First, the origin of research
The Legend of Tang Dynasty is a kind of literary novel that arose in the Tang Dynasty, and Song Hongmai's "Tang People Say That Ordinary Examples": "Tang novels must not be unfamiliar, small love affairs, miserable and desperate, and those who have encountered gods without knowing themselves can be called the wonders of a generation with poetry." The Tang legend was extremely accomplished artistically, and it marked the independence of the novel genre. The tang legend has the highest achievements in love legends, such as "The Biography of Ren", "The Biography of Yingying", "The Biography of Huo Xiaoyu", "The Biography of Li Wa" and so on.
Tang Dynasty Talk
The contradiction of the character image includes the "good and evil" of the character image, and also includes the psychological conflict that does not care about good and evil. Cao Xueqin discussed qi and put forward the theory of "good and evil", believing that there are good and evil qi between heaven and earth, and all things are born of qi. The "two endowed beings" is the product of the two qi of good and evil fighting each other and then merging with each other, and they cannot become benevolent gentlemen at the top, and they will not become people who are fierce and evil at the bottom. In the eyes of the world, they are both intelligent and handsome, but also obedient and evil and unkind.[2]28-30
Lu Xun once said in the article "The Changes in the History of the Chinese Novel": "Compared with the previous novels, the good people are completely good, and the bad people are completely bad, which is very different, so the characters described in it are real characters." In short, since the "Dream of the Red Chamber" came out, the traditional ideas and writing methods have been broken. ”[3]348
It is true that the characters written in "Dream of the Red Chamber" are three-dimensional and complex, and not all good people are good and bad people are all bad. But as far as the novel is concerned, the contradiction of the character image can be traced back to the Tang legendary love story.
Although there are many articles on the character image of the Tang legendary love story in China, it rarely involves the contradictory image of the character. For example, Huo Jing's "On the Female Image in the Biography of Ren"[4] analyzes the character image of Ren from the two aspects of human nature and fox nature, and Ren resolutely fights against Wei Kun in order to protect himself, but in order to repay the favor, he seduces other women to provide Wei Kun with sexual pleasure. But it is only discussed on a single work, and does not focus on the whole of the Tang legendary love story.
Wang Lixing and Wu Cuifen's "Tang Legend Yinghua" analyzes Li Wa's image from the contradiction between "love" and "profit", and believes that at the beginning of her acquaintance with Xingyang Gongzi, she "had both the love and admiration between men and women, and the mutual seduction of hue and money between prostitutes and prostitutes, that is, sellers and buyers"[5]159, but did not raise Li Wa's image to the height of "good and evil".
Pang Qinyue's "On the Character Image of Jiang Fang's Biography of Huo Xiaoyu: Taking Huo Xiaoyu, Li Yi, Huang Yike, and Bao Shiyiniang as Examples" believes that the work portrays Huo Xiaoyu as a smart, beautiful, amorous, and tragic female figure.[6]
Comic strip "Huo Xiaoyu"
But this is only one side of Huo Xiaoyu's personality, and the author did not analyze the complex and changeable character image in Huo Xiaoyu's revenge plot. Wu Weigao's "Commenting on the Similarities and Differences Between the Character Images of Ren and Li Wa in the Legend of the Tang Dynasty" analyzes their common points from the status, appearance, and personality, and analyzes the differences between the characters from the purpose of shaping, the shaping method, and the fate of the characters, but does not see the similarities between the complex and changeable personalities of the two characters [7].
It can be seen that although the above paper involves the complexity of the character image of a single Tang legend love story, it does not raise the entire Tang legend love story character image to the height of "good and evil". Therefore, there is still much to be tapped into studying the "good and evil" of the character image of the Tang legendary love story and its significance.
In foreign countries, related research is only sporadically found in works on the artistic characteristics of the Tang legend. The Japanese sinologist Tomoya Uchiyama's Sui and Tang Dynasty Novel Studies examines and analyzes the characters of Tang legendary love stories such as the Biography of Ren[8]197-200 Huo Xiaoyu[8]266-280 The Tale of Yingying[8]281-286 The Biography of Li Wa[8]320-324. The Korean scholar Sung Young-sook talked about the use of the "reversal" plot in the Tang legend in "The Elegance and Popularity of the Tang Legend from the Biography of Li Wa"[9]25-27.
This paper selects the representative character contradiction images in tang legendary love story works such as "Ren's Biography", "Yingying Biography", "Huo Xiaoyu Biography", "Li Wa Biography" and other representative character contradictions as research objects, systematically combs and analyzes them, explores their personality characteristics, excavates their psychological contradictions and complexities, discusses the decline of Tang legendary love stories and the lack of character contradiction images, and explores the significance and enlightenment of the character images of Tang legendary love story characters "good and evil".
"Chen Wenxin Tells the Legend of the Tang Dynasty", by Chen Wenxin, Oriental Publishing Center, May 2021 edition.
Second, the performance of the contradictory image of the characters in the tang legendary love story
The British writer E M Foster's "Faces of the Novel" proposed the concept of round characters.[10]72-89 Round characters often have a relatively stable personality center, but there are different personality sides, and different personalities are alternately integrated, thus constituting an independent and complex individual. There are many round characters in the tang legendary love story, and the following takes Ren, Cui Yingying, Huo Xiaoyu, and Li Wa as examples for analysis.
1. The female figure of "good and evil"
Let's take the example of Ren, who coexists good and evil. Shen Jieji's "Biography of Ren" has created a typical fox spirit image of both human beings and foxes, "good and evil". Ren's personality has the beauty of human nature, but also her own flaws as a fox demon.
On the one hand, Ren's lady, Hui Zhi Lan Xin, has the value of the supremacy of love. She didn't care about Zheng Liu's poverty, she only wanted to live in a quiet place in a courtyard alley. She teaches Zheng Liu to buy horses for profit, showing her cleverness and cleverness. The rich man Wei Kun coveted Ren's beauty, loved her madly, and wanted to take the opportunity to force her, but she did not leave the poor Zheng Liu because of his wealth, but resolutely resisted and vowed to resist to the death, and it was her insistence on love that touched Wei Kun.
