The Fate of Character: Aesthetic Theory of Classical Chinese Novels, by Shi Zhongyang, Oriental Publishing House, December 2021.
Contents
Prologue 1 Reconstructing the aesthetic space of the novel Ning Zongyi
Preamble 2 Nutrients and calories are contained in the taste of Shu Wu
Prologue 3 Communication of the Mind Fang Fei
Part I
I. Chinese Novels and National Characters: Chinese Novels from the Perspective of Acceptance
Second, the sublimation of the vengeful character - cadres and evil spirits
Third, the logic of the righteous character - Guan Yu in "Interpretation of Cao Cao"
Fourth, the charm of the adulterous male's personality - Cao Cao's image is understood
Fifth, the melody of the warrior's personality - Wu Song, Lu Da, Li Kui similar and similar
Sixth, the triumph of Goku's personality - Sun Wukong in "The Great Haunting of the Heavenly Palace"
Vii. The Comedy of Rogue Personality - On Ximen Qing
Eighth, the purgatory of Baoyu's personality - "Baoyu was beaten" the heart solution
Nine, the tragic character of the song - "The Death of Daiyu" heart solution
10. From Huo Xiaoyu to Du Shiniang - Female Character Creation Side Talk
11. From Sun Wukong to Jia Baoyu - an example of character personality change
XII. From Du Shaoqing to Jia Baoyu - another example of character personality change
XIII. Character and Name - Sun Wukong's name
14. Character and Archetype - The Image of the Eight Precepts of the Pig Traces the Origin
15. Character Character and Afterword - "Journey to the West" on Word of Mouth
Sixteen, character and clothing - the jade of Jia Baoyu
17. Character and Song - Starting from Daiyu's appreciation of "Peony Pavilion"
Part II
The World of Novels Explored: The Historical Landscape of Chinese Novels
19. The artistic plot of historical novels - the artistic analysis of the "Battle of Chibi"
20. The artistic spirit of heroic legendary novels - "Water Margin" and traditional culture
21. The Artistic Character of The Divine and Demonic Novels: The Relationship between Journey to the West and Mythology
22. The Artistic Journey of Human Love Novels: From "Jin Ping Mei" to "Dream of the Red Chamber"
23. The Artistic Composition of the Satirical Novel: The Spiritual Journey of Rulin's Characters and Writers
24. The Artistic Fiction of the Chinese Novel: Jin Sheng laments the creation of character characters
25. The Artistic Defects of Chinese Novels: From "Dream of the Red Chamber" to "Dream of the Red Chamber"
26. Standing on a towering tower and looking out – Chen Duxiu and Chinese novels
27. "Sincere Hope that Jie Jie was Constructed by Lai Zheye"——Lu Xun's "Historical Outline of chinese Novels"
Appendix 1 Puzzles have their own puzzle hearts
Appendix II: The Literary Logic and Cultural Logic of character characters in classical novels
Appendix III Another perception of life
The butterfly dream is still faintly passing away
Reconstruct the aesthetic space of the novel
Ning Zongyi
History is the strength of historians, and sentient and ruthless is the strength of poets. For historical figures, ancient historians recorded most of their deeds, and their rich inner spiritual world was precisely omitted by historians. And this, in turn, provides a broad space for the literati to fiction and interpret stories!
Mr. Ning Zongyi inscribed
Based on this, both Chinese and foreign literature provides their historical memory with a history of the mind of different colors and a complex and diverse history of characters! Literature and art are spiritual products close to the human soul, it defends human nature, and the more the soul is disturbed, the more we need its comfort. If we do not trace the depths of the soul of writers through their creations, how can we understand the hearts of the times and the people expressed by these writers from their own hearts?
It is gratifying that since the reform and opening up, we have seen that the spiritual colleagues in the literary and historical circles have paid more and more attention to the history of human character, mentality and spirituality! Its performance is often the emotional and psychological concern of an era and a society! This change undoubtedly occurred simultaneously with the attention of the international literary and historical circles to the history of the mind, the history of the mind, and the history of the state of mind!
As a result, for novel researchers, their research horizons are increasingly expanding to the inner universe. This undoubtedly deepens the understanding and psychological feelings of man's ontology and human practice.
When Zhong Yang brother observed the character, psychology, and mentality of the characters in ancient novels, the biggest feature was to break the link that had only seen both ends of the chain for ancient writers, that is, to see only the old pattern of the beginning and end of the psychological process of the writer's character, and more clearly grasped the writer's psychology, thus generating infinite interest in the mental process of his characters!
