Author: Ren Shiquan
As an important creative technique in the Dream of the Red Chamber, the term "grass snake gray line" is mentioned in the commentaries of the first, eighth, twenty-sixth times, the hexagonal book and the thirty-first time of the Gengchen ben, the fifty-sixth time of the Qi ben, and the eightieth time of the Gengchen ben. So, what exactly is the "grass snake gray line"? How does this technique manifest itself in the first eighty texts of Dream of the Red Chamber? What is the significance of the use of this technique in "Dream of the Red Chamber"?
I. What is the "Grass Snake Gray Line"
The "grass snake gray line" first appeared in the Tang Dynasty Yang Junsong's Kan public opinion classic "Shaking the Dragon Classic", and it is also recorded in the Ming Dynasty Kan public opinion work "Lingcheng Jingyi", referring to the situation in which the mountain (dragon vein) seems to be broken and not broken, and it seems to be not connected. [1] Since the Ming Dynasty, the term "grass snake gray line" has gradually changed into a term for stylistic grammar criticism, and has been widely used in the criticism of poetry, prose, opera, and novels. The first person to use "grass snake gray line" as a term for fiction writing technique was Kim Sung-si. [2]
Jin Shengsi said in "Reading the Calligraphy of the Fifth Talent": "There is a grass snake gray line method: ... At a glance, it is as if there is nothing, and in the details, there is a clue in it, and the whole body is moving. [3] From this point of view, the so-called "grass snake gray line" is in the snake grass, visible its traces, the gray line left on the paper, can be identified in its vein, to refer to a certain thing in the author's writing is often mentioned, at first it seems to be accidental, look closely, but there is a hint of context to be found. [4] In addition to the Reading Law, Jin Shengsi mentioned it many times in the comments of the Water Margin. Based on Jin Shengsi's criticism of "Water Margin", scholars have summarized the use of "grass snake gray line" in the writing process of the novel as three aspects: as a structural clue, as a "foreshadowing" and "care" and as a "metaphorical" expression. [5]
Second, the application of the "grass snake gray line" in "Dream of the Red Chamber"
As a rising star in Ming and Qing novels, "Dream of the Red Chamber" has many references to its previous novels in terms of creation, Zhang Xinzhi once said: "'Dream of the Red Chamber' was born in "Journey to the West", borrowed from "Jin Ping Mei", and Regents in "Water Margin",[6] and its use of the "grass snake gray line" technique is an example. The use of the technique of "Grass Snake Gray Line" in "Dream of the Red Chamber" has a good continuation of "Water Margin", which can still be divided into three aspects:
(i) As a "structural clue"
If the same thing (image) appears consciously or unconsciously in the course of the novel's writing, until it is broken at the key point of the later text, thus revealing a clear and coherent clue, then it can be considered as a "structural clue" of the writing. [7]
In the eighth baochao of the Jia Shu Ben, there is a comment in a passage about the psychic baoyu: "In the previous hui, the grass snake gray line was always written, and it was written in detail so far, it is the large joint",[8] The novel's description of the psychic baoyu is the embodiment of the "structural clue".
The novel has several narratives about the "Psychic Treasure Jade" before the eighth time:
The first time: The monk leaned on the palm of his hand and smiled, "The form is also a treasure!" There is no real benefit that must be engraved with numbers, so that people can know at first sight that they are strange and wonderful. ......” [9]
The second time: Zi Xing sighed: "... I didn't want to give birth to another son the following year, it was even more strange to say, as soon as the fetus fell, A piece of multicolored crystal jade came from his mouth, and there were many handwritings on it, so he named it Baoyu. ......”
The third time: Dai Yu also often heard her mother say that the second uncle's mother had a cousin born of Jade, who was born with a jade, was very naughty and abnormal, extremely bad at reading, and most liked to mess around in the inner world; the grandmother was extremely doting, and no one dared to take care of it.
