The Outline of the History of the Chinese Novel is the first monograph written by the modern literary scholar Lu Xun to systematically discuss the history of the development of the Chinese novel. This monograph, which begins with ancient myths and legends and ends with the condemnation of novels at the end of the Qing Dynasty, completely discusses the origin and evolution of Chinese novels, accurately evaluates the representative novel writers and works of Various Historical Periods in China, and profoundly analyzes the internal relationship between the novels in the early and late periods.
When discussing the development and evolution of the Chinese novel, the author not only looks for clues to its progress from the literature itself, but also pays special attention to placing the literary phenomenon of the novel under a certain social background, analyzing the influence of the political and economic conditions at that time and the social atmosphere and academic thought on the novel, and clarifying the law of the development of the Chinese novel from the perspective of its interrelationship, role and reaction. His insights are incisive, the materials are rich, and the clues are clear and clear, which gives a concise summary of the historical development of the Chinese novel. The monograph is detailed in material, well-analyzed, rigorous in structure, clear in context, and rich in content, filling the gap in the history of novel research
Content Overview
The book consists of twenty-eight articles, accompanied by the article "The Historical Changes of the Chinese Novel", which is the author's lecture in Xi'an in July 1924. The History of chinese novels is a systematic exploration of the occurrence and development process of Chinese novels. It begins with ancient myths and legends, and then discusses the various stages of the development history of the Chinese novel in order, from the Han Dynasty novel, the Six Dynasties novel to the Tang and Song legends, from the Song Dynasty dialect and the pseudo-script, the Yuanming historical novel, the Ming Dynasty's divine and demonic novels, the human love novel, the pseudo-Song shiren novel, and later selected to the Qing Dynasty Pseudo-Jin-Tang novel, satire novel, human love novel, narrow evil novel, chivalrous and public case novel, until the condemnation novel of the late Qing Dynasty. Lu Xun used the materialist viewpoint and scientific comparative methods to summarize and summarize the emergence, development and change of novels, the historical background and ideological and cultural reasons for the rise and fall of novels in previous dynasties, the analysis and evaluation of representative writers' works, and the ideological and artistic characteristics of various novels.
Chinese novels have never been valued by the literati and have not been elegant. The author regards ancient myths and legends as the origin of Wei Jin Zhiwei novels, believing that there was a major change in the novel to the Tang Dynasty, and there was another change in the Song Dynasty, Zhiwei wanted to win the trust of people, the words became plain, and the legend was ancient and not original. After the Song Dynasty, vernacular novels became grand views, and wenyan's quasi-Jin Tang Zhiwei legends also had sequels, and also discussed the development of various genre novels in modern times.
Specifically, the first article of the book, "The Bibliography and Exposition of Historians on Novels", cites bibliographies ranging from the "Hanshu Yiwenzhi" to the "General Catalogue of the Four Libraries", explaining the origin of the name of the novel and the classification and attitude of the novel in previous dynasties, expounding the origin of the "historian stereotype" that has always despised or even been hostile to the novel, and vigorously advocating the important position of the novel. The remaining 27 articles provide a preliminary outline of the occurrence and development process of Chinese novels, first tracing ancient myths and legends, and then discussing Han Dynasty novels, Six Dynasties novels, Tang and Song legends, Song Ren dialects, Song and Yuan pseudo-scripts, Yuanming narration history, Ming Dynasty divine and demonic novels, human love novels, pseudo-narrative novels, chivalrous novels, public case novels, and late Qing dynasty condemnation novels. The second to fourth of these examines the history of the formation of novels from ancient myths and legends to various biographies of gods and immortals written by the Wei and Jin Dynasties. The fifth to seventh articles study the Zhiren novels of the Six Dynasties represented by the Book of Search for Gods and the Zhiren novels represented by the New Language of the World. The eighth to tenth articles deal with the "miscellaneous tricks" of Tang legends and various stories and anecdotes. The eleventh to thirteenth articles examine the Novels, Legends, Scripts, and Fictional Scripts of the Song Dynasty. The fourteenth to twenty-first commentaries on the history of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, the Ming Dynasty divine and demonic novels and human love novels, and the Ming Dynasty's proposed Song Dynasty novels and Qing dynasty antagonists and sequels. The 22nd to 28th articles discuss the Qing Dynasty's proposed Jin and Tang legends, such as strangeness, satire, human feelings, novel-based learning, narrow evil, narrow meaning and public case, and condemnation.
