Flowers of Literature Series - Ancient Part: Selected Prose of Gui Youguang

Author: (Ming) Gui Youguang, edited by Zhang Jiaying and Xu Zhixian
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-05-01
Features: Gui Youguang was the leader of the "Tang-Song School" of classical prose in the Ming Dynasty and a renowned essayist. He drew inspiration from the Records of the Grand Historian in the distant past and learned from Han Yu and Ouyang Xiu in the near future. His prose is characterized by truthful and intimate storytelling, vivid and moving expressions of emotion. In terms of description, he skillfully absorbed techniques from fiction, focusing on detailed portrayals of expressions, actions, behaviors, and language. The structure of his essays is intricate and well-organized, full of variation. His language is refined, elegant, and enduring, concise yet profound, embodying a unique artistic style that deeply influenced later generations of prose writers.
Chinese classical prose has a long and rich history, with deep roots and lush branches. Like poetry, it is one of the most important and distinctive forms of ancient Chinese literature, as well as a splendid cultural treasure in the history of human civilization. To promote the fine culture of the Chinese nation, inherit the excellent traditions of ancient prose, and foster the prosperity and improvement of contemporary prose creation, as well as provide readers with reference and appreciation, this series of "Chinese Classical Prose" has been compiled as part of the "Hundred Flowers Prose Series."
The scope of the prose genre has evolved over time, differing between ancient and modern periods. The selected works in this series primarily consist of lyric and narrative prose, which are more literary in nature. The authors included range from the pre-Qin period to the Qing Dynasty, with each author's works compiled into separate volumes. The arrangement of essays in each book follows the chronological order of their composition, allowing readers to trace the development and evolution of prose writing.
Each book in the series is divided into two parts: one is an essay, and the other is prose. The essay part provides brief introductions to the authors' lives and literary activities, with a focus on analyzing and evaluating their prose writing philosophy, particularly their artistic characteristics, the development of their prose writing, and its influence. The prose part includes annotations and explanations for each essay. The essay part is designed to complement and enhance the understanding of the selected prose, helping readers achieve a rational appreciation of the works while the prose serves to deepen their understanding of the essays. Together, they form a unique series that not only offers selected prose for reading but also functions, to some extent, as a study of the authors and a history of ancient prose. Unlike general prose anthologies or histories of ancient prose, this series has its own distinct features.
The selected prose in each book includes representative masterpieces of the authors, as well as works from different periods, themes, and styles, reflecting the evolution of the authors' prose writing. The title explanations not only clarify relevant terms, specialized names, writing time, and sources but also provide concise evaluations of the background, ideological value, artistic characteristics, and techniques of the works. The annotations primarily focus on explaining difficult characters, words, allusions, official titles, artifacts, names, and places. For important or uniquely used terms, references or examples are provided to help readers understand not only what is being discussed but also why.