Guangling Sword (Volume 1 and 2)

Author: Liang Yusheng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
Features: Liang Yusheng's martial arts novels connect the heroic tales following The Story of the Heroic Parents and the old martial arts fiction of the Republican era, pioneering a new school of martial arts literature. They also paved the way for Jin Yong and Gu Long's literary world. He once described his position in the martial arts fiction genre as follows: "The pioneer of the genre, Liang Yusheng; the one who brought it to greater heights, Jin Yong." In the 1960s and 1970s, he and Jin Yong together carried the banner of the new school of martial arts fiction, earning the reputation of "Jin and Liang, rivals of their time." During their heyday, Liang Yusheng advocated that "the hero is the embodiment of the wisdom and virtue of the lower-class laboring people," grounding heroism in justice, dignity, and love for the people, while discarding the tendency of old martial arts fiction to focus solely on revenge and bloodshed. Jin Yong further elevated this to "The greatest hero is one who serves the nation and its people."
Liang Yusheng's novels are renowned for their rich historical and literary knowledge, as well as their incorporation of classical poetry and folk sayings. His writing is elegant and imbued with a strong scholarly atmosphere, often interspersed with poetic verses and folk expressions. His narrative techniques primarily draw from tradition, frequently employing the chapter-based structure of classical novels. The chapter titles are profound in meaning and skillfully crafted in parallelism, with plot developments exhibiting a rhythmic and engaging flow. His storytelling also carries the distinct tone of a storyteller. The characters in his martial arts novels are deeply moralized, with clear distinctions between heroes and villains. Each of his works is set against a specific historical backdrop, with plots that are cleverly constructed and steady in their pacing. Some critics argue that the flaw in Liang Yusheng's novels lies in their "tedium," though this may stem from his persistent adherence to a "conventional" literary stance. Liang Yusheng himself once said: "I may have also been guilty of being 'far-fetched,' but this is not the mainstream of my style, nor is it my true approach."