From the vengeful personality (Gan General Mo Evil) to the righteous warrior personality (Guan Yu), the adulterous male personality (Cao Cao), the warrior personality (Wu Song, Lu Da, Li Kui), the Goku personality, and then to the rogue personality (Ximen Qing), Baoyu personality, tragic personality (Daiyu)... All have precise interpretations.
Deadly Org
Zhong Yang's unique and wonderful discoveries are due to the multiple combinations of his most interesting characters and the authenticity of the mental flow! His study of fiction is certainly not fiction creation, but the focus of his academic interests and procedures is precisely his dialectical analysis of the construction of the character's mind.
He is contemplating the different states of life presented by the writer's characters in different contexts! The discussion of the psychological flow and fate of the characters in each chapter of the book is through the writer's observation of the relatively constant mentality to write out the impact of the changes of the times on the fate of the individual, and reflect the changes of the times from the direction of the characters' personal fate and spiritual journey!
Therefore, Zhong Yang's cultural and academic research takes the road of two-way communication and mutual observation, and this is his unique discovery and writing!
Another feature of Zhong Yang's masterpiece that cannot be ignored is that he uses the language of his personality to study the psychological state, human characteristics, and personality changes of ancient novelists in the middle of the book. Like a contemporary novelist, he adopts the method of heart-to-heart, using his own heart to grasp the heart of Wen and the heart of his characters hundreds of years ago. This is because his understanding of the character comes from his understanding of himself! Insight into the mindset of the mind's character comes from self-awareness and cognition.
Reflections of Human Nature
He is good at penetrating the back of the paper between the lines and understanding and grasping the hypocrisy, honesty, anger, toughness, fragility, loneliness, pain, and love and hate of the writer and the characters in the book. Comparing the mind to the heart is a method of truly studying the object with inner experience, and it is also a strategy of observation.
This form of equal dialogue is also a strategy that can realistically describe the psychological flow of writers and characters. Therefore, his study of fiction does not contradict the heart of the object, nor does it coincide with the heart of the object of his study. Therefore, it is thought that Brother Zhong Yang first adhered to the concept of traditional novel poetics, and also had the posture of "neutral bystander", which made him reflect historical knowledge, present knowledge and poetry knowledge in the book!
Looking at the study of the art of the novel, there are many differences, and the purpose is to explore the particularity of culture and art. With the change of novel culture, the innovation and breakthrough of the research mode of novel aesthetics is also an inevitable trend!
The creative aesthetic study of the vast sea of Classical Chinese novels will inevitably show a new light of aesthetics and history in the new period! The aesthetic excavation and discovery of our classical novel research today is to use philosophical and aesthetic vision, from gaze to discovery, and finally to achieve aesthetic perspective!
It is undeniable that there is a plausible understanding in the field of novel studies, that is, that is, "the value of the classical novel is mainly its cognitive value today"! The implication is that it is not in the aesthetic value and aesthetic sense! This is, of course, a misunderstanding! We can see only a few major updates in the novel style and novel concept, and we can see the continuous breakthrough and reconstruction of the narrative mode of the novel!
The Art of Reading: A Conversation with Chinese Novel Readers
Zhong Yang's novel aesthetic consciousness focuses on multi-dimensional examination of character personality! As Belinsky said, "When you describe people, you describe society!" He explained the true meaning of an art, because only by depicting all kinds of people and so on can we fully reflect the social landscape! Lao She saw more clearly: "The success or failure of the novel is based on the characters!" (See Old Cow Breaks The Car)
To say that the achievements of the classical Chinese novel have added many immortal typical characters to the history of the world novel is by no means excessive! Among them, more of them are contributed by ming and qing long popular novels!
It is based on this macroscopic cognition that Zhong Yang's interpretation of the character and mind after dissection has a clear indication, that is, "people are variegated" and "people are people with the whole complexity of their own psychology"! People are not monochrome, and the characters themselves have their own psychological and personality logic, which is an extremely important experience for Zhong Yang to explain the characters in the novel.
Chinese novels have long lived in the arrogance and prejudice of traditional poetry, becoming the path of "gentleman and gentleman". It was the "May Fourth" New Culture Movement that used it as a textbook for promoting vernacular literature and a sharp weapon for enlightenment, which completely changed the status of the Chinese novel, and entered the history of Chinese literature and the forum of universities.