Background of the times
In the history of Chinese literature, the status of the novel is humble, and it has always been regarded as the last of the small road, "the talk of the street", not elegant, and academics do not despise to touch the novel. In the 17th century, Jin Sheng lamented that the literary value of "Water Margin" was no less than that of "History" and "Warring States Policy", saying that "there is no article in the world that produces the right of "Water Margin", and there is no one in the gentleman of the world who is on the right side of Mr. Shi Nai'an." "It was a remarkable vision, but in his time, there were no strangers like him. The novel's enormous influence is at no means commensurate with its place in the minds of scholars, and the contrast gradually reaches an intolerable point. Therefore, in recent times, Liang Qichao advocated a "revolution in the field of novels", saying that "if you want the people of a new country, you must not fail to first the novels of a new country", thus raising the novel to a position that cannot be higher. Even though there were more people writing novels at that time, people began to pay attention to novels, but the combing, commentary, and research of Chinese novels in previous dynasties were minimal, let alone the writing of a special history of the development of Chinese novels.
For this reason, no one has conducted a systematic study of the history of the Chinese novel before, and the preface to the book begins with a clear statement: "Chinese novels have never had a history, and some of them are first found in the history of Chinese literature written by foreigners, and then among the authors of the Chinese, but their amount is not as good as the tithe of the whole book, so the novel is still unknown." "The author likes novels since childhood, and under the influence of Liang Qichao and others who attach importance to the functional concept of novels, vigorously translate and study foreign novels, devote themselves to the compilation and collation of ancient novels, and are determined to change the status quo of novels without history, and find a clue from the backward and chaotic works.
Creative journey
As early as the eve of the Xinhai Revolution, the author Lu Xun began to sort out the forgery, compilation and bibliography of ancient novels, "correctly identifying falsehoods, and clearing the source of the original", and successively completed the "Ancient Novel Hook Sinking", "Novel Old Smelling Money" and "Tang and Song Legend Collection". The materials used in the "Historical Outline of the Chinese Novel" were extracted from the above works. "Ancient Novel Hook Sink" is a compilation of 36 kinds of ancient novels that survived before the Tang Dynasty, covering the main materials of the "History of Chinese Novels" from The 3rd to the 7th, and the work took 3 years, Lu Xun read a large number of ancient books and copied 6,000 cards. "Novel Old Smells of Money" is a collection of 41 novels after the Song Dynasty, referring to 93 kinds of books in the Ming and Qing dynasties and 1570 volumes. The "Legends of the Tang and Song Dynasties" took 15 years from compilation to publication, and contained 45 Novels of the Tang and Song Dynasties. The author Lu Xun spent a lot of time systematically sorting out the ancient novel materials, and the author once recalled the situation at that time: "When the party was in trouble and unable to buy books, he pretended to be from the Central Library, etc., wasted sleep and quit eating, and searched for exhaustively. (Preface to the Reprint of old currency of the novel)
In 1920, the author Lu Xun was invited to teach the history of the Chinese novel at Peking University and other universities, and he mimeographed the lecture notes and distributed them to students for the purpose of "Outline of the History of Novels". The "Outline of the History of the Chinese Novel" was revised and updated on the basis of the "Outline of the History of the Novel", and in one or two years, it was expanded from the initial 17 to 26, and the title was also changed to "The Outline of the History of the Chinese Novel". In 1923, it was officially published by the Beijing Xinchao Society, divided into two volumes and a total of 28 articles, and the title was officially set as "Historical Outline of Chinese Novels".
Works of influence
For the first time, from the perspective of stylistic evolution, the author outlines the historical process of the development of Chinese novels, systematically sorts out the process of Chinese novels from brewing, occurrence, development to maturity, and writes the first systematic history of novels in China, filling the academic gap in the study of novel history, which is academically pioneering.