After that, the two became friends, and Ren's food, clothing, shelter and transportation were provided by Wei Kun. Later, Zheng Liu wanted to take office in Jincheng County and invited Ren to go with her, she knew that this trip could not go, but because she could not bear the repeated persuasion of Wei Kun and Zheng Liu, she had to go with him, and Ren Shi was eventually killed on the way.
Comic strip "Biography of Ren"
Ren's righteousness reflects the beauty of her human nature. Although Ren Shi is a fox demon, he has many beautiful qualities that people do not have, and such a "person" who knows gratitude and true temperament is touching.
On the other hand, Ren herself is a fox demon, and she has an indissoluble inferiority in her. When she first met Zheng Liu, she probably did not love Zheng Liu very much, but only used her beauty to seduce him to sleep with her, because she had lured men home many times before. In order to repay Wei Kun Ender, she repeatedly used means to lure other innocent women for her pleasure, which is extremely inhuman and righteous, and reflects the evil side of Ren's fox nature.
Let's talk about Li Wa, who is righteous and deceitful. The male protagonist in "The Biography of Li Wa" is Zheng Sheng. When Zheng Sheng entered Beijing to take the exam, the Duke of Xingyang prepared a fee for him for two years, but as soon as he arrived in Chang'an, he was intoxicated by Li Wa's gentle township and could not extricate himself.
At the beginning, when Li Wa seduced Zheng Sheng to "look back and stare back, and admired each other", he "did not dare to word it and go away". Zheng Sheng fell in love with Li Wa at first sight, even if he exhausted millions. He gave up the imperial examination and pursued love at all costs, not knowing that this was a trap carefully set by the prostitutes.
The novel actually writes about Zheng Sheng's infatuation, reflecting Li Wa's cunning and sleekness. Before meeting Zheng Sheng, Li Wa was already a well-known top prostitute in Beijing, with a high value and a natural wrist. In the long-term life of a prostitute, Li Wa can only earn an income if she has a smooth and cunning personality.
Comic strip "The Legend of Li Wa"
Therefore, Zheng Sheng was just the prey that Li Wa was eyeing at the beginning, and Li Wa's "ten thousand styles" and "delicate" were just "bait" released for "fishing". When Zheng Sheng's assets were exhausted and he had nothing, Li Wa and the mother bustard set up a trick to abandon Zheng Sheng.
The series of plans implemented by Li Wa when she got rid of Zheng Sheng can be described as seamless, and at this time she has no nostalgia and guilt for Zheng Sheng. From the two parts of seduction to expulsion, we see more of Li Wa's selfishness, hypocrisy, coldness, insidious cunning, and arbitrary behavior. This is the "evil" side of Li Wa's personality.
When Zheng Sheng was "expelled", he became a beggar after several turns. Late at night, when she heard Zheng Sheng's mournful and mournful cries, Li Wa began to reflect. When she saw Zheng Sheng, who was skinny and covered in scabies, her soul began to repent, and a sense of responsibility arose in her heart.
At this time, Li Wa showed a beautiful side of her personality: kind, amorous, and chivalrous. When the mother bustard wanted to banish Zheng Sheng again, Li Wa looked at her face: "No." This good family son also. When the past drove high, holding the gold suit, to a certain room, not overdue and exhausted. And they set up tricks on each other, and they give up and chase them away, and they are not human. Let them lose their minds and not be despised. The way of father and son, nature also. Let it fall for granted, kill and abandon it. And so on. The people of the world know as a certain person... The situation deceives the heavens and the people, the ghosts and gods do not have to be deceived, and there is no self-inflicted harm. ”[11]104
These words let us see a different Li Wa. After Li Wa saved Zheng Sheng, she spared no effort to take care of him and accompany him until he obtained a meritorious name. For several years, Li Wa has assumed responsibilities like both a wife and a mother. When Zheng Shenggong became famous, Li Wa knew that her duties had been exhausted, and took the initiative to ask to leave, and under Zheng Sheng's painstaking retention, she agreed to stay. From this we see Li Wa's amorous, kind, chivalrous and loyal side. This is the "positive" side of Li Wa's personality.
2. The image of a woman in psychological conflict
Let's start with the cui warbler who clashes with each other.
Cui Yingying in "The Legend of yingying" has a plump image and a complex personality, is a rebellious and brave person, and in order to fight for the ideal love, she dares to fight against feudal etiquette. In the old feudal concept, etiquette represents righteousness, and emotion represents impermissible evil. But today, it seems that the contradiction of these characters cannot be simply divided into good and evil, but only a psychological conflict.
Stamps Cui Warbler
Cui Yingying was born in the palace of Xiangguo, life is worry-free, at that time in the jade age, seventeen-year-old she is full of ideal love and happy marriage. She was robbed on her way back to Chang'an with her mother, but thanks to Zhang Sheng's protection, she was unable to cope. Under Zhang Sheng's fierce pursuit, Cui Yingying "surrendered".
After that, she launched a fierce struggle against Zhang Sheng's "love" and the "etiquette" of feudal etiquette. Cui Yingying's thoughts and feelings are extremely contradictory.
On the one hand, she was born into a prestigious family and was bound by feudal etiquette from an early age, so no matter what the occasion, her behavior must be in line with her identity. When her mother ordered Yingying to come out to see her savior, Zhang Sheng, she pushed her sick and was reprimanded by her mother for a long time before coming out. It can be seen that she is a "self-sustaining" bridesmaid.
On the other hand, Cui Yingying is a flower girl of just the right age, very eager for love, but suppressed by etiquette, dare not show it, in front of outsiders, she must try her best to maintain a dignified and virtuous image. The novel vividly expresses this psychological conflict of hers.