The third time: The crowd was puzzled, and Dai Yu wondered if I had jade because he had jade, because he had it, because he didn't have it, because he replied, "I don't have that." I think that jade is a rare thing, how can everyone have it? ”
The third time: Dai Yu said, "... What is the origin of that jade? Still in handwriting? The attacker said, "Even the family doesn't know the origin, there are ready-made eyes on it, and it is said that when the grass falls, it is taken out of his mouth." ......”
From the above quotations, it can be seen that in the first three times of the novel, the "psychic treasure jade" is repeatedly written, focusing on its two characteristics: one is that there are "many handwritings" on the psychic treasure jade, which is a "rare thing"; the other is that the treasure jade is born of jade. Through the dialogue between the monk and the ghostly stone (psychic Baoyu) at the beginning, Leng Zixing's "speech" to Jia Yucun, Daiyu's "hearing and hearing" from her mother, Daiyu's "degree of thought" and Daiyu's dialogue with the attackers, etc., let the reader deepen his impression until the eighth time, through the plot of "Bi Psychic", borrowing Baochao's "fine appreciation", the characteristics of the psychic treasure jade "as big as a bird's egg, brilliant as Mingxia, lustrous as crisp, and five-colored patterns" are written out one by one, and its positive and negative patterns are indicated.
The positive "Mo Lost, Immortal Life Hengchang" on the front of the psychic Baoyu and the front and back sides of the Baochao Golden Lock "Do not abandon, Fang Ling Yongji" correspond to each other, thus revealing the meaning of the sentence "Du Dao is a golden and jade marriage" in the fifth "Lifelong Mistake" song, indicating the marriage relationship between Baoyu and Baochao in the following text. The psychic treasure jade is engraved on the reverse side of the "one to eliminate evil spirits, two to cure unjust diseases, three to know the misfortunes and blessings", in the fifteenth time, the King of Northern Jing asks whether it is fulfilled, and the twenty-fifth time "Evil Magic Sister Brother Feng Wu Ghosts" section, "fascinated by sound and color goods" corresponds to the function of the psychic treasure jade to "eliminate evil spirits". From the eighth time of the Jia Shu Ben, the seventeenth to eighteenth time of the Heji Ben, and the twenty-third time of the Gengchen Ben, it can be seen that the plot related to the psychic treasure jade in the later text is also "accidental theft", "Feng Jie sweeping snow and picking up jade" and many other places, it can be inferred that these plots that appear in the following text will correspond to each other with "healing the wronged disease" and "knowing the misfortune and blessing", and the psychic treasure jade does assume the important role of the "structural clue" of the writing, and the detailed description of the psychic treasure jade in the eighth time also corresponds to the location of the "big joint" mentioned in the criticism.
In addition to the psychic treasure jade, in the first eighty times of "Dream of the Red Chamber", there are also examples such as "ginseng" as a structural clue to the rise and fall of Jia Fu[10], and "prescription" as a structural clue to Daiyu Tian's disease[11], which shows that paving the way for the key plot through a certain thing (image) that appears from time to time is one of the techniques commonly used in "Dream of the Red Chamber".
(ii) As a "foreshadowing" and "care"
Hinting at the plot and content of the following text through some characters or plots of the preceding text can be called "foreshadowing" and "care". Common expressions in the manuscript criticism are "volt line method", "volt pulse", "thousand mile volt line", "volt so-and-so thing" and so on.
From the seventeenth to the eighteenth time, Yuan Chun ordered four plays in the section of "RongguoFu Returning to the Province to Celebrate the Lantern Festival", "Feast", "Beggar Qiao", "XianYuan" and "Leaving the Soul". He had a comment: "The drama and four events pointed out are the great festivals and the big key of the General Book", and the four major events in the following text are "The Defeat of the Jia Family", "The Death of the Yuan Concubine", "Zhen Baoyu Sending Jade", and "The Death of Dai Yu".
