Yu Pingbo's book "The Dream of the Red Chamber" is a representative result of the New Red Science, which has an intrinsic relationship and echo with Hu Shi's "Examination of the Dream of the Red Chamber" in terms of content and viewpoint, and can be regarded as a whole.
Yadong Library Edition of "Dream of the Red Chamber"
The whole book is divided into three volumes, and its contents are summarized by Yu Shi himself in the introduction as follows:
The first volume is devoted to Gao Hu's continuation of the book, because if the hundred and twenty times and the eighty times are not clearly distinguished, "Dream of the Red Chamber" cannot be discussed. The middle volume is devoted to the eighty-fold argument, and describes my personal speculations about the eighty times after the eighty times, and discusses the two issues of time and place at the end of "Dream of the Red Chamber". The main thing in the next volume is to examine the continuation of the two high books. The rest are miscellaneous treatises, as appendices.
Due to the difference between academic personality and personal interests and concerns, there are still obvious differences between the book and the article "Examination of the Dream of the Red Chamber" in terms of research objects, exposition methods and writing styles.
Unlike Hu Shi's purely historical examination, Yu Pingbo's foothold is in the artistry of the work, so his examination not only pays attention to internal evidence, pays attention to the fine interpretation of this article, but also pays attention to the effective connection between examination and artistic analysis.
It is precisely for this reason that many of the contents of "The Dream of the Red Chamber" are ignored or unwilling to be touched upon by Hu Shi, such as the quality of the content of the last forty times, the author's attitude, the style of the work and other important issues, and the writings of the two complement each other.
"Dream of the Red Chamber Style" is one of the middle volumes, in terms of content, mainly from a literary point of view to explore the "Dream of the Red Chamber", that is, in the context of the development and evolution of ancient Chinese novels, to explore the uniqueness of "Dream of the Red Chamber" in literature, as Yu Pingbo said, "This article is all from the perspective of literature to read "Dream of the Red Chamber".
Yu Pingbo in his youth
Interestingly, at the beginning of the article, the author put forward a controversial issue, that is, the evaluation of "Dream of the Red Chamber". He believes that "the bottom position of "Dream of the Red Chamber" in world literature is not very high" and "should be ranked second". Hu Shi had a similar view. On the one hand, Hu Shi and Yu Pingbo believe that the position of "Dream of the Red Chamber" in world literature is not high, but on the other hand, they study "Dream of the Red Chamber" and become the pioneers of new red science.
Why? Hu Shi did not explain, but Yu Pingbo gave several reasons in the text: first, the idea of "Dream of the Red Chamber" "cannot take off the foundation of Oriental thought"; second, "its use is only boring and eye-catching, avoiding the world and eliminating sorrows"; third, "in terms of the genre of the whole book, it is also slightly too complicated and lengthy, there are contradictions and omissions, and it is different from the pure and flawless short stories."
Because of the above reasons, "the nature of 'Dream of the Red Chamber' is also similar to that of Chinese-style idle books, and it is not allowed to enter the forest of modern literature." It should be said that these reasons are subjective and have something to discuss, and there are quite a few who cannot agree.
Copyright page of "Dream of the Red Chamber"
Later, Wu Mi, Li Changzhi, Li Chendong, and others studied "Dream of the Red Chamber" from the perspective of comparative literature, comparing it horizontally with British and American literature, and came to different conclusions. Combined with the cultural context of the times at that time, Yu Pingbo and Hu Shi both held the view of evolution, believing that Chinese literature was backward compared with foreign literature, so they refused to give too high evaluation.
It should be pointed out that Yu Pingbo's views later changed, and in the book "Research on the Dream of the Red Chamber", which was revised from the "Dream of the Red Chamber", he deleted these contents.
Yu Pingbo said that "Dream of the Red Chamber" is "not very high" in world literature, and after being listed as "second class", he immediately said that he "likes to read "Dream of the Red Chamber" very much, and admires Cao Xueqin even more", "Xueqin is a first-class genius", "In today's Chinese literary and art circles, "Dream of the Red Chamber" is still a first-class work", and gave a high evaluation to "Dream of the Red Chamber".
The Complete Works of Yu Pingbo
He pointed out that "Dream of the Red Chamber" is an autobiographical novel, written for repentance, so it has a realistic style, "The only means for the author of "Dream of the Red Chamber" is to sketch."
The characters in the book, he believes, are "all extremely ordinary", "all the people who write the book are not as uncomfortable as their differences, none of them are overheated; the same is true for writing about the scenery", such as Jia Baoyu, who writes about his strengths and weaknesses, and the same is true for other characters. These have broken the shackles of the historical novel and are Cao Xueqin's artistic innovations.
For the nature of the book "Dream of the Red Chamber", he defined it as "a very serious tragedy" and spoke highly of it: "This half of the wonderful tragedy is an unprecedented masterpiece in our literary and artistic circles." As for the last forty times, he basically holds a positive attitude: "Gao Hu's motivation for supplementing the bottom of the book is indeed the bottom of "Dream of the Red Chamber", and it is not unkind", believing that the last forty times continue the tragedy of the original work.
Yu Pingbo's book "Inscription on the Dream of the Red Chamber"
Yu Pingbo summarized the characteristics of the tragedy of "Dream of the Red Chamber" as "resentment but not anger", and compared it with novels such as "Water Margin", believing that the only novel that can achieve "resentment without anger" is "Dream of the Red Chamber". This feature avoids the superficiality of the work and deepens the profound connotation.
These views seem to be very common today, nearly a hundred years later, but at the time when the Soyin School of Red studies was prevalent, they seemed to be unique and had a positive guiding effect. As for its value and its influence in later generations, it is not difficult to reflect the length and popularity of "Dream of the Red Chamber" illustrated with class struggle.
In general, "The Dream of the Red Chamber", including this article, solves some problems, but also raises some problems, leaving a lot of room for future generations to think. Although it has an intrinsic relationship and consistency with the "Examination of the Dream of the Red Chamber" in terms of the premise of the argument, its unique academic value cannot be replaced.
Criticism of the Self-Prologue of the Sixth Edition of the Stone Chronicle
In the past, people often called the new red science pioneered by Hu Shi and others as the examination school, which was obviously biased, and it ignored the achievements and significance of Yu Pingbo's red studies. The lack of Yu Pingbo's new red science is doomed to be incomplete and unfair, and in the current academic circles' expectations of reflecting on red science and eager for a breakthrough, the emphasis on Yu Pingbo undoubtedly has a certain inspiration.
From the perspective of research methods, "The Dream of the Red Chamber" is undoubtedly a sample of another research model besides Hu Shi, which organically and effectively combines examination and art analysis, and has both examination and theory, which can be said to be a supplement or revision of Hu Shi's research methods. This method is more in line with the original intention and reality of the research of "Dream of the Red Chamber".
Yu Pingbo gave Ah Ying 's Commentary on the Dream of the Red Chamber of fat Yan Zhai'
It is precisely because of Yu's valuable artistic vision that he may discover the omissions of the self-legend in time and constantly adjust and correct them. Perhaps because of Hu Shi's influence, Yu Pingbo's research trend has not received due attention and positive response in the academic circles, and for a long time has formed a situation in which the study of evidence has replaced the study of red science, which cannot but be said to be a flaw in the history of red science.