The first time she met Zhang Sheng, she strictly abided by the women's code of conduct and held self-respect, although Zhang Sheng had been teasing her, she kept her distance and did not say a word. But after Zhang Sheng wrote two poems of "Spring Words" and sent them to her, she immediately replied with a poem called "Three or Five Nights of the Bright Moon", and hinted at the time of the date in the poem. However, when Zhang Sheng arrived as promised, she had a serious expression and loudly counted Zhang Sheng, hoping that Zhang Sheng could maintain himself with courtesy.
Liu Lingcang painted Cui Yingying
At this time, Cui Yingying was still adhering to etiquette, but a few days later, Cui Yingying came to Zhang Sheng's room by herself and boldly expressed her love to Zhang Sheng. Cui Yingying's contradictory performance before and after is the result of the competition between "love" and "etiquette" in her heart.
As a feudal aristocratic lady, she had to restrain and restrain herself; as a flower girl, she was extremely eager to have the ideal love. Her words of reprimanding Zhang Sheng were actually the attacks and accusations in her heart that represented the "courtesy" side on the side of "affection". And she "and pillow heavy" is the "lustful" warbler who defeats the "ritual" warbler.
After the private meeting with Zhang Sheng, her ideological baggage was very heavy, and she played sad songs alone in the middle of the night, and her mood was sad. After being abandoned by Zhang Sheng, she believes that the warbler who secretly combined with Zhang Sheng had "the shame of self-sacrifice" and "etiquette" once again overwhelmed the warbler of "lust".
Later, Zhang Sheng and Yingying each had a marriage, and when Zhang Sheng wanted to see Yingying again, Yingying gave a poem: "Abandon the present He Dao, and kiss yourself at that time." He also took pity on the people in front of him"[11]139, righteously accusing Zhang Sheng of his shameless behavior of breaking his promise. In the long and tortuous process of the struggle between "love" and "etiquette", Cui Yingying boldly pursued love, dared to fight against feudal etiquette, and strived to break through the shackles of feudal etiquette, although she was always hesitant and worried in her rebellious behavior, she dared to be her true self and fight for ideal love, which is worth affirming.
Let's talk about Huo Xiaoyu, who loves and hates.
Jiang Fang's "Biography of Huo Xiaoyu" is one of the representative works of Tang Legend's love story. One of the most vivid and plump characters is Huo Xiaoyu. Huo Xiaoyu was originally the little daughter of King Huo, and after King Huo's death, Huo Xiaoyu was expelled from the palace by his brothers and became a young man who sold his art and did not sell himself.
Stills of the Peking opera "Huo Xiaoyu"
On the one hand, she is beautiful, kind, dares to love and dare to hate, and has a strong rebellious personality, and "music and poetry books, all incomprehensible". When she first met Li Yi, she "smiled low and whispered... At first, they refused", and then the two met like golden wind and jade dew, and fell in love together.
Huo Xiaoyu was trapped in prostitution and knew that he could not stay with Li Yi for a lifetime, so he proposed a short wish to stay with Li Yi for eight years, but even this small wish Li Yi could not satisfy her. Soon after the separation, Li Yi, who had sworn to "live and die, and marry Qing and the elderly" with a negative heart, never returned. Xiao Yu thought of becoming ill, holding that the illness was about to end, and repeatedly asked to meet, but Li Yi avoided seeing it.
Later, a yellow-shirted guest "Angry Life's Thin Walk" put Li Yi in front of Xiao Yu, and Xiao Yu was finally able to see Li Yi. When Xiao Yu, who was plagued by illness, saw Li Yi, who had once loved deeply, he hated as much as he loved in his heart. Li Yi betrayed her, she hated not being able to kill him, but when she thought of all the beauty she had once been together, she was reluctant to do so.
The eight words "gaze with anger and no longer have words" fully reflected the complexity of Huo Xiaoyu's inner world at that time. We see Huo Xiaoyu's weakness as a low-level woman, but we are also touched by her sincerity in her treatment of love from beginning to end. Finally, she squinted at Li Yiliang with sorrow, and then raised a glass and poured the wine on the ground, indicating that the two of them had broken off their enmity, and then cursed with hatred: "After I die, I will be a powerful ghost, and the wife and concubine of the king will be uneasy all the time!" [11] 77-81 After that, Xiaoyu cried a few times in pain and died of exhaustion.
This strong accusation and revenge of righteousness and sternness shows the strongest anger and resistance of a weak woman who lives at the bottom and is bullied, showing her strong character.
Comic strip "Huo Xiaoyu"
On the other hand, Huo Xiaoyu's personality is not perfect. Although love and hate are normal human feelings, they are beyond reproach. However, because of the way of hatred and revenge and the direct consequences caused by it, it damaged its own image, so it became associated with "evil". Betrayed, she did not directly retaliate against Li Yi, but transformed into other men, making Li Yi suspicious, thus hurting other innocent women. The "eight-year short wish" she proposed is worthy of sympathy, but it also reflects her lack of clarity about the concept of door valves in Tang Dynasty society, which shows that she is inferior to Li Wa in cognition.
3. The male image of "good and evil"
Not only are female characters such as Ren, Cui Yingying, Huo Xiaoyu and Li Wa, in fact, the male image in the Tang legendary love story is also "good and evil", but it is not as distinct as the female image.
In "The Legend of the Warbler", Zhang Sheng was talented, and saw the courage of righteousness, borrowing the strength of the white horse general to save the Yingying family from the military turmoil, but he always abandoned the warbler, and even slandered the warbler as a special object, and put forward the "forbearance theory" to excuse himself.
Although Zheng Liu is a mediocre and incompetent person in "The Biography of Ren", he does not dislike the fox girl Ren for love, and is also regarded as the supreme lover of love. Wei Kun robbed Zheng Liu's wife Ren Shi, which can be described as a "scumbag", but once he was convinced by Ren Shi with great righteousness, he was generous and honest, and he knew that his mistakes would be changed.
In "The Biography of Huo Xiaoyu", Li Yi is quite talented and has affection for Xiao Yu, but he is weak and has no opinion, and he is cruel when Xiao Yu is sick.
