Personal Library -- Romance of the Three Kingdoms (1-4)

Author: Luo Guanzhong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-06-01
Features: ▼Complete Content ▼Sandalwood Aroma ▼Compact and Lightweight ▼Original Illustrations ▼Portable
Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a historical novel, but it does not simply retell the historical figures and facts of the Three Kingdoms period. Rather, it is a literary work that has undergone artistic conception and processing, helping us understand the history of the feudal society. To a certain extent, it depicts the struggles for power, intrigue, and deceit among feudal rulers, reflecting certain historical situations of the time and exposing the evils of some feudal rulers. However, the author of Romance of the Three Kingdoms wrote from the perspective of maintaining feudal rule, promoting feudal orthodox concepts, and praising feudal rulers. He also advocated theocracy and feudal superstition, exaggerating the abilities of figures like Zhuge Liang, portraying them as extraordinary "prophets" and "destined ones." He promoted feudal morality, particularly emphasizing virtues like "loyalty" and "righteousness."
One of the characteristics of the creative method of Romance of the Three Kingdoms is that it draws from history but is not limited by historical facts. The author successfully created vivid and lifelike artistic figures, vividly highlighting their personality traits, achieving remarkable artistic success. In terms of plot, stories like "The Three Oaths in the Peach Garden," "The Three Heroes Battle Lu Bu," "Borrowing Arrows from the Straw Boats," "Zhuge Liang Borrowing the Wind," "Burning the Red Cliffs," "Guan Yu's Five Passes and Six Battles," and "The Empty Fort Strategy" are well-known. As for the characters of the Three Kingdoms, Guan Yu, the loyal and brave general, Zhuge Liang, the master strategist, and Cao Cao, the ambitious warlord of chaos, are particularly successful portrayals in Romance of the Three Kingdoms.