Notes on the History of Ancient Chinese Literature: 08 Qin and Han Literature

Section 1 The Formation of the Han Dynasty Writers' Group

First, interpret the fashion of rhetoric.

Second, the Han Dynasty adopted the method of combining recommendation and examination to recruit talents, the Western Han Dynasty court commanded the virtuous and virtuous, the prefectures and counties held up filial piety and honest talents, and the Eastern Han Dynasty added subjects such as Dunpu, Youdao, Virtuous, Outspoken, Lonely, High-Mannered, Straight, and Innocent. The two Han talents attach importance to academic conduct, and do not exclude the recruitment of those with literary creative talents.

3. The princes and kings recruited scribes; the emperor loved the word endowment and entered the style of dedication; and the foreign relatives recruited literary scholars as staff.

4. The establishment of certain cultural institutions, such as lefu (whose function is to collect songs and music from all over the world, and also organize literati to compose poetry); Luoyang Dongguan in the Eastern Han Dynasty (whose main work is to study the scriptures); and Hongdumen School, which is a royal school established in Luoyang by Lingdi Guanghe in the first year (178) to study calligraphy and painting (this kind of school specializing in cultivating literary and artistic talents is the first in history).

Fifth, the atmosphere of eunuchs. In the early Western Han Dynasty, eunuch activities were mainly carried out among the princes; from the Wu Emperor's dynasty to the early Eastern Han Dynasty, the eunuch style declined slightly; and in the middle and late Eastern Han Dynasty, it became fashionable.

Section 2 The Basic Situation of Han Dynasty Literature

The development trend of literary pluralism in the Han Dynasty.

First, including the universe, the general management of heaven and man, through the ancient and modern artistic pursuits. The works pursue a wide range of capacity, magnificent momentum and magnificent beauty.

Second, the literati of the Han Dynasty generally had a vigorous enterprising spirit, with the desire to make meritorious achievements, the pursuit of immortality in life, more valuable than fame, in order to realize the ideal of life, at the expense of life, Han Dynasty literature runs through a spirit of self-improvement and positive progress, maintaining a high style.

Third, take the combination of the Holy Lord and the Sage as their ideal, such as Wang Zhen's "Ode to the Holy Lord and the Sage".

Fourth, the fate of scholars is also closely related to the times and the situation, Han Dynasty literature has made an vivid display and incisive exposition of the relationship between historical opportunities and personal destiny, and the "Historical Record" and many lyrical endowments have a greater depth in expressing the relationship between the inevitability of historical development and the contingency of personal destiny. During the prosperous period of the Western Han Dynasty, the frustrated literati lamented that life was not timely, such as Dong Zhongshu's "Shi Bu Yu Fu" and Sima Qian's "Sorrowful Shi No Fu", both with the themes of "encounter" and "no encounter"; at the beginning of the late Western Han Dynasty, the literati lamented more focused on fate and turned to their own destiny; during the decline of the Eastern Han Dynasty, they lamented the shortness of life from the unrivaled meritorious name, such as "Nineteen Ancient Poems".

V. The Change of Criticism and Praise. Criticizing the tyranny of the Qin Dynasty and reflecting on history is an important part of the literature of the early Han Dynasty, such as the political theories of Jia Yi, Sima Xiangru's "Lamentations II Fu", Sima Qian's "History"; Emperor Wu's beginning, turning to the construction of the theoretical system of this dynasty, literature also turned to the concern for reality, singing praises and praising virtue, and polishing Hongye became the main mission of the Western Han Dynasty's flourishing literature, such as Dafu; the Eastern Han Dynasty began to criticize again, such as the political theories of Wang Chong, Wang Fu and others, the poetic endowments of Li Yan, Zhao Yi, Cai Yong, You Heng and others, and the objects of criticism included theological teleology, the doctrine of secrecy, and the fatalism, Superstitions, social darkness, traditional values, outlook on life. The criticism of reality in the later period has more depth, breadth and strength.

Sixth, the status of the Han literati has also undergone a process from independence to dependence and then to independence. In the early Han Dynasty, Zou Yang, and others had independent personalities, both literati and Zongheng family character; Emperor Wu initially advocated the literati, and during the Eastern Han Dynasty, foreign relatives were not free to recruit aides, and most of them were literati and scholars; since the end of the Western Han Dynasty, the spirit of personality independence had sprouted again, and Yang Xiong, Ban Gu, Zhang Heng, and others had worked hard to create according to their own ideals; in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, Zhao Yi, You Heng, and others were willful. After the Han Dynasty experienced submission and dependence, it returned to independence and reached a higher level.

Seventh, strong romantic color. During the Western Han Dynasty, the literati affirmed the real world on the one hand, and on the other hand, fantasized and communicated with the world of gods; after the Eastern Han Dynasty, the romantic color weakened and the rational spirit was enhanced.

Eighth, folk creation and literati creation flourish and promote each other. The five-word song was adopted into the Lefu and became the lefu lyrics, and the inscriptionists deliberately imitated it, and the literati wuyan poems appeared, and the folk five-word poems matured under the influence of the literati's five-word poems; historical literature also left traces of the integration of folk creation and literati creation, such as "History" and "Wuyue Spring and Autumn".

Section 3 The Two-Way Interaction between Han Dynasty Literature and Classics

First, the extravagant style of writing and the cumbersome habit of interpreting the scriptures. School education in the Western Han Dynasty was developed through the advocacy of Gongsun Hong, and the imperial court placed doctoral officials, Li Taixue, and the five classics of the county and the state, with the purpose of training scribes and officials at all levels.

Second, the romantic style and the illusion of scripture.