In "The Biography of Li Wa", Zheng Sheng is talented and sincere, but he cannot be self-disciplined, and he takes his parents' money into fireworks alleys and mistakenly has a future. His father, Xingyang Gong, whipped his son when he was down, and ignored him even after death and abandonment, which can be described as cruel, but he reconciled with his son when he won the fame, which was quite advantageous. He funded Zheng Sheng, hoping that Jackie Chan would become a dragon, and when Li Wa helped Zheng Shenggong to retire, he could abandon the view of the portal, which showed his enlightened side.
Stills from the Yue opera "The Biography of Li Wa"
It can be seen from the above that since the emergence of the Tang legendary love story, there have been three-dimensional and complex round characters of the "good and evil" style in ancient Chinese literary short stories, rather than Lu Xun's statement that "since the "Dream of the Red Chamber" came out, the traditional thinking and writing methods have been broken"[3]348.
Third, the lack of contradictory images of characters and the decline of Tang legends
In the later period of the Tang Legend, although there were legendary collections, such as the Cattle Monks and Children's "Records of Xuan Monsters", Li Fuyan's "Records of Continuing Xuan Monsters", Emperor Fumei's "Sanshui Xiaomu", Pei Jun's "Legends", etc., in general, the achievements were not as great as before, their length was short, and their character images were single, not as plump and distinct as in the early period.
Pei Yong's "Legend Pei Hang", Xue Tun's "Peerless Biography", etc., although the storyline is tortuous, the heroine's image is vague, not as plump as Ren Shi, Li Wa, Cui Yingying, and Huo Xiaoyu. As the key object of description, the male protagonist has a single flat personality, is all a sincere gentleman, and lacks internal conflict.
In "Legend of Pei Hang", Pei Hang fell in love with Yunying, who was the color of the country, Tianxiang and graceful. In order to pursue Yunying, Pei Hang gave up the imperial examination, disregarded his own danger, and placed himself in the downtown to find the jade pestle, and worked day and night to make medicine for Yunying for hundreds of days. Pei Hang overcame many difficulties and poured all his emotional energy into Yunying, there was no trace of evil distractions in him, he was a completely positive character image, and a completely good person was all good.
The Legend of Pei Chun
In "Peerless Biography", Wang Xianke and his cousin Peerless Green Plum Bamboo Horse, two small no guesses, cyclamen for the marriage of the two people running around, dotting everywhere, please match the media, but because Wang Xianke lost his father at an early age, his uncle was snobbish, and he obstructed from it, and the marriage of the two finally came to naught. Later, Peerless was submerged in the court, and the cyclamen sought help everywhere, seized every opportunity to rescue Peerless, and finally embraced the beauty.
The novel mainly shows the beautiful image of Wang Xianke's loyalty to love and infatuation, he is not like Zhang Sheng in "The Legend of Yingying", nor is he like Li Yi in "Huo Xiaoyu Biography". The heroine is even more loyal and adheres to feudal etiquette.
Fang Qianli's "Biography of Yang Prostitution" tells that the noble wanderer Lingnan Shuaijia favored the famous prostitute Yang Prostitution in Chang'an, and took the South China Sea with him. Shuai Jia was afraid of his wife and left Yang prostitutes in the annex. The calculation was not done and the matter was leaked. The wife wanted to put Yang Prostitute to death. Shuai Jia secretly sent money and goods to Yang Prostitution and escorted the northern return. Halfway through, Yang Prostitute learned that Shuai Jia was dead, returned to Shuai Jia, set up a spiritual seat to cry sacrifice, and sacrificed martyrdom. At the end of the chapter, it is said: "Husband and wife are also the ones who do things to Israel." If it is not profitable, it is not in line, and Yang can repay shuai for death, and Yiye; But handsome bribes, incorruptible. Although it is a prostitute, it is much worse?" [12]4032-4033
Yang Prostitute seems to have become a microphone for etiquette here. "The overly stable moral concept and Yang Prostitution who is allowed to do this do not have the vitality and vitality that Huo Xiaoyu, Cui Yingying, and Li Wa carry. As the protagonist of love, she is not plump enough. Shuai Jia does not have the talent and demeanor of Zhang Sheng, Zheng Sheng, and Li Yi. ”[13]281
Wang Peijiang's "Novels of the Tang Dynasty" says that "this biography (Yang Prostitution biography) is straight and unwritten, and it seems that it is not intended to be a legendary body"[11]186, and the flattening and facialization of the character image shows that the artistic value of the late Tang legend is much worse than before, which is one of the manifestations of the decline of the Tang legend.
Tang Dynasty Novels
The Nine Ladies in the "Lingying Biography" are also martyrs from one to the end. The "Biography of Lingying" tells that the good daughter of the god Ofsho in the east of Jingzhou was the Ninth Lady, and her husband died and was widowed. The father, king Puji, forced him to remarry and did not obey, and connived at the leading soldiers of the God of Hu, and the Ninth Lady asked for help from Zhou Bao, the envoy of Jingzhou Jiedu, and got the help of two thousand dead soldiers to capture the emperor.
The Nine Ladies of the Lingying Biography are quite similar to Liu Yi, so Wang Peijiang's Tang Novel attaches it to Liu Yi. However, the Ninth Lady has a strong personality, is widowed and does not marry, and abides by etiquette, which is quite different from the dragon daughter of "Liu Yi".
In short, after the decline of the Tang legend, the character image is thin, most of them have a single personality, loyal to love, able to overcome many difficulties, and finally reunite with the people they want, and the typical good people are all good. In later works, it is difficult to find a protagonist with a complex personality and a full image like the flourishing period of the Tang legendary love story.
The tang legendary love story has undergone a transmutation in the late Tang Dynasty, why did the character image of "good and evil" disappear?
