Water Margin Revisited

Author: Duan Deming
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-04-01
Features: The purpose of this book is to study the Water Margin and its critical commentaries in order to reveal some important characteristics of the cultural psychology of the Chinese nation and to evaluate the cultural taste of these psychological traits, aiming to contribute to the improvement of the public cultural mindset and the national cultural ecosystem. The basic approach is to examine the textual content objectively, to investigate the character traits and commonalities they exhibit in depth, to critically examine the author's consciousness and ideas reflected in the Water Margin text, to examine the consciousness and ideas of several famous Water Margin scholars throughout history in their commentaries on the Water Margin, to explore the intrinsic connections and commonalities between the author's emotions, the readers' emotions, and the Water Margin character, to examine the essential differences between laudatory commentaries on the Water Margin and critical reviews, thereby summarizing some important characteristics of the cultural psychology of the Chinese nation reflected in these phenomena. At the same time, the recognized principles of analytical psychology in the West and China are used to test these psychological traits, and the traditional Chinese moral values centered on "benevolence and righteousness," which are recognized both in ancient and modern China, as well as the humanistic morality centered on "universal love," which is recognized both in the East and the West, are used to evaluate their cultural taste. Contemporary theories of novel aesthetics are employed to measure the aesthetic concepts of the Water Margin and the Water Margin-style literary aesthetics, thereby providing a cultural taste evaluation of the Water Margin and the "Water Margin-like cultural phenomena" of ancient and modern times. To verify these evaluations, this book also conducts a thorough comparison between the characteristics of the Water Margin personality and the consciousness, ideas, and emotions of the author of the Water Margin, the admirers of the Water Margin personality, and the fundamental tenets of Taoism, Taoist philosophy, and Buddhism. It also makes a careful comparison with the character traits of the characters in works such as Journey to the West, Spartacus, and the TV adaptation of Water Margin, as well as the consciousness, ideas, and emotions reflected in the critical reviews of the Water Margin and Water Margin-like cultural phenomena by individuals like Lu Xun, who hold a critical attitude toward the Water Margin personality. Additionally, a questionnaire survey was conducted among approximately 1,000 people to evaluate their opinions on certain plots of the Water Margin.