Seeking Truth and Inquiring into Beauty: New Explorations in Classical Novel Masterpieces

Author: Pan Chengyu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-09-01
Features: Research on classical Chinese popular fiction has a long history, enduring and fruitful, with predecessors making great contributions. However, many academic puzzles and gaps remain, awaiting exploration and filling by later scholars. This book is the crystallization of the author's decade-long calm reflection and discovery in this field. The first part, "Origins," belongs to the study of the genesis of ancient popular fiction, exploring its religious origins, clarifying the true nature of the earliest collections of popular fiction, and providing a macroscopic grasp of the aesthetic style during its formative period. By examining the evolution of a literary motif, it reveals the cultural significance and intergenerational continuity of ancient popular fiction. The second part, "Periphery," focuses on the two renowned classics, Dream of the Red Chamber and Golden Lotus, which have given rise to the two popular fields of "Red Studies" and "Golden Lotus Studies." Employing a combination of historical and literary research, as well as documents and texts, it offers new discoveries on a series of academic controversies, including the spurious supplements to Golden Lotus, its composition era, investigations into its possible authors, Cao Xueqin's ancestral origins (the author of Dream of the Red Chamber), and the key foundations of the New Red Studies after the May Fourth Movement. The third part, "Inner Essence," expands the exploration to five major works, forging new paths between traditional and modern methods, and unifying text and culture. It either re-examines old topics with new evidence or proposes new interpretations for old themes, effectively clarifying key issues such as the themes of Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Water Margin, the merits and flaws of the Jin-pi edition of Water Margin Xu, the relationship between Romance of the Three Kingdoms and traditional "re-telling" culture, the reaction of Fable of the Investiture of the Gods against traditional Confucian concepts, the characterization and aesthetic features of Golden Lotus, and the naming, themes, and creative methods of Dream of the Red Chamber. Rich in academic rationality and aesthetic talent, the book offers innovative and scientifically grounded arguments on many hot topics in classical fiction studies, as well as the rich cultural connotations of these classics. In summary, it is a significant achievement in classical fiction research in recent years, blending history and aesthetics to provide comparative scientific and innovative insights.