For the first time, a comprehensive genre study of ancient Chinese novels was conducted, thus creating a new model of novel criticism. The classification of novels in the Song Dynasty and its predecessors is not much new, basically following the words of the ancients; his new design of novel types is mainly reflected in the division and definition of various novels in the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, such as the history of Yuanming, the ming dynasty gods and demons, human love novels, quasi-Song people's novels, Qing Dynasty quasi-Jin and Tang novels, satirical novels, human love novels, narrow evil novels, chivalrous novels, public case novels, condemnation novels, etc., these names are still used to this day.
The origins and changes of each type of novel are systematically examined. For example, the twenty-sixth article on the classification and origin of narrow evil novels, and the twenty-eighth article on the theoretical definition and illustration interpretation of condemning novels are obvious examples
Positive reviews
Hu Shi: I myself have made a little contribution to the historical materials of novels, but the biggest achievement is naturally Mr. Lu Xun's "Historical Outline of Chinese Novels". This is a pioneering creation, very diligent in collection, very refined in materials, and very rigorous in analysis, which can save countless energy for those of us who study literary history.
Guo Moruo: Wang Guowei's "History of Song and Yuan Opera" and Lu Xun's "Outline of the History of Chinese Novels" are undoubtedly double-bi in the study of Chinese literary and art history, which is not only a pioneering work, unprecedented, but also an authoritative achievement, and has been leading millions of post-study.
Cai Yuanpei: The most rigorous writing, not the history of Chinese novels.
Feng Zhi: This course is nominally "Historical Outline of chinese Novels", but in fact it is an observation of history and a critique of society.
Ah Ying: The production of "Outline of the History of Chinese Novels" not only ended the situation of the long-term scattered criticism of novels in the past (until the "Commentary on Ancient and Modern Novels" on the eve of "May Fourth"), but also negated the cloudy and misty "SuoYin" countercurrent (such as "Dream of the Red Chamber", "Water Margin Transmission suoyin", and the far-fetched nationalist theory school), but also swept away the phenomenon of some literary history of the time involving novels (such as "History of Chinese Literature"). The most basic and prominent is the concept of "evolution" as a whole, cutting through thorns and thorns, breaking through the grass and opening up the wilderness, and creatively forming a colorful picture for Chinese novels of all generations.
Chen Pingyuan: So far (2000), the history of novelists writing novels is still the most prominent in Lu Xun's achievements. A "Historical Outline of the Chinese Novel" is a research guide for countless later studies.
Zheng Zhenduo: My study of Chinese novels in Shanghai is completely like a blind man riding a blind horse and running around, and the publication of his "Outline of the History of Chinese Novels" has reduced a lot of my pain of groping in secret. Lu Xun's "Historical Outline of the Chinese Novel" laid the foundation for the study of the Chinese novel.
Xiao Xiangkai: So far (2002), there has not been a single work that has truly surpassed the Outline of the History of the Chinese Novel in its entirety.
Qian Xuantong: "Although this book is well organized and well-judged, although it was compiled more than a decade ago, there is no second history of Chinese novels that is better than him (or as good as his). The material he saw when he wrote this book was not one-tenth of what Ma Yuqing (Lian) and Sun Tzushu (Kai Di) saw later, and it was admirable that he could do so well for the lecture notes that were compiled and printed in one or two years. ”
(Japanese) Masuda Shigeru: Stimulated or inspired by this book ("Outline of the History of chinese Novels"), new discoveries and new researches in the history of Chinese novels have appeared continuously, and the original work can be called epoch-making in the study of Chinese novels.
Inadequacies
Hu Shi: There are too few judgments.
Liu Wendian: Lu Xun did not understand Buddhism, let alone Indian scholarship, so he did not know the origin of Chinese novels.
Liu Yangzhong: "Generally speaking, Lu Xun focuses on finding the reasons for the historical changes in Chinese novels from the political and cultural background, while ignoring the reasons for the development of the art form itself and the influence of other cultural forms on the art of the novel.
Wang Ping: This book does have some points that should be filled in and discarded and the evidence should be discerned, such as saying that "Liaozhai Zhiyi" "uses the legendary method to use Zhiwei", which does not seem to distinguish the essential difference between "Liaozhai Zhiyi" and the Six Dynasties Zhiwei; for example, there seems to be doubts about the analysis of the traditional version of "Water Margin" and the simple version of which is first and which is later, and so on.
![Why is there so much wrong in history? From Li Guangnanfeng, Afang Gongfu, and romance of the Three Kingdoms[fig]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=)