According to the criticism, "The Feast" came out from Li Yu's "A Bunch of Snow". The song mainly tells the story of Mo Huaigu, the secretary of the Taibu Temple, who caused a disaster because of the nine generations of jade cup "a bunch of snow", and framed Yan Shifan, who was defeated and reinstated. And the story of "The Feast" is that Mo Huaigu went to Beijing as an official, visited Yan Mansion with the friendship of the world, and recommended Tang Qin, a doorman, and everyone drank and watched the drama in Yan Mansion. [12] According to the entire drama "A Bunch of Snow" and the content of "The Grand Feast", the "defeat of the Jia family" is inferred to be related to the fact that the Jia amnesty mentioned in the forty-eighth time is related to the fact that Jia Yucun caused the "failure of the pit family" by fabricating charges for encroaching on the ancient fan of Shi Nerd. [13]
As soon as "Beggar Qiao" came out, it was the "Secret Oath" in Hong Sheng's "Hall of Eternal Life". This play tells the story of Yang Yuhuan begging in the Hall of Eternal Life at the time of Qixi, and Tang Xuanzong and her vow to the Heavenly Covenant, "Born in the world, together as a husband and wife, never separated." [14] Through the repertoire in the Hall of Eternal Life, combined with the Fifth Yuan Chun Judgment and the Song "Hate Impermanence", one inference is that he became a victim of political struggle;[15] another view is that he ended up in anger and despair caused by his fall from favor. [16]
As soon as the "Immortal Edge" came out, it was "Hexian" in Tang Xianzu's "Handan Chronicle". Lü Dongbin described in the "Handan Chronicle" used a magnetic pillow to let the poor Ru Lusheng experience wealth and make meritorious achievements, and when he woke up, it was originally a dream of Huang Liang. And "Hexian" is the plot of his dream of having an epiphany, meeting the eight immortals with Lü Dongbin in heaven, taking the broom from He Xiangu's hand, and sweeping flowers in Langyuan. [17] Based on this speculation, with regard to "Zhen Baoyu sending jade", one view is that Zhen Baoyu may have returned the psychic treasure jade that was "stolen" by mistake, which played a traction role in Jia Baoyu's final "cliff hand",[18] and another view is that zhen baoyu may have sent the original of the "psychic treasure jade", that is, the stubborn stone of the Great Desolation Mountain, making it "stone return to the mountain without aura". [19]
As soon as "Leaving the Soul" came out, it was "Haunting" in Tang Xianzu's "Peony Pavilion". It is about Du Liniang's dream in the back garden, who has nothing to gain, accumulates depression, and dies in the night rain of the Mid-Autumn Festival. [20] One of the views on "Daiyu's death" is based on the criticism that after Bao Dai's love was snuffed out, Dai Yu and Du Liniang, similar to Du Liniang, did not hesitate to die and won the victory in the persistent pursuit after death. [21] [22]
In addition to the Yuan Concubine's play, in "Dream of the Red Chamber", the "grass snake gray line" technique provides "foreshadowing" and "care" for the later plot, and the golden qilin that Shi Xiangyun picked up in the thirty-first time (Baoyu was obtained from Zhang Daoshi). The thirty-first time back to the "Because of the Qilin Fu Bai Shou Double Star", He Ji Ben Hui finally commented: "The last dozens of times Ruolan in the shooting garden of the Qilin is this Qilin also." The outline lies in this return, and the so-called grass snake gray line is thousands of miles away. From the thirty-first review and criticism of the content, one of the more recognizable views is that the two golden unicorns laid the groundwork for the marriage relationship between Shi Xiangyun and Wei Ruolan in the later text, but at the same time, because the two qilins were together for a short time, it also symbolized that the marriage between Shi Xiangyun and Wei Ruolan did not last long, and soon separated like morning glory and Vega. [23] Similarly, the twenty-first time Jia Lian and many girls poured vinegar on Feng Jie and Bao Yu Tan Qingwen as the "volt line", the twenty-four times the conversation between Dai Yu and Xiang Ling as the "volt line" of the Xiangling learning poem; the forty-first time the eldest sister's grapefruit was exchanged for the Buddha's hand of the board as the "volt line" for the marriage between the two in the following text, and so on.
