A Brief Discussion on the Historical Materials of Ancient Fiction

Author: Cheng Yizhong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-06-01
Features: It was not until there were novels that there came to be the history of novels. The history of Chinese fiction emerged very late. In the preface to A Brief History of Chinese Fiction, Lu Xun wrote: "Chinese fiction has never had a history of its own. The first appearance of such a history was in the works of foreigners writing on the history of Chinese literature, and later in those written by Chinese scholars. However, the amount of such material is less than one-tenth of the whole, so it remains largely unknown in the case of fiction." A Brief History of Chinese Fiction is the first comprehensive history of Chinese fiction and remains a reference for studying Chinese fiction to this day. However, historical materials for Chinese fiction were already available long ago. Lu Xun himself compiled Collected Notes on Ancient Fiction, which is a collection of such materials. The works of fiction themselves are the primary historical materials for studying fiction, but having only the works is not enough. To study the history of fiction, one also needs to refer to other books, including biographies of authors, catalogs of works, editions and textual research, reviews, and editorial materials. Some ancient novels have been lost, but there are still other supporting materials, which are also part of the historical materials for fiction.