Human Knowledge Encyclopedia

Author: Zhu Siqing et al. / Country:
Publisher:
Publishing Time: 2002-05-01
Features:
The earliest novel in ancient Chinese fiction: Yan Dan Zi
The earliest documentary novel: Yan Zi Chun Qiu
The earliest legendary novel: Gu Jing Ji
The earliest martial arts novel: Hong Xian Chuan
The earliest fantasy novel: San Sui Ping Yao Chuan
The earliest historical novel: Romance of the Three Kingdoms
The earliest detective novel: Bao Gong An
The earliest edition of Water Margin: Zhong Yi Shui Hu Zhuan
The earliest chapter-based martial arts novel: Ersu Ying Xiong Zhuan
The earliest collection of novels: Taiping Guang Ji
The earliest collection of supernatural tales: Soushen Ji
The earliest collection of biographical tales: Shi Shuo Xin Yu
The earliest collection of anecdotal tales: Xijing Za Ji
The earliest collection of miscellaneous tales: Gujin Shuo Hai
The longest ancient novel: Liu Hua Meng
The largest public case novel: Shi Gong An (Excerpted from Reader's Guide, Zhou Jihong's article)
Modern Novel Forms
One-minute novel
Usually, people equate one-minute novel with micro-fiction, but in reality, micro-fiction emerged in the 19th century, and it wasn't until after World War II that newspapers in Britain, the U.S., and Japan began to feature columns dedicated to one-minute novels. A true one-minute novel strictly limits itself to one minute, generally not exceeding 1,000 words. Like micro-fiction, it captures fragments of life with concise prose, reflecting profound themes and social content. China has also seen a rise in such works recently.
Panoramic Novel
Also known as "panoramic literature." When proposed in Soviet literary circles, it had two original meanings: first, referring specifically to novels that depicted the Great Patriotic War with grand scenes; second, broadly referring to comprehensive, epic-length novels. Emerging in the late 1960s of the 20th century, it became the mainstream of war literature in the 1960s and 1970s. Representative works include Simonov's trilogy The Living and the Dead, Chakovsky's Siege, and Stadyuk's War. Its features include vast scope, numerous characters, and a long temporal span, intertwining war with diplomatic struggles on the international political stage. It portrays the war from multiple angles, revealing its essence. Under its influence, Soviet novels increasingly tended to blend history with reality, the past with the present, domestic with foreign, and the heavens with the earth, striving to depict the panorama of social life. The exploration of social life and the human inner world also became deeper. Novels grew in layers, with multiple plots and themes, larger capacity, and more complex structures.
Essay Novel
Also known as "argumentative fiction." As a type of Soviet novel in the late 1970s, it had a relatively free and lively form, loose structure, and could narrate, express emotions, or deliver opinions, often employing a mixed narrative-discussion style. It generally lacked a continuous plotline and focused less on character development, essentially being lengthy and expansive essays. It has yet to fully develop. Representative works include B. Chivilikhin's Memory (also translated as Reflections).
Serial Novel
Refers to novels created consecutively by multiple authors. The number of authors is unlimited, and their ideas, themes, and styles can be decided in advance or individually, but they must maintain consistency in characters, settings, and timelines, ultimately forming an integrated story. An ideal serial novel should also consider stylistic unity and aesthetic harmony. (Excerpted from Chinese Language Weekly, Jia Shu's article)
Absurd Novel Model
Absurdity is a new perspective on reality in art, a special way of aesthetically grasping the world. Absurd novels deliberately break the existing order of life, reconstructing it according to artistic logic rather than the logic of life itself. They present readers with a non-logical, even anti-logical absurd world. In this world, images are rarely lifelike, let alone well-developed characters, as that is not their pursuit but rather twisted and deformed figures. Although writers use various artistic means to transform reality into something fantastical, distancing it from the real world, their artistic goal remains rooted in reality. The absurd world of these novels, through its absurdity, establishes a contrast with the real world. This contrast fosters the creation of a new aesthetic order, a special kind of order called "reversal"—approaching the original through deformation, the normal through the abnormal, and reality through absurdity—to achieve the purpose of aesthetically examining reality. (Excerpted from Novel Review, Sun Xianke's article)
Short and Twisting Novel
An American magazine once offered a $3,000 prize for the shortest, most twisting novel. Many people racked their brains to enter. The winning entry was as follows:
Ivlevna's brother Fletch went hunting with her husband Bab. Soon, she received a telegram from her brother: "Bab killed by lion—Fletch."
Ivlevna was inconsolable and sent a reply: "Send his body home."
Three weeks later, a large package arrived from Africa, containing a lion's corpse. She then sent another telegram: "Lion received. Brother wrong, please send Bab's body back."
Soon, she received a reply from Africa: "Correct. Bab inside lion—Fletch." (Excerpted from Amazing Short Stories, published by Tianjin Literature Publishing House, edited by Xiang Benlin)
How to Choose Masterpieces?
Aldous Huxley, the chairman of the editorial board of the authoritative Encyclopaedia Britannica and a renowned British humanist scholar, proposed six thought-provoking criteria for selecting masterpieces.
1. The content of the masterpiece should enduringly attract readers. A masterpiece is not a bestseller of the moment but a timeless bestseller.
2. The masterpiece should be aimed at the general public, easy to understand, not just for a few experts or scholars; not for a limited literary salon.
3. The masterpiece never lags behind the times. It will never lose its value and significance in observing the era due to political fluctuations.
4. The masterpiece is profound and enduring, sometimes a single page contains more thought than many grand theories.
5. The masterpiece offers unique insights, speaking truths that no one else has said.
6. The masterpiece explores long-standing unresolved issues in life, making breakthroughs in a particular field. (Excerpted from After Eight Hours, compiled by Ao Zhou)
Interesting "Reversed Couplets"
Reversal is a common rhetorical device in ancient Chinese, characterized by adding, subtracting, breaking sentences, or pairing phrases to transform the original description of things into their opposites, producing contrasting results. When applied to couplets, this technique becomes even more engaging.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the high-ranking official Hong Chengchou, who often claimed to uphold loyalty and integrity, wrote a couplet for his doorframe:
"Imperial grace as deep as the sea;
Loyalty as heavy as a mountain."
After his defeat and capture in the Battle of Songshan, unable to resist threats and temptation, he surrendered to the Qing. Disdained by the people, two words were added to his self-composed couplet, turning it into a new one:
"Imperial grace as deep as the sea—yes;
Loyalty as heavy as a mountain—huh?"
Adding just two words transformed his self-proclaimed integrity into irony, a stroke of genius.
In the western mountains of Hubei, there was a family named Qin, whose three generations were illiterate. One year, when the eldest son married, he asked a local scholar to write wedding couplets. Due to poor hospitality, the scholar wrote a couplet full of gloom:
"Flowing water and setting sun, eternal sorrow;
Spring dew and autumn frost, a hundred years of grief."
When the couplets were posted, relatives shook their heads, believing them irreparable. Just then, music and drums sounded, and the bride's sedan chair arrived. As she stepped out, lifting the corner of her veil to see the way, she suddenly saw the couplets and was greatly troubled. Reaching the door, she had a sudden inspiration, reached out and tore off the last two characters of each line. The couplets then became:
"Flowing water and setting sun, eternal spring;
Spring dew and autumn frost, a hundred years."
With just two characters removed, the meaning shifted dramatically, dispelling the gloom—truly ingenious! (Excerpted from People's Liberation Army Daily)