(3) As a "metaphorical" expression
The so-called "metaphorical" way of expression refers to the plot conception, with one thing to allude to another thing related to it in a deep meaning, and the other refers to the character portrayal, with one character as the "shadow" of another character, that is, the "shadow" theory ("shadow writing"). [24]
In the first episode, it is described that Zhen Shiyin, as a "village eunuch" in Gusu City, was promoted by the local government as a "Wang clan", and every day "watched flowers and repaired bamboo, drank wine and chanted poems", but first on the night of the Lantern Festival, due to the negligence of his family Huo Qi, Yinglian was lost, and then because the adjacent gourd temple was implicated in the "oil pot and fire" because of the frying supply, resulting in his family home becoming a "rubble field". And because he "couldn't throw himself into people", Zhen Shiyin "actually gradually revealed the situation of the next life". Although it is only a one-time text, it vividly describes the ups and downs of the Zhen family in the change. Jia Shu ben commented: "If you do not go out of the Rongguo clan, first write the small family of the eunuchs, from small to large, it is this book." From this point of view, the content of the book and the manuscript criticism, in the first part of the book, a text to tell the "little rongkui" of zhen shi hermit family is actually alluding to the final fate of the Jia Fu family, which is "the most powerful and extremely noble squire" in the later text - similar to the Zhen Shi Hermit family, Jia Fu will eventually "eat all the birds and throw themselves into the forest, and the land is really clean" after experiencing "cooking oil by fire" and "flowers are brocade". The experience of the transformation from prosperity to decline between Zhen Shiyin and the Jia family is similar, and the "Good Song Notes" that Zhen Shiyin realized after experiencing the ups and downs of life has become a portrayal of the rapid transfer between the rise and fall of the family in the society at that time. In addition to the first time to allude to the future ending of Jia Fu with the changes in Zhen Shi's hermit family, there is also the fifteenth time Bao Yu sees the second lady who is spinning to allude to the young sister Qiao [24].
Hong Qiufan commented on Fangguan's drunkenness in the sixty-third time: "Fangguan's drunken sleep is purely for Xiangyun' portrayal, and clear-eyed people can see it by themselves. And the author is still afraid that the text is not thoughtful, and repeatedly wrote that 'everyone is black and sweet, and they don't know what to do', in order to Yu Xiangyun attended, and there was no trace of the garden. At dawn, the raider opened his eyes and looked at the opposite bed, only to see that Fang Guan's head was resting on the edge of the kang, and he was still awake, and Yu Tanchun and the others watched Xiangyun sleeping on the stone pillar. Fang Guan got up, rubbed his eyes, listened to the attackers laughed that he was not shy, Fang Knew that he was in the same bed as Bao Yu. This is 'Xiangyun slowly rose autumn waves, saw everyone, and looked down at himself, and Fang Zhi was drunk'. Fang Guan busied himself with a smile and said, "I don't know how I ate it." This is what Xiang Yun felt ashamed of himself. Pen and pen to write, no leakage. Understand clearly, beyond repetition. [25] Judging from Hong Qiufan's comments on this paragraph, the various performances of Fangguan in the section of the sixty-third "Shouyi Hongqunfang Opening Night Feast" correspond to the performance of Fangguan in the sixty-second "Xiangyun Drunken Sleep Peony Yin", and this correspondence is almost "one-to-one correspondence" in details, and it is precisely because of this detail correspondence that "Fangguan Drunken Sleep" becomes a portrayal of "Xiangyun drunken lying", that is, Fangguan becomes the "shadow" of Xiangyun here.