"Literati Chen Duxiu"
Zhong Yang has a special love for the "May Fourth" new cultural movement, and he insists on using the light of "May Fourth" to observe the character and fate of Chinese novels and their characters. Drawing the spiritual power of analysis, questioning, and criticism from the treasures of "May Fourth", even the peak of the Chinese novel, "Dream of the Red Chamber", can see its artistic defects, and even Lu Xun's "Outline of the History of the Chinese Novel", which is the first in the history of Chinese novels, can find its shortcomings, aiming to let people understand: "The character depiction of ancient people is no longer enough today" (Engels), "Sincerely hope that the masterpiece is composed of Lai Zheye" (Lu Xun). Innovation is the cornerstone of human progress.
I value the first impression of aesthetics. Zhong Yang's book was written in the 1980s and first published in the 1990s, which is the product of ideological emancipation. Its thinking is sharp and rich in literature, the words are full of youthful atmosphere, good-looking and durable, and it has become an aesthetic object itself. I was so impressed by it that I had no time to read it again after many years, and the above was my first impression of reading.
I know that this book is the work of Zhong Yang's academic development, and later he wrote "The Reflection of Human Nature: The Character of Jin Ping Mei and Late Ming China" starting from "Ximen Qing", and wrote a series of influential works such as "Literati Chen Duxiu: The Wisdom of Enlightenment" starting from "Standing on a Towering Tower", constantly reconstructing the aesthetic space, especially the aesthetic space of Chinese novels, which surprised me.
I am ninety years old, and the years are not forgiving, and those who ask for orders refuse to do so. However, Zhong Yang and I were related to Nankai, and the relationship was extraordinary. In the 1980s, he studied under Mr. Zhu Yixuan, and listened to the "YuanQu" small class I gave with graduate students, and since then we have debated each other in academic times, and have become friends in family affairs, state affairs, world affairs, and everything can be talked about.
Zhu Yixuan's "Character Genealogy of the Dream of the Red Chamber"
Nankai related academic activities, especially Mr. Zhu's eightieth, ninetieth, and 100th birthday celebrations, he actively participated, and wrote a masterpiece "The Zhu System in the Historiography of Chinese Novels", which made Mr. Zhu and Zhu Men's disciples very grateful.
Last year, on the centenary celebration of Nankai, Mr. Zhu's "Character Genealogy of the Dream of the Red Chamber" was included in the "Jingu Famous Artists Library", and Zhong Yang and I were invited by the publishing house to jointly write a "guide" for it... Now I am glad to hear that Zhong Yang's famous works have been republished in the Oriental Publishing House, and I am happy for him. Zhong Yang asked me to write a few words for the new edition, do I have any reason to shirk it? This is also the fate of the character. May the readers understand my intentions.
Gengzi Winter Moon at Nankai University
Butterfly Dreams faintly passed away
——About The Fate of Character: Aesthetic Theory of Classical Chinese Novels
Shi Zhongyang
One
At the end of the 20th century, when I visited Beijing, my friend had the poem "Flounder" Jizhi, and I also put together a "Butterfly Dream" to echo it. A few days ago, I asked him for "Flounder" to help me remember, and he replied timidly: The loss is in the river.
The author donated Shen Yin Mo Mo Bao to his alma mater, Susong Middle School
Zi Kawakami said: "The deceased is like a sifu". Should I thank him or curse him? It washes away many old marks, leaving behind or more precious. At this moment, I especially want to recover some butterfly dreams in the lost river, of course, about "The Fate of Character". Is it caused by a narcissistic complex or is it the result of old age? I can't figure it out, anyway, it's not "picking up flowers".
The 2080s were indeed a time of burning passion, and The Fate of Character is a product of that era; although it explores the aesthetic mysteries of classical novels, it also surges with my passion. Originally, before laying out the paper and shaking the pen, it was also a pleasure to create a reader's knee case and talk with the work's heart.
However, in contemporary China, "climbing the lattice" is not an easy way to survive. The world is troubled, and people's hearts are restless. Often only in the middle of the night, the wife and children snoring, barely sat in front of the case, accompanied by lights and moonlight to find their own realm. But before I could climb two pages, there were sleepworms coming to please ann. Every time I lie down with regret, I look forward to getting up with excitement the next day.
In that knee-only dwelling, I wrote day and night, though bitter and happy.
The book was not published until the late nineties. Since the middle of the journey, "Although I was not confused in the year" Yunyun changed three times, the first time "has not been confused", and then "has passed the time is not confused", to a certain summer when the publication is in sight to write "early over", I did not expect that it took more than three years to really see the book. This shows how difficult it is to publish.
