A Brief History of Scholar-Artist and Beauty Novels

Author: Miao Zhuang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-06-01
Features: The serious and systematic research on the tales of scholars and beauties began in the 1920s and 1930s. Mr. Lu Xun published China's first novel history, A Brief History of Chinese Fiction, in 1923. In the twentieth chapter, Ming Dynasty's Sentimental Novels, he dedicates a section to discussing tales of scholars and beauties, using The Jade and Pearl, Ping Shan and Leng Yan, The Love of Hong Qiu, and The Iron Flower Fairy History as examples to analyze their origins, themes, style, and evolution. Although Lu Xun later lamented that due to financial constraints at the time, the books he collected were not of high quality, some had altered texts, and others were missing prefaces or postfaces. The purpose of writing this book is to start from a large number of works, explore their origins and development, evaluate their strengths and weaknesses, restore their rightful place in the history of fiction, and help readers understand this genre of novels and draw inspiration from them.