History of Mythological Fiction -- A Brief History of Ancient Fiction Classification Series

Author: Hu Sheng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-06-01
Features: Regarding the classification of supernatural novels, Mr. Lin Chen divides them into four categories in the Preface of A History of Supernatural Novels: historical legends, worldly tales, allegorical tales, and supernatural tales of deities and immortals. Here, we combine them into three categories: historical legends, Buddhist and Daoist tales, and allegorical tales.
Historical legends take real historical events or figures as clues to construct plots and develop imagination, serving as a means to indulge in fantasy through historical events. Classical short stories like The Mysterious Records of Emperor Wu of Han and The Story of Emperor Wu of Han fall into this category, as do long, serial novels like The Investiture of the Gods and The Western Journey of the Eunuch Sanbao.
Buddhist and Daoist tales primarily narrate the origins, cultivation, and feats of deities and immortals from Buddhism, Daoism, and folk religions, such as subduing demons and benefiting the world. Their themes originate from secular religious legends and often reflect the collective beliefs and psychological acceptance of the people. During the Han, Wei, and Six Dynasties periods, when Buddhism flourished, such works became extremely popular, exemplified by The Miraculous Response of Guanyin. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, works like The Twenty-Four Arhats Who Achieved Enlightenment and The Origin and Cultivation of Guanyin were also produced to promote religious teachings.
Allegorical tales use fantasy to convey meaning and satirize the world. They share similarities with realistic satirical novels in their strong satirical tone, but their differences are also significant. Allegorical satire must rely on fantastical settings and non-realistic imagery to achieve the purpose of satirizing and admonishing society. Notable examples from the Tang Dynasty include The Dream of the Pillow and The Story of the Governor of Nanke. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, representative works include The Three Teachings Open the Eyes and Return to Rectitude and The Eastern Journey of Scaring Demons and Teaching Humanity.
Of course, these three categories do not fully encompass the attributes of supernatural novels. Works like The Classic of Mountains and Seas, The Classic of the Marvelous, and The Records of belong to geographical and encyclopedic genres and cannot be included. Additionally, many works defy precise classification. Therefore, our categorization is not a precise division and lacks stable classification significance. It is merely intended to explore and illustrate the evolutionary traces of such novels, for the convenience of discussion, and is done with flexibility.