Zhang Xinzhi once said: "It is Shu Chao and Dai as shoulder to shoulder, and Raider and Qingwen are the shadows of the two people"[26], which is the same as the eighth criticism of the Jia Shu Ben, "Yu Zhiqing has a forest wind, attack is a vice, it is really good", and they all see the commonalities between the raider and Baochao, Qingwen and Daiyu in personality and handling. Tu Ying has also summarized the "shadow" in "Dream of the Red Chamber", such as Siqi Pan You'an is Bao Dai's "sentient shadow", Liu Xianglian You's third sister is Bao Dai's "ruthless shadow", and Silly Big Sister is the "shadow" of drunken King Kong [27].
Third, the significance of the application of the "grass snake gray line" technique
As a creative technique, the application of the "grass snake gray line" in "Dream of the Red Chamber" is of great significance in the structure, exploration, and portrayal of characters in the whole book of "Dream of the Red Chamber", specifically:
"Grass Snake Gray Line" makes the novel more compact. Regarding the structure of "Dream of the Red Chamber", Li Chendong once had an image metaphor: reading "Dream of the Red Chamber" "... As if jumping into the sea, back and forth, the waves are surging back and forth; and the front and back hugs, the big waves lie down the small waves, and the small waves become big waves...". [28] The reason why "Dream of the Red Chamber" can form a "wavy" structure is inseparable from its use of the "grass snake gray line" technique in plot shaping. In this case, the interconnection between events is more prominent, and the pattern of telling a complete story in the chapter novel only once or several times in a row is broken. In "Dream of the Red Chamber", a certain character and an event in the front of the common phenomenon have a profound impact on the later text and even the ending of the whole book, and the meaning of the often said "grass snake gray line, volting for thousands of miles" in the criticism lies in this - the whole book is like a complete story, not a splicing of a single story.
The "Grass Snake Gray Line" makes it easier for Yuwen to explore. Since Hu Shi, the author of the first eighty times and the last forty times of "Dream of the Red Chamber" has gradually become a consensus. Although we need to affirm the merits of Gao Yan and Cheng Weiyuan in sorting out and printing the entire book of "Dream of the Red Chamber" in the process of disseminating "Dream of the Red Chamber", it cannot be denied that if we want to fully understand the theme of the whole book and the author's thoughts, we have to have an overall perception of the whole book, and based on this, tanning has become an important part of "red science". One of the bases of "Tan you" is the foreshadowing, metaphors, hints, and inevitable trends in the development of the article in the unfinished part of the original work. [29] It can be said that it is precisely because of the use of the "grass snake gray line" technique that the subsequent text is cleverly foreshadowed and taken care of, and it is precisely for this reason that we can glimpse the contents of the manuscript through the clues in the previous article, and thus lay the foundation for understanding the theme of the book and the author's thoughts.
The "grass snake gray line" makes the character image more plump. Judging from the examples given above, the use of the "grass snake gray line" technique of "shadow writing" in character shaping is widely used in "Dream of the Red Chamber". Hong Qiufan once said in his evaluation of Yifangguan's innuendo of Xiangyun: "... However, this letter is still written about Xiangyun, not about Fangguan. Therefore, the headings are omitted. [30] That is to say, the essence of writing Fangguan is to further flatter the image of Xiangyun. The so-called "shadow" of Zhang Xinzhi, Tu Ying, and others is also roughly similar to what Hong Qiufan understood, which shows that the use of the technique of "grass snake gray line" in writing people is precisely a kind of foil for portraying characters, so that the image of the characters is more substantial and distinct.
"Dream of the Red Chamber" inherits the expression of the technique of "grass snake gray line" of the predecessors, and makes it invisibly innovate the structure and character shaping of the previous Zhang Hui novel, which is not only hidden in it, but also intended to make people understand.