Third, the literature of the Han Dynasty was heavily imitated, lacking creativity, and the classics of the Han Dynasty were heavily inherited, and the former Han Dynasty was heavy on the teacher's law, and the later Han dynasty was heavy on the family law.

Fourth, the literature of the Han Dynasty experienced a process of development from complexity to simplicity, and the trend of simplicity arose in the early Eastern Han Dynasty.

V. The Influence of Classics on Literary Thought, which to a large extent is an extension and concretization of classics. The basic viewpoints expounded in the Preface to Mao's Poems became the soul and main tone of the literary trend of thought in the Han Dynasty. The Preface to Mao's Poems advocates that poetry should be "affectionate and stop at etiquette", and use Confucian ethics and morality to regulate the expression of emotions. It emphasizes the satirical and indoctrinating role of poetry, and reduces its function to "through husband and wife, into filial piety, kindness, beauty and education, and transfer of customs", with "instrumental theory" color. Literary criticism of the Han Dynasty mainly uses this as a yardstick to judge literary phenomena; the evaluation of Qu Yuan, his works, and Han Fu is based on the basic point of classics, with the scriptures qusaulting and the scriptures on Han fu.

6. Sima Qian, following Qu Yuan's "Angry Writing Books" theory of "writing books with anger and lyricism," regarded literary creation as a way to express depression.

Section 4: The Transmutation and Periodization of the Literary Style of the Han Dynasty

1. Stylistic style.

(1) Endowment.

1, the most representative, between poetry and prose, rhyme and scatter, is the prose culture of poetry, the poetry of prose.

2. Drawing on the form of Chu Ci and the Warring States Vertical and Horizontal Texts of the Subject-Guest Question and Answer, the extravagant style of writing, drawing on the narrative techniques of pre-Qin historical literature, and often integrating poetry into it, there are four, five and seven words.

3. There are many sources of style, which is a comprehensive literary style. The "Seven Hairs" marked the formal formation of Fu, Sima Xiangru's works represented the highest achievement of Fu, the main writer of the late Western Han Dynasty was Yang Xiong, Ban Gu's "Two Capital Fu" and Zhang Heng's "Erjing Fu" were the masterpieces of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and Zhang Heng's "Guitian Fu" created a precedent for lyrical small fu.

(2) There is no new development in Chu ci works. Many Chu Ci works rely on Qu Yuan, and form a generally clear division of labor with the new body endowment: the new body endowment is mainly used for positive praise and irony, and the Chu ci works focus on the lyricism of the chant (more depressed feelings), and the style is similar to that of "Leaving the Troubles". After that, it gradually merged with the new body endowment, which was generally called cifu, and the Chu ci works were called the tumultuous fu, and sometimes named after the fu, jia Yi's "Hanging Qu Yuanfu" is an example.

(3) There has been a great development in the style of narrative prose. The "Records of History" reflects history with the characters as the center, and creates the Jichuan style, and the "Book of Han" perfects it; "Wu Yue Chunqiu" strengthens the literary nature of historical works and is an indiscriminate pursuit of historical novels; the inscriptions are a new style mature under the atmosphere of characters; And Ma Dibo's "Records of Feng Zen Yi" is the earliest and more complete travelogue in existence.

(4) New poetic styles - five-word poems. During the Western Han Dynasty, it was mostly found in songs and Lefu poems, and the literati wuyan poems appeared in large numbers in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the five-character poems of the Eastern Han Dynasty had matured.

(5) Seven-word sentences appeared in a large number of carriers such as mirror inscriptions and literacy textbooks during the Western Han Dynasty, and some of them were already standard seven-word verses, and the words were often mixed with seven-word verses or seven-word paragraphs, and some could be regarded as complete seven-word poems at the beginning and end. The seven-word poems attached to Han Fu are usually rhymed with sentences.

Second, staging.

(1) Initial period: Gao zu to Jing Emperor.

1. A variety of genres basically follow the remnants of Warring States literature, and at the same time, new factors have emerged, such as "Seven Hairs"; the political theory of the early Han Dynasty was influenced by the Warring States rhetoric and rhetoric, which was more imposing and emotional; Chu Sheng's poetry was used for court sacrifices and became a temple song.

2. On behalf of the writers Jia Yi and Mei Cheng, the achievements of rhetoric and political theory are high.

(2) Heyday: Emperor Wu to Emperor Xuan. The new style was given a stereotype, and there were writers of resignation headed by Sima Xiangru; the development of historical literature reached its peak, and the "Records of History" was written; the hundred families were deposed, Confucianism was exalted, and the ideology was unified, and the political essays were also changed from yueshi high talk to the original scriptures, and in terms of style, they developed to the deep, broad, and rich, mellow and heavy aspects; the Lefu was strengthened, a large number of folk songs were collected and recorded, and the court literati created Lefu poems.

(3) Zhongxing Period: Emperor Yuan to Eastern Han and Emperor He. The creation of lexicography set off a second climax, with the emergence of Writers of Lexicography such as Yang Xiong and Ban Gu; the Book of Han became another important biographical literary work after the "Records of History"; the study of scripture was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people and the simulated atmosphere was serious; and "On Balance" advocated the critical spirit of "illness and falsehood".

(4) From prosperity to decline and transition period: Emperor An to Emperor Ling. Starting from Zhang Heng, lyrical short gifts appeared, and Kyoto Dafu developed to the peak; Zhao Yi, Cai Yong, You Heng and other people were close to reality and had a strong critical spirit; Wuyan ancient poems entered a mature stage, and "Nineteen Ancient Poems" represented the highest achievements of the literati Wuyan poems, rediscovering, thinking and pursuing life, destiny and value, and rectifying and gorgeous.