Wu Zuxiang recommended ancient vernacular novels

Author: Wu Zuxiang (Editor)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-11-01
Features: Chinese fiction, like that of other countries, began with myths and legends. Some say that fiction has many origins, such as fables, philosophical essays, and so on. In reality, there is only one source—myths and legends. Myths deify the divine, while legends deify the human; the line between the two is hard to define precisely. The development of legendary fiction declined by the Song Dynasty. Song Dynasty fiction was largely based on historical records, lacking imaginative and literary creativity, differing greatly from Tang Dynasty fiction. Later, people wrote historical novels for various dynasties, mostly following the path of Song Dynasty legendary fiction—compiling them according to historical records, which made them failures as literary works. The achievements of ancient Chinese vernacular fiction cannot be fully summarized in this book. Outstanding works of ancient vernacular fiction, such as Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin, Journey to the West, Golden Lotus, The Scholars, and Dream of the Red Chamber, are all worth repeated reading and comprehensive study. However, the ancients also said, "A glimpse of the whole is seen in a part." Thus, this book serves as just one such part, a starting point for young readers to comprehensively read and learn about ancient vernacular fiction.