First of all, the status of the late Tang Dynasty scholars improved, the awareness of etiquette and law rose, and the character image was "right" rather than "evil". The status of the Tang Dynasty scholars had a process of change. The Chu Tang Shi clan was suppressed.
The Legend of the Tang Dynasty
The New Book of Tang, The Biography of Li Yifu, contains the Yifu Song please burn the Clan Chronicle. Tang Taizong's "Edict of the Zhanzheng Clan" records that "Yan Zhao Right Surname" and "Qi Han Old Clan" "Although the name was written in Zhou Lu, the body was not exempt from poverty"[14]80, with the restoration of the genealogy, the Shi clan gradually lost its power, and its maintenance etiquette was destroyed. With the prevalence of the imperial examination system, the jinshi gradually gained power, and the glitz prevailed.
Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 241, says: "Since Tianbao, Gongqing Doctor has competed for a feast, Shen (Shen) has been enjoying day and night, and his children are worthy of his left and right." [15]2988。 At the end of zhenyuan, this wind is particularly strong, and the etiquette is swinging, just as Du Mu's "Sentimental Poems" says: "As for the end of Zhenyuan, the wind and currents are unrestrained." [16] 5938 Pei Du, Yuan Shu, Bai Juyi, and others all had experience as prostitutes. However, in the late Tang Dynasty, the awareness of etiquette was gradually rising, and even the "theory of women's misfortunes" appeared.
In the seventh volume of the Tang Yulin, Xuanzong was afraid that he would not be able to hold on, and gave death to those who had passed the guard to taste the beauty of female music, and overcorrected to the point of indiscriminately killing innocents[17]238-239. The etiquette law tightened its grip on the scholars, and Wen Tingjun was discredited for being a prostitute and failed to succeed (Old Book of Tang Wen Tingjun Biography).
In the late Tang Dynasty, Shizi did not dare to resist and find extramarital love, such as Fang Qianli entering Beijing to ask for shi did not dare to take prostitutes with him ("The Biography of Yang Prostitution"). The "Chronicle of the North Mile" records that Xiantong and Qianfujian were friendly with the prostitute Fu Niang, but When Fu Niang asked if Sun Tang was interested, Sun Tang replied: "Although the lotus seeds in the mud are not stained, they have not been able to move into their homes." [18]1411。
Secondly, the late Tang Dynasty's obscene literary style was sought, and the spirit of the Tang legendary love story disappeared. Du Mu's "Epitaph of Inspector Longxi Li Fujun of the Tang Dynasty Pinglu Army" complained about Yuan Bai's poetry style of "delicate and unscrupulous" and "obscene words", and denounced it as "cold in winter and hot in summer, into people's muscles and bones, and cannot be removed", regretting that "I have no place, and I cannot use the law to cure it"[14]7834.
Because of the erotic color of Bai Shi, Li Shangyin's "Punishment Department Shangshu Zhishi Gift Shangshu Right Servant Shooting Taiyuan Bai Cemetery Inscription and Preface" did not mention Bai Juyi's poems [14] 8145-8147. Han Wei's "Self-Introduction to the Collection of XiangYi" worries that others "blame him for not being punished"[14]8739. The love legends of the Middle and Tang Dynasties mostly narrate extramarital eroticism that violates etiquette, and is in line with the spirit of Yuan Bai's obscene poetry.
"Tang Legend New Detective"
The late Tang Dynasty's resistance to the Yuan Bai poetry style is a boycott of the spirit of the love legend that is contrary to etiquette, the character image of "good and evil" disappears, the character personality becomes single, and its behavior is completely in line with the etiquette norms, such as Yang Prostitution in "The Biography of Yang Prostitution" and the Ninth Lady of "Lingying Biography", and the tang legendary love story inevitably declines.
Finally, the appearance of love heroines in Tang legends like Yang Wan and the Ninth Lady, who abide by etiquette and from beginning to end, is also consistent with the literary ideas of the late Tang Dynasty. In the late Tang Dynasty, the Tang dynasty was in danger, and the times called for a sense of discipline: one minister does not do two masters, and one daughter does not marry two husbands.
Chen Wenxin believes that the Lingying Biography preaches integrity, symbolizes loyalty to the concubines, and is loyal to the turbulent late Tang dynasty regime.[13]305-306. This explanation is not unfounded, and there are bixing symbolic techniques in the Chinese poetry tradition, such as Qu Yuan's beauty vanilla technique, and "Leaving Sorrow" once used to be known by husband and wife than junchen, and with the harmony of husband and wife than the king.
The same is true of the motivation for the creation of "The Biography of the Bearded Guest", which ends with the cloud: "Nai Zhi Zhenren Xingye, by the (non-) hero." Who is not a hero? The fallacious thinker of the human subject is the refusal of the mantis arm to take the wheel ear. My royal blessings are all over the place, and I am vain. ”[11]181
Huang shan shou painting "Three Heroes of Wind and Dust"
Fourth, the historical significance of the novel of the contradictory image of the characters in the tang legendary love story
The contradictory image of the characters in the tang legendary love story has a profound impact on the creation of Chinese novels. The main achievement of the novel lies in the creation of immortal character images, and the high achievement of the Tang legendary love story lies in the fullness of its character images or "good and evil", as mentioned above, such as Ren, Cui Yingying, Huo Xiaoyu, and Li Wa. This also has great enlightenment significance for contemporary fiction creation.
1. The positive impact of the contradictory image of the characters in the Tang legendary love story on ancient novels
When it came to the Tang legend, the Chinese novel genre began to mature, and the Tang legend, as a mature novel genre, must have attracted the attention of future generations of novelists. The tang legendary love story represents the highest achievement of the Tang legend, and the shaping of its "good and evil" character image has undoubtedly had an impact on later novels, but the specific impact cannot be sat down one by one and corresponded one by one.
Of the four great wonder books of the Ming Dynasty, only the Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a character with a single personality. "Water Margin", "Journey to the West", "Golden Plum Bottle", etc., like the Tang legendary love story, the character image is a contradictory composite of "good and evil".