Even so, I'm grateful for that era. In middle school and college, I was disturbed by the "white specialty" theory and could not read with peace of mind, although I loved to read. In the 1980s, I was finally able to read, teach, and write books with peace of mind.
The Charm of The Gods and Demons: An Examination of Journey to the West
Two
I grew up reading novels and had dreams of creating novels. However, in the most dreamy years of my life, I often suffered from "what I want to write can't write, and I can write and don't want to write." If you can't write a novel, you will try your best to get other people's novels to read in the dark. In the days of being banished to the "vast world", under the dim kerosene lamp of my hometown, novels (not limited to Chinese novels, of course) almost became my spiritual companions.
Dramatically, I really set out to study Chinese novels, but it was during the inexplicable "Commenting on Red" and "Commenting on Water Margin" movements in the 1970s. As a college student in the crazy era who had difficulty finding a quiet desk, I, with the cooperation of my teachers and friends, avoided many lively scenes, borrowed a corner of the library, and even wrote a commentary on the poems of "Dream of the Red Chamber" with reference to the scriptures.
Although that book is extremely ugly and has long disappeared in the ocean of books, it is not something like "looking at the theme of "Dream of the Red Chamber" from dozens of lives after all. Therefore, I regarded it as the starting point for my research on fiction.
"Wine Flag Wind Warm Youth Madness - Chen Duxiu and Modern Scholars"
Three
Perhaps it was the little creative consciousness that I had been bubbling, or perhaps it was supported by the aesthetic experience of barely reading a few novels, and I never wanted to follow the crowd in my research (including classes), and always liked to talk about "what I found". When they successively appealed to the press, they unexpectedly gained the praise of acquaintances and unknown friends (a considerable part of them were reprinted and commented on by some influential newspapers and periodicals), and of course, there were also well-intentioned criticisms and controversies. I couldn't judge how scientific I was talking about, but I just tried to plunge myself into the pursuit of science.
Articles that have been published touch on all aspects of chinese fiction. In the summer of 1989, a friend urged me to pick out and compile the words on the aesthetic art of Chinese novels into a book, saying that they were far more "spiritual" than those eight hundred papers. With this reputation for wrong love, coupled with the fact that there is a publishing house wishing Yucheng to become this matter, I really practiced.
"May Fourth Threesome: A Signpost of an Era"
Four
The book is divided into two parts.
The first part discusses the specific characters and their fates in Chinese novels, and the second part discusses the artistic character and destiny of Chinese novels themselves.
The famous saying "character is destiny", although it comes from the mouth of Xi Zhe, seems to be full of Zen flavor. I liked it so much that I stripped out a "character fate" as the general target of the book. It's just that in Xi Zhe it was a positive word, but in I became a hazy image.
The subtitle of the book has been changed several times, first named "Chinese Novel Aesthetic Fun", Mr. Zhu Guangqian's academic assistant Zhu Shirong was raising the editing and publication of "Zhu Guangqian's Complete Works", and he was known as "The Aesthetic Composition of Chinese Novels" with the idea of aesthetic methods.
The Complete Works of Zhu Guangqian
He thought that his expectations for clumsiness were too high, and it was difficult for him to come up with a rigorous system to live up to his name, because he used the current topic: aesthetic theory of classical Chinese novels. In fact, it is a one-sided view of the aesthetics of classical Chinese novels. In the meantime, there is inevitably a contemptuous and rounded meaning of "face to face", but it does not mean that I have reached a "profound one-sided". I just hope to cut into the aesthetic world of Chinese novels from the perspective that I am most interested in, and seek the marching clues of Chinese novels from a number of connecting aspects.
In the process of writing, I only seek to spit out quickly, try to avoid pedantic procedures and macro empty talk, and even large topics are slowly approached from the details. The aesthetic film talk of "The New Language of the World" is an excellent tradition of Chinese culture. I have long admired it, and I only hate that I can never write the realm of "vivid rhyme".
Five
The writing of this book and the study of novels on weekdays have been warmly encouraged and helped by mr. Zhu Yixuan.
Mr. Yixuan is a master of Chinese novel historiography. In his early years, he suffered hardships, and in his later years, with extremely tenacious perseverance and painstaking searching, he built a Great Wall of Chinese novel historical materials on a rather desolate base. Whenever a new editor comes out, sir always gives me first, and even the edits that have not yet been published allow me to use first, which benefits me a lot.
