation, reflecting the author's rethinking of life based on doubts and denial of old traditional standards, beliefs and value orientations.
Take Ximen Qing and Pan Jinlian as two main characters. Although Ximen Qing only lived to be 33 years old, in this short journey of life, he never gave up his wild beliefs and pursuits in life, and was full of confidence and strength.
His burial desire was considered a death to him.
Although Pan Jinlian has the evil posthumous title of "porn" for the ages, as long as she conducts a comprehensive examination of her actions based on her background and experience (the daughter of a tailor, being sold several times, being unlucky in marriage, having no money and family background, etc.), it is not difficult to realize that her behavior contains a certain degree of reasonable factors to resist the arrangement of fate, resist the feudal marriage system, and hierarchy.
In this way, we probably won’t blame his behavior blindly.
It should be pointed out that the author of "Jin Ping Mei" failed to reflect the reasonable expansion of "emotion" and the normal satisfaction of desires like Tang Xianzu and others. On the contrary, he wrote about the abnormal resistance of "desire" to "reason".
This is prominently reflected in the indulgence of the characters in the novel, thus making the holy connection between the two genders, which should be linked to emotions, equality and freedom. The reasonable desires and requirements of life have become transactions between money and chastity, animal-style venting, and the use of any means to satisfy one's own selfish desires.
does not respect human value and perfect personality in advocating human nature, and leads to the rendering of biological and wildness. In this sense, we must say that "Jin Ping Mei" has shown a regression from human nature to animal nature to a certain extent in the attempt to return to life in literature.
The emergence of new social consciousness and values in the middle of the Ming Dynasty inspired people to reflect on Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism and awakened the human nature that Confucianism and morality have been alienated for thousands of years.
Lanling Xiaoxiaosheng followed this trend of progress and wrote a brilliant page in the history of Chinese novels. Although the economic factors that new thoughts rely on have suffered devastating misfortunes with the entry of the iron hooves of alien races, the vitality that the new consciousness breeds into this soil injects into society has inspired future generations.
Thinkers of the Qing Dynasty, such as Huang Zongxi, Gu Yanwu, and Wang Fuzhi, bravely inherited the progressive ideological tradition of the late Ming Dynasty, and further pointed the sharpness of criticism to feudal Taoism; "Dream of Red Mansions" inspired by "Jin Ping Mei" sang a hymn of personality liberation in the whip of the dark society and the criticism of decadent morality.
We admit that "Dream of Red Mansions" is one step further than "Jin Ping Mei" in terms of profound ideological content and exquisite artistic attainments, but the bridge to the maturity of novel art built by "Jin Ping Mei" can never be cut off.
Otherwise, the chain of development of Chinese novels will be broken and the history of development of Chinese novels will not be written.
"New Vision of Jin Ping Mei"
comment:
① Lu Xun's "A Brief History of Chinese Novels" first article "The Historians' Records and Discussions on Novels", Shanghai: Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, 1998 edition, page 1.
② Lu Xun's "A Brief History of Chinese Novels" Chapter 5 "The Book of Ghosts and Gods in the Six Dynasties (Part 1)", Shanghai: Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, 1998 edition, page 24.
③ "New Words in the World·Literature": "Pei Lang started to write "Yu Lin" and was widely passed down from far to near. At that time, he was young, and he passed on all of them, each with one of them." But Yu Daoji asked Xie An with two sentences about Xie An recorded in "Yu Lin", "Xie Gong said: 'There are no two words, and Pei said this for this.'... "Yu Lin" was abolished" ("New Words in the World·Qing Slander"). See Xu Zhenyu's "New Languages of the World" pages 145 and 451, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1984 edition.
④ "Preface to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms". Luo Guanzhong: Volume 1 of "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", Shanghai: Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House 1980 edition.
⑤ Xiu Ranzi's "Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms". Luo Guanzhong: Volume 1 of "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", Shanghai: Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House 1980 edition.
⑥ Yu Shaoyu's "Title of the Complete Essays and Principles of the National Regencies". Chen Jiru: The beginning of the volume of "Biography of the Spring and Autumn Period", Shanghai: Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, 1994 edition.
⑦ Hu Yinglin's "Shaoshishanfang Pen Cong·Zhuang Yue Committee Talk", Shanghai: Shanghai Bookstore Publishing House, 2009 edition, pages 411-439.
⑧ One-bedroom "Preface to the Waking of the World". See Feng Menglong's "Awakening the World and Eternal Words", Beijing: People's Literature Publishing House, 1956 edition, page 895.
⑨ Zheng Zhenduo's "Talks on "Jin Ping Mei Ci". See Xu Shuofang and Liu Hui's "Collection of Jin Ping Mei" in Beijing: People's Literature Publishing House, 1986 edition, page 3, page 2.
⑩ Yu Pingbo's "Commentary on Dream of Red Mansions", Beijing: Tuanjie Publishing House, 2004 edition, page 223, page 336.
Author’s unit: Henan University
This article is authorized to be published, and the original article was published in "Selected Works of Zhang Jinde Jinping Mei Research", 2015, published by Taiwan Student Bookstore Co., Ltd. Please indicate the source when forwarding.
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