The Commentary on the Dream of the Red Chamber was written in 1904, when Wang Guowei was obsessed with Schopenhauer's philosophy, and he found resonance in the novel "Dream of the Red Chamber", so he made a valuable attempt to look at Chinese literature with Western philosophical theories. This period was an important transition period for Wang Guowei's academic research, that is, a period from philosophical discussion to literary research.
Kingdom Dimension
Taking the "Commentary on the Dream of the Red Chamber" as an opportunity, Wang Guowei turned to the study of song and song, and since then, "Human Words" and "History of Song and Yuan Opera" have been published one after another. His remarkable pioneering research has opened up a new world for the study of Chinese literature and set an example for future scholars.
This article is divided into five parts, namely: an overview of life and art, the spirit of the Dream of the Red Chamber, the aesthetic value of the Dream of the Red Chamber, the ethical value of the Dream of the Red Chamber, and the after-discussion. The "fine arts" mentioned in them are equivalent to what is usually called "literary art" at present.
In the text, the author borrows Schopenhauer's philosophical concepts and combines lao Zhuang's philosophy to interpret "Dream of the Red Chamber", the theoretical premise of which is as follows:
What is the essence of life? "Desire" is enough. Desire is sexual insatiable, and it is born of inadequacy. The state of inadequacy, "pain" is also.
The person who lives is like the pendulum of a clock, and the person who is really in between pain and boredom is also.
The second aspect of our knowledge and practice is that there is no past and is not related to the desire for life, that is, to suffering.
Catalogue of the 1905 typeset edition of the Jing'an Anthology
Life is full of desires, but desires cannot be satisfied, so they are doomed to suffering. In this way, only fine art can make people "transcend the interests and forget the relationship between things and me", "those who want do not look at it, and those who see it do not want it". It's a cure for pain. Art is divided into beauty, magnificence and vertigo. In Wang Guowei's view, the only Chinese literary works that can really meet this transcendent interest standard are "Dream of the Red Chamber".
Based on this premise and combined with the reality of the work, Wang Guowei put forward the following main views:
I. The main purpose of "Dream of the Red Chamber" is to "show that the cause of this suffering in this life is self-made, and that the way to liberation cannot be left to those who seek it themselves." Just as the so-called distress is self-inflicted, the bell must also be tied to the bell, "the book "Dream of the Red Chamber" is not a disciple to raise this problem, and the person who solves it is also."
Second, "the real liberation in the book is only the ears of Jia Baoyu, Xi Chun, and Zi Juan", of which the liberation of Xi Chun and Zi Juan is "in the pain of watching others", while the liberation of Jia Baoyu is "in the pain of feeling oneself", which is "natural", "human", "artistic", "tragic", "magnificent", "literary", "poetic", and "novel". Therefore, "the protagonist of 'Dream of the Red Chamber' is not Xi Chun and Zi Juan, but also Jia Baoyu."
"Dream of the Red Chamber Review" published by Education World
Iii. "Dream of the Red Chamber" is "contrary to all comedies, and it is also a complete tragedy", which belongs to the kind of tragedy that "the position and relationship of the characters in the play have to be", that is, "the usual morality, the usual human feelings, the usual circumstances are just", and thus belong to the "tragedy of tragedy". The work has the "spirit of world-weary liberation", and its liberation is different from "his law" "Peach Blossom Fan", and the liberation of "Dream of the Red Chamber" is "self-disciplined". The value of "Dream of the Red Chamber" lies in its "great betrayal of the spirit of our people".
Fourth, the aesthetic value of "Dream of the Red Chamber" is also in line with "the highest ideal of ethics".
The views of "who is the protagonist of this book" and "the author writes his own life" are both wrong, because "the author of the art is not of the character of the individual, but of the nature of the whole of mankind."
It is precisely for this reason that the author gave "Dream of the Red Chamber" a high evaluation, calling it "self-sufficient as the only major work in mainland art" and "the greatest work".
This kind of affirmation may seem to be nothing now, and it can be said to be a cliché, but at a time when the novel is regarded as a barnyard history and an after-dinner gossip, it takes vision and courage. In the words of the current fashion, Wang Guowei's novel works that have been rejected and discriminated against by mainstream society are called "great works" and "great works", which actually opens the process of classicization of "Dream of the Red Chamber" in modern China, which is of great significance.
The Complete Kingdom Dimension
In addition, Wang Guowei also proposed that "the name of the author of Ruofu (through the examination of the books, I have not seen the name of Cao Xueqin) and the date of writing the book, which should be known to the reader, seem to be more important than the name of the protagonist", "the name of the author and the date of his writing should be the only subject of examination.".
Although this article is intended to explore the ideological connotation of "Dream of the Red Chamber", it still expresses concern about the author and the time of writing. Perhaps Wang Guowei was too advanced, and it was not until more than a decade later, in 1921, when Hu Shi wrote "Examination of the Dream of the Red Chamber", that he made a preliminary response to these questions.
In general, there is a relatively clear logical relationship between the five parts of the article, constituting a relatively complete discourse system, the whole text is hierarchical, and the reasoning is thorough, that is, the basic theory and criticism standards are established first, and then the relationship between it and "Dream of the Red Chamber" is discussed, and explanations are given from different angles such as aesthetics and ethics, and finally the research status is reviewed and the future research direction is pointed out.
"Kingdom Wei Dream of the Red Chamber Comment Notes"
Whether from the perspective of research methods or expressions, this is an academic paper with modern colors, and reading it together with the fragmentary impressionistic comments of Li Yanzhai, Wang Xilian, Zhang Xinzhi and others can clearly see the huge difference between the two.
This article is an epoch-making classic paper, which standardifies the beginning of the modernization of modern red studies and even Chinese literary studies, and has a far-reaching impact on future generations.
It is undeniable that this paradigm of Chinese literature based on Western theoretical laws has also been criticized by some researchers, and this issue should be put into the modern academic history of China. It would certainly be criticized if this method of research were to be used at the moment, after more than a century of continuous exploration, people have realized the drawbacks.
However, in 1904, literary research was still in its infancy, and in the context of the era of Western learning and eastern learning, it was natural and understandable to construct a research paradigm of Chinese literature and borrow the already mature Western academic research.
This can be said to be a necessary stage, not only Wang Guowei, but also Hu Shi, Wu Mi, Li Changzhi, Li Chendong, etc. also studied "Dream of the Red Chamber" and other literary works according to this line of thinking, and through the efforts of two generations of scholars, established a research paradigm for Chinese novels.
Three Treatises on The Literature of The Kingdom of Wei
This paradigm is definitely problematic, and finding problems and correcting them is the work that latecomers should do, and the later refining is the law of academic research. Therefore, we cannot simply use the standards of the present to demand the pioneers of more than a century ago.