The Fate of Character: Aesthetic Theories of Classical Chinese Novels
The preface I wrote for another book on Journey to the West encouraged me even more. He said: "I have been friends with Comrade Zhong Yang for several years, and in the early 1980s, Comrade Zhong Yang came to Nankai University for further study in the department of Chinese.
At that time, I was engaged in the editing of classical novel materials, and Comrade Zhong Yang often put forward pertinent opinions, such as his views on the YuJi's "Preface to the Journey to the West", which helped me a lot. Since then, he has continued to write letters back and forth, and has read his works many times, and deeply feels his academic achievement day: there is progress, which will surely promote the development of classical novel research. "This really makes me ashamed, but I have to work hard to repay my husband's love."
Six
After this book was written, I had the opportunity to go to Beijing to visit Mr. Shu Wu. Mr. Shu Wu was writing a series of papers on Zhou Zuoren at that time and was very busy. I thought that sir would read the synopsis and listen to the introduction, and then he could write the preface. Mr. Yu Unexpectedly read most of the manuscripts I had brought with me and asked me why I did not bring the full manuscripts.
For the manuscripts he brought, Mr. Li carefully read them one by one. The manuscript was originally asked for students to be praised, but our school was not refined, and Mr. Li corrected more than a dozen mistakes. I admire this meticulous spirit of learning.
"Signposts of an Era: Cai Yuanpei Chen Duxiu Hu Shi"
Mr. Shu Wu is a scholar who initiated the "Return to May Fourth" in contemporary China, and his life's scholarship can be called a trilogy under the main theme of "Return to May Fourth": the blockbuster "On subjectivity", the "Dream Record" of the new language of the world, and the "Overview of Zhou Zuoren" of the Great Enlightenment.
Mr. Shu is optimistic about the "May Fourth" atmosphere or afterglow in the humble book. The preface is sensitive to theoreticians, broken in a word, and a little bit of a stone into gold, and what particularly touched me was that Mr. Li disagreed with some of the views in the humble work, and he could also point them out bluntly, unlike some preambles that blindly responded to the scene with beautiful words.
Seven
"The Fate of Character" was falsely praised by Mr. Shu Wu as "a good book that contains heat and nutrients in taste" and "interesting and beneficial", and I dare not admit it, but only seek to make "spiritual communication" with friends.
Compared with what awards I won, I care more about the laughter of my classmates in class (Wang Liqun of the Department of An shi Chinese department, Xu Jinping of the 93rd grade, Xu Jinping of the 99th class, etc. all have literary records, Li Na, the financial manager of Nancai, wrote five short articles with "one-sided profundity" in one go after the elective course), the comments of your colleagues (friends published eight or nine book reviews in newspapers), and some friends who met for the first time at the academic conference actually regarded it as my business card: "Oh, I read your book when I was reading a doctoral degree..." And thus met many new friends.
"Forever New Youth: Chen Duxiu and the May Fourth Scholars", by Shi Zhongyang, Oriental Publishing Center, May 2020 edition.
"Obey the four hours with a sigh, and look at all things and think about all things." Fast forward more than thirty years, thanks to the fact that there are still friends who remember this little book, a new edition has also come into being. Dr. Hu Jihua, who fled the "siege of the city" like me, was pleased to add a poetic text after his good comment, allowing me to increase the temperature of the cold in the winter of Gengzi.
Zhang Danfei, the editor in charge of the first edition of "The Fate of Character", said: "This is the first book that I have written after graduating from my doctorate, and I still remember it vividly. "And managed to find an electronic version of it, which provided great convenience for the new version." Liu Jingwei, the editor-in-charge of "Literati Chen Duxiu", said: "The text of "The Fate of Character" is too beautiful, and I was moved by it before I asked you for a draft. (I also became an old writer of the Shaanxi Society, where I published several books.) ）
Mr. Ning Zongyi is ninety years old, and he still spares no effort to give a good preface to the new edition of "The Fate of Character", and he combines the aesthetics of the soul with the spirit of May Fourth, which encourages the unscrupulous. I was extremely grateful and worried, and I was willing to stagger closer to the realm that My Husband was looking forward to.
The new edition of The Fate of Character adds illustrations to the light length. The original content has not been moved, only a few typos have been changed. There are three book reviews appended, three friends each have cultural nostalgia, from different perspectives to comment on the clumsy, in the reader can be used as a frame of reference, in my course is a precious historical souvenir.
"Several Peaks on the River- Looking for Chen Duxiu in the Handwriting"
Thanks to Sun Han, editor-in-chief, and responsible editors Zhang Yongjun and Li Weinan, who worked hard to publish this book.