For example, Li Kui in "Water Margin" and Qian Tangjun in "The Biography of Liu Yi" are both very cute but have shortcomings, both act recklessly because of jealousy and hatred, and both have the courage to change. In the seventy-third episode of "Water Margin", Li Kui misheard Song Jiang robbing the people's women, cutting down the apricot yellow flag, and wanting to kill Song Jiang, which was where he was jealous and hateful, and after learning the truth, he bore the guilt of Jing, which was where he fell. In the Jiangzhou robbery field, he was the first to jump down, which was his bravery, but he did not distinguish between good and bad, and cut off the leader of the line, which was where he acted recklessly.
In "The Biography of Liu Yi", Qian Tangjun was jealous, heard that his niece was bullied, and immediately rushed to Jingchuan to take revenge, but he did too much, devoured the ruthless Lang, killed 600,000 people, injured 800 miles, and took advantage of the fake gas of alcohol to force Liu Yi to marry. However, after being impressed by Liu Yi's righteousness, he was as good as a stream, and when he smelled it, he changed it, and the two eventually became close friends[11]65-66.
In addition to the shadow of Qian Tangjun in the Biography of Liu Yi, Li Kui also has the shadow of Wei Kun in the Biography of Ren, who wanted to rape ren, but was impressed by Ren's righteousness.
Sun Zhong would paint Li Kui
The Eight Precepts of the Pig in "Journey to the West" are also typical of the image of "good and evil". He is the author's affirmative image, thick, honest, and he does all the dirty work on the way to the scriptures, and he can also cast down demons and demons, and finally become the messenger of the pure altar. But he also embodies the weakness of human nature: gluttony, lust, accumulating private money, manipulating right and wrong, not having firm confidence, and once the career of learning from the experience is frustrated, he is the first to break up.
In short, he is the most plump and successful character in "Journey to the West". Compared with the image of Sun Wukong with an ideal component, the image of the Eight Precepts of the Pig has more realism and is a "real character".
Ximen Qing in "Jin Ping Mei" is also a circular figure. Although he was a sex demon, when Li Zhen'er died, he did not ask Ji Ji and ignored the persuasion, and went to her room to caress the corpse and cry bitterly, which was not a true expression. Although he did not hesitate to amass wealth by any means, he also spared money in righteousness, funded regular seasons, and donated money to build temples and print sutras.
The "good and evil" of the character image of the Qing Dynasty novel "Liaozhai Zhiyi" is also a reference to the Tang legendary brushwork. Lu Xun's "Historical Outline of the Chinese Novel" clearly states that "Liaozhai Zhiyi" "uses the legendary method and uses zhiwei".[3]216
The positive image of the flower demon fox charm and human affinity in "Liaozhai Zhiyi" is also derived from the "Biography of Ren", and the image of the fox before the "Biography of Ren" is notorious: one is adultery, the other is charm. However, in the "Biography of Ren", the fox girl Ren is "good and evil", mainly positive. Ren's "two gifts of good and evil" has been prepared before, and it is mainly discussed here.
Legendary Novels of the Tang Dynasty
Ren's face is beautiful and beautiful. Although he used to tempt men to stay together, when he met Zheng Sheng, his love was single-minded. Zheng Sheng was sloppy, and she did not abandon it. She resisted the rape of the rich Man Wei Kun with her petite body, and finally subdued him with great righteousness, which can be described as poor and unyielding. In order to follow Zheng Liu, she knew that there was danger on the way, and she did not quit, and finally died in the mouth of the evil dog.
As the end of the article comments: "Oh, the love of foreign objects is also human!" In the face of violence, there is no loss of discipline, and the cunning (徇) people will even die, although the present woman, there are those who are inferior. [11] 47 The Ren Family Biography The ren clan predicts the price and helps Zheng Liu buy horses to make a profit, which enlightens some of the passages in the Liaozhai Zhiyi, such as Bai Qiulian's favorite Mu Toad Palace, which helps his merchant father profit ("Bai Qiu Lian"), and the crow head let Wang Wen sell donkeys to make money ("Crow Head"), and there is a shadow of Ren in the image of Bai Qiu Lian and The Crow Head.
The heroines of "The Biography of Huo Xiaoyu" and "Liaozhai Zhiyi Dou Clan" are both characters of "good and evil", and there is a clear inheritance relationship. In "The Biography of Huo Xiaoyu", After Li Yi got Huo Xiaoyu, he hated her and intended to marry Gaomen, and Xiao Yu hid from her when he was seriously ill, and finally his soul was broken. After Xiao Yu's death, his ghost retaliated against Li Yi's wife and concubine, making Li Yi unable to rest for a long time.
In "Liaozhai Zhiyi Dou Clan", the family son Nan Sanfu deceived and seduced the peasant daughter Dou Shi to make her pregnant, and also wanted to abandon it and tie another high gate, Dou Clan ran to him with a dying baby and sat leaning on the door, Nan Sanfu cruelly refused to open the door, until the mother and son of the Wu geng Dou clan froze to death. Dou's ghost took revenge on Nan Sanfu's newlywed wife, and eventually Nan Sanfu was convicted and executed.
Dou And Huo Xiaoyu are both beautiful and kind, loyal to love, dare to love and dare to hate, but they retaliate against innocent women, which can be described as both good and evil. At the end of the chapter, the history of the different history says: "The beginning of chaos and the eventual completion of the non-moral; What is the oath at the beginning and the end of the last? Tart in the room, listen to it; Cry at the door, still listen to it: or how to endure! And those who repay it are also worse than Li Shilang!" [19]631
Ma Ruifang believes that Li Shilang is "the negative heart man in the Tang legend Huo Xiaoyu Biography"[19]633, and this negative heart man is Li Yi. Pu Songling believes that Nan Sanfu in "Liaozhai Zhiyi Dou Clan" is more cruel than Li Yi in Huo Xiaoyu, so the revenge suffered by Nan Sanfu is even more tragic, which is direct evidence that "Liaozhai Zhiyi Dou Clan" was influenced by Huo Xiaoyu Biography.