"Beauty careful ironing flat, tailors destroy the needle and thread" - round and integrated, in one go, is the "grass snake gray line" technique in "Dream of the Red Chamber" is the magic of the "grass snake gray line" technique!
Notes
[1] [2] [5] [7] [24] Tan Fan et al., "Interpretation of Stylistic and Grammatical Terms in Ancient Chinese Novels", Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, 2013, pp. 241-249
[3] Zhu Yixuan and Liu Yuchen, Compilation of Water Margin Materials, Nankai University Press, 2012, p. 223
[4] [12] [14] [17] [20] Feng Qiyong and Li Xifan, The Great Dictionary of the Dream of the Red Chamber (Revised Edition), Culture and Art Publishing House, 2010, pp. 438, 284, 464
[6] [26] Zhang Xinzhi's "Reading the Dream of the Red Chamber", Yisu", "Compilation of Materials on the Dream of the Red Chamber", Zhonghua Bookstore, 1964, pp. 154, 155
[8] The quotations in this article are based on Zhu Yixuan's Compilation of Materials on the Dream of the Red Chamber, Nankai University Press, 2012
[9] The original text of "Dream of the Red Chamber" cited in this article is based on Cao Xueqin, anonymous continuation, "Dream of the Red Chamber" edited by the Institute of Dream of the Red Chamber of the China Academy of Arts, People's Literature Publishing House, 2008 edition
[10] Wang Renen, "Exploring the Imagery of Ginseng in the > of the Dream of the <", Journal of the Dream of the Red Chamber, No. 3, 1997
[11] The twenty-eighth time of the Jia Shu Ben commented at the end of the twenty-eighth time: "Since the return of 'Wen Qu', the return to write the prescription is a white depiction of The Disease of Er. From the twenty-third time, in the twenty-sixth time, through the dialogue between Xiaohong and Jiahui, Dai Yu often took medicine, and in the twenty-eighth time, through Bao Yu said to Lady Wang the formula of "Heavenly King Tonic Heart Dan", so many times described, in the writing structure to describe Daiyu's condition
[13] [16] Ding Weizhong, "Exploring the Red Chamber", Jinghua Publishing House, 2006, pp. 186, 84-104
[15] Liang Guizhi, "Exploring the Red Chamber", Writers Publishing House, 2007, pp. 20-22
[18] Zhou Ruchang, "New Certificate of Dream of the Red Chamber" (Revised Edition), Zhonghua Bookstore, 2016 edition, p. 756
[19] [21] Sun Xun, "A Preliminary Study on the Fat Of the Dream of the Red Chamber", Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, 1981, pp. 186, 159
[22] There are different views on the "death of Daiyu", in general, Mr. Yu Pingbo and Mr. Zhou Ruchang have similar views, their main view is that Dai Yu died because of "returning tears", and Mr. Cai Yijiang believes that Dai Yu died because of major changes in Jia Fu (Dictionary of dream of the Red Chamber, p. 464).
[23] Zhu Tong, "Interpreting the "White Head Double Star": About the Ending of Shi Xiangyun", Journal of Dream of the Red Chamber, No. 1, 1979
[24] Zhang Jinchi, "The Tale of QiaoJie", Journal of Dream of the Red Chamber, No. 2, 1991
[25] [30] Feng Qiyong edited "Re-schooling eight schools to evaluate the Dream of the Red Chamber", Qingdao Publishing House, 2012 edition, pp. 1610, 1607
[27] Tu Ying's "Questions and Answers on the Dream of the Red Chamber", Yisu,"Compilation of Materials on the Dream of the Red Chamber", p. 144
[28] Lü Qixiang and Lin Donghai, Compilation of Rare Materials on the Study of the Dream of the Red Chamber, Culture and Art Publishing House, 2006, pp. 495-496
[29] Yao Dianzhong, "Written in front of the < Stone Chronicle Exploration >", and Liang Guizhi," Dream of the Red Chamber, Beijing Normal University Press, 2010
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