Seeking Truth and Inquiring into Beauty (New Exploration of Classical Novel Masterpieces)

Author: Pan Chengyu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-09-01
Features: The study of classic popular novels in ancient China has a long and enduring history, with predecessors achieving great accomplishments. However, many academic puzzles and gaps remain, awaiting future scholars to explore and fill them. 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 emergence of ancient popular novels, exploring their religious origins, clarifying the true nature of the earliest collections of popular novels, and providing a macroscopic grasp of the aesthetic style during their formative period. By examining the evolution of a literary motif, it reveals the cultural significance and intergenerational continuity of ancient popular novels.
The second part, "Periphery," focuses on the two renowned classics, Dream of the Red Chamber and Golden Lotus, which are among the highest achievements in classical fiction and have given rise to two major popular academic fields, "Red Studies" and "Golden Lotus Studies." Employing a combination of historical and literary research, as well as documents and textual analysis, this section presents a series of important redological documents that offer new discoveries on controversial academic issues, including the spurious supplements to Golden Lotus, its composition period, 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 established after the May Fourth Movement.
The third part, "Inner Essence," expands the exploration to five major classics, forging new paths between traditional and modern methods, as well as the unity of text and culture. Whether through revisiting old topics with new evidence or proposing new perspectives on established issues, it powerfully clarifies key questions such as the themes of Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Water Margin, the merits and flaws of the Jin-prefixed edition of Water Margin Xu, the relationship between Romance of the Three Kingdoms and traditional "re-telling" culture, the reaction of Romance of the Gods and Demons against traditional Confucian values, the characterization and aesthetic features of Golden Lotus, and the naming, themes, and creative methods of Dream of the Red Chamber. Rich in academic rigor and aesthetic talent, this part offers insightful contributions.
In summary, the book weaves together history and aesthetics to provide innovative and scientifically grounded arguments on many hot topics in classical novel studies, as well as the rich cultural connotations of these classics. It represents a significant new achievement in the field of classical novel research in recent years.