Legends of the Five Dynasties of Tang
The superb character art of "good and evil" in "Dream of the Red Chamber" is the inheritance of the character art of tang legendary love story. Cao Xueqin not only put forward the theory of "good and evil" in the second time in "Dream of the Red Chamber", but also did create a group of personalized characters with flesh and blood. The images of Jia Baoyu, Lin Daiyu, Xue Baochao, Wang Xifeng, Jia Zheng, and Jia Lian are all "real characters", as Lu Xun put it.
For example, in terms of the contradiction of the character's personality, the image of Lin Daiyu in "Dream of the Red Chamber" has the shadow of Cui Yingying in "The Legend of yingying". Its path is: from the novel "The Legend of the Warbler" adapted into the drama of "West Chamber", the artistic nutrition is absorbed by "Dream of the Red Chamber".
In the twenty-third episode of "Dream of the Red Chamber", "The Wonderful Words of the West Chamber", "Peony Pavilion Yanqu Police Heart", Dai Yu heard the warbler singing the lyrics "Flowers fall and the water flows red, idle and sad" in the "West Chamber", and was greatly touched, which resonated [2]316-317.
Dai Yu and Yingying are similar, both have poetic talents, and the complex and contradictory mentality of pursuing love is also the same: Yingying secretly misses Zhang Sheng, and pretends to be angry when they meet, making a gesture to blame; Lin Daiyu fell in love with Jia Baoyu at first sight, but she was also suspicious of each other and repeatedly tempted. Dai Yu and Yingying's entangled and contradictory mentality is the same.
The image of Jia Zheng's father and son in "Dream of the Red Chamber" is very similar to the image of Xingyang Gong father and son in "The Biography of Li Wa", which reflects the contradiction of the character image. Jia Baoyu and Zheng Sheng's image corresponds: both are rich children, both are intelligent and affectionate, but both lack self-discipline and responsibility, and their life trajectories deviate from the arrangements of their fathers. Jia Zheng and Xingyang Gong's images correspond, and both of them hope that their son Jackie Chan will be named Jinbang and Guangzong Yaozu; But both showed an extremely cruel side in their disappointment.
Japanese translation of The Legends of the Tang and Song Dynasties
In "The Biography of Li Wa", Zheng Sheng did not do his studies, and because he entered a brothel, he was swept away by his servants and horses, and became an elegy that was despised by human morality, and was whipped by his father Xingyang Gong to "death" and abandoned the "corpse" roadside.
The thirty-third time in "Dream of the Red Chamber", "Brothers and Sisters, Small Tongues, No Matter How Big Chengzheng Tarts", recounts that Baoyu and Lingren Qiguan have brought trouble to Jia Zheng in the past, and Jia Zheng listens to Baoyu's rumors that he forced Jin Jun'er to die, and is angry that Baoyu "wandered around in exile, gave private gifts, neglected his studies at home, and insulted his mother-in-law", and beat him to death[2]439-446.
Both of these punches are similar and both greatly promote the development of the plot. It can be inferred from this that there is a great possibility of some inheritance relationship between the two in the shaping of the contradictory image of the characters and the design of the beaten plot.
The character art of "Dream of the Red Chamber" and "good and evil" is even more transcendent of the Tang legend. Mr. Lu Xun has a unique study of ancient Chinese novels. Why did he say that "since the "Dream of the Red Chamber" came out, the traditional thinking and writing methods have been broken"[3]348? Apparently not.
The more reasonable explanation is that he has high requirements for "thinking and writing", and only "Dream of the Red Chamber" meets his requirements, and "Dream of the Red Chamber" goes beyond traditional literature including Tang legends. "Traditional thought and writing", such as the tang legend's thought and writing, including the character art of "good and evil", has not yet reached the height of his mind.
As he said that after the publication of the "History of Ru Lin", "it is said that there was a book of satire in the ministry"[3]228, Lu Xun had high requirements for the art of satire. In fact, before the "History of Ru Lin", there were also satirical arts, prose such as the allegorical satire of "Zhuangzi", "Mencius", "Han Feizi", the political satire of poems such as the "Book of Poetry", the ridicule of various characters in novels such as "Journey to the West", the satire of the unfairness of examiners in "Liaozhai Zhiyi", and so on, but they did not reach the height of "Ru Lin Wai Shi" and did not meet Lu Xun's requirements, not that Lu Xun did not notice.
Selected Legends of the Tang and Song Dynasties
2. The enlightenment of the contradictory images of tang legendary love story characters to the creation of modern and contemporary literature
The understanding of the contradictory images of the characters in the Tang legendary love story can give useful enlightenment to the creation of modern and contemporary novels in at least the following two aspects.
First of all, character authenticity is the premise of novel creation. Literary creation originates from life, is the second nature close to life. The achievements of the Tang legendary love story are quite high, because the character image is created by the author after making a true reflection and rational speculation on real life;
The reason why we like Ren, Cui Yingying, Huo Xiaoyu, and Li Wa is because they are real people, not a dummy created by concept first, for a certain point of view. There is no perfect person in life itself, all people are a contradictory complex, their personality is multi-level, both advantages and disadvantages, but the proportion is different, the overall tendency is different.
The characters of the novel are real, and the "good and evil" of the character image has a philosophical basis and historical origins. In Chinese philosophy, there is Mencius's "theory of sexual goodness", Xunzi's "theory of sexual evil", and Suzi's "theory of no good and evil of sex". The theory of "good and evil" is actually the closest to the essence of human nature.
Chen Wenxin's "Historical Tales of Chinese Legendary Novels"
The characters in historical works such as "Zuo Biao", "Warring States Policy", and "Shi Ji" are also "both good and evil". Taking the "Records of History" as an example, Liu Bang knew that people were good and obedient, but he was very selfish, and he was a rogue who did not even recognize his father and daughter; Xiang Yu was brave and good at fighting, but he was self-conscious, but the benevolence of a woman killed the pawn. It is just that the development of the novel is slower, the narrative of the pre-Tang novel is short, it cannot talk about the portrayal of the character image, it can only be regarded as the embryonic stage, the novel style is mature to the Tang legend, and there is a complete character image, and the "good and evil" or contradiction of the novel character image originates here.
Secondly, the character image of "good and evil" is inseparable from the typical environment of the character's life. Any literary work carries the historical imprint of the era to which it belongs, and a good novel should be good at using special environments and twists and turns to strengthen the character image.
The reason why the character image of the Tang legendary love story is so colorful is inseparable from the shaping of the typical environment, the Tang Dynasty's social and political openness, the atmosphere is open, the female sense of independence is enhanced, and the literati writers are naturally affected by this atmosphere, and the characters in their pens are unique products of the times. As mentioned earlier, the decline of the Tang legend is also related to the rise in the status of the late Tang Dynasty, the rise of etiquette awareness, and the environment in which the obscene literary style was sought, which shows from the opposite side that the shaping of the character image of "good and evil" is inseparable from the portrayal of the character environment on which it depends.
However, all the modern and contemporary novels that have achieved success pay attention to the inherent conflict in shaping the characters, and the characters are close to the real-life people, rather than a single type of personality. Modern and contemporary novels and drama creations with characteristic personalities and genres are no longer welcome, but will be criticized to varying degrees.
There are many flat characters in modern fiction,[20] and although they have their own effects, they are not as real as the round characters of "good and evil". Modern and contemporary novels, in addition to drawing on the "good and evil" character shaping art created by Tang Legend, should also learn from the art of portraying the living environment of the contradictory image of Tang Legend's love story characters, abandon the shoddy fast food literature that has the concept first, and produce more fine products.
Li Jianguo's Narrative of the Legend of the Five Dynasties of Tang Dynasty (Revised Edition)
V. Conclusion
It was not, as Lu Xun said, that since the "Dream of the Red Chamber" came out, the idea and writing method of good people being all good and bad people being all bad was broken, and the character image of the novel "good and evil" appeared. The Tang legendary love story has a large number of contradictory characters, such as Ren Shi and Li Wa, who are "good and evil", and Cui Yingying and Huo Xiaoyu, who have psychological conflicts.
The legend of the late Tang Dynasty is in decline, which is manifested in the fact that the character image tends to be flat and single, the contradictory image of the character is gradually lost, and the artistic value is gradually declining. The contradictory image of the tang legendary love story character has an important enlightening significance in the history of ancient Chinese novels: the shaping of the round characters in ancient novels is influenced by the Tang legend.
The contradictory image of the characters in the Tang legendary love story also gives some useful enlightenment to the creation of contemporary novels: the novel must be based on real characters, and the real character personality must present a certain contradiction, but the focus of the contradiction is different; the character image of the novel "good and evil" should have the imprint of the era environment to which it belongs; the successful character image must pay attention to portraying the inherent conflict of the character's personality.
Swipe up or down to view references
bibliography:
DONG Naibin. From the Political Chronicle of History to the Detailing of Life in Novels: On the Independence of Tang Legends and Novel Styles[J], Literary Review, 1990(5).
[2] Cao Xueqin. Dream of the Red Chamber[M].Beijing: People's Literature Publishing House, 2008.
Lu Xun. The Complete Works of Lu Xun (Volume 9)[M].Beijing:People's Literature Publishing House,2005.]
Huo Jing. On the Female Image in the Biography of Ren[J].Legendary Biographical Literature Anthology, 2010(7).
Wang Lixing,Wu Cuifen. Tang Legend Yinghua[M].Shanghai:Education Press,1988:159.]
Pang Qinyue. On the Character Image in Jiang Fang's "Biography of Huo Xiaoyu": A Case Study of Huo Xiaoyu, Li Yike, Huang Yike, and Bao Shiyiniang[J].Journal of Jilin Radio and Television University, 2014(1):41-42.
WU Weigao. Commenting on the Similarities and Differences between the Characters of Ren and Li Wa in the Tang Dynasty[J].Modern Language (Literary Research Edition), 2008(1).
[8] Chiya Uchiyama. Sui and Tang Dynasty Novel Studies[M].Yesheram, et al. Zha Pingqiu (ed.). Shanghai: Fudan University Press, 2010.
Cheng Runshu. The elegance and popularity of the Tang legend from the biography of Li Wa[J].Journal of Xiamen Institute of Education, 2004(3).
[10] E M Foster. Aspects of fiction[M].Feng Tao, translation. Shanghai:Shanghai Translation Publishing House,2019:72-89.]
Wang Peijiang, Transcript. Tang Dynasty Novels[M].Shanghai: Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, 1978.
[12] Li Fang, et al. Taiping Guangji[M].Beijing:Zhonghua Bookstore,1961:4032-4033.]
CHEN Wenxin. The History of the Aesthetic Development of Literary Novels[M].Wuhan:Wuhan University Press,2007.]
[14] Dong Yu, et al. (eds.). Quan Tang Wen[M].Beijing:Zhonghua Bookstore,1983.]
Sima Guang. Zizhi Tongjian[M].Beijing:Zhonghua Bookstore,2009:2988.]
[16] Patten, et al. Quan Tang Poems[M].Beijing:Zhonghua Bookstore,1960:5938.]
Wang Chen. Tang Yulin[M].Shanghai:Shanghai Classical Literature Publishing House,1957.]
[18] Ding Ruming, et al., School Point. The Grand View of the Novels of the Five Dynasties of the Tang Dynasty[M].Shanghai: Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, 2000:1411.
Ma Ruifang. Ma Ruifang's Heavy School Comments on Liaozhai Zhiyi[M].Shijiazhuang:Hebei Education Press,2007.]
WANG Shufen. A Brief Introduction to Flat Characters in Modern Chinese Novels[D].Liaocheng: Liaocheng University, 2010.