Before The Romance of the Three Kingdoms appeared, China's novels were generally short, and some even had only a few dozen words. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is China's first novel. We should pay attention to how China's novels develop from short stories to long ones. It turns out that storytelling prevailed in the Song Dynasty, and storytelling became a profession. Storytellers like to use stories of ancient characters as themes, and Chen Shou's History of the Three Kingdoms is the best material for storytelling. Some scattered fragments of the story of the Three Kingdoms have also been circulated among the people. In addition, storytellers have drawn materials for a long time, and the content is getting richer and richer, and the characters are getting fuller and fuller. Finally, many independent stories are gradually combined to grow into a masterpiece. These isolated stories have been passed down from mouth to mouth in the society for a long time, and finally they have been processed and collected into a book, which has become China's first novel. This is a great collective creation. It is different from the novel written by a single author in form, which deserves our attention. This novel, which originated from outstanding talents, was followed by The Journey to the West, a ghost novel, and The Water Margin, another historical novel. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms has a certain enlightening effect on later novels. The origin of history literature, the literary value of this masterpiece itself and its influence on later generations are worthy of our in-depth discussion.
First, the ideological tendency of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms: supporting Liu against Cao.
1, the expression of Liu's anti-Cao thought in his works;
2. The formation of the thought of supporting Liu and opposing Cao: 4. It was formed in the process of long-term circulation, and Luo Guanzhong inherited and cast it into his works, and Mao Zonggang strengthened it when he revised it;
3. The connotation of supporting Liu and opposing Cao: it reflects people's ideal of ruling by virtue and benevolent government and their willingness to oppose tyranny; It is the reflection of national thought; Is a reflection of orthodox thought.
Second, the image of Liu Bei and Cao Cao.
1, Cao Cao: treacherous, cruel and hypocritical; Great talent and foresight; -This is a complicated image. Luo Guanzhong writes both its short and its long, without affecting his tendency.
2. Liu Bei: an idealized image of a monarch, but also a hypocritical side unique to the representatives of the ruling class.
Third, the description of the war.
Three major battles: the battle of Guandu, the battle of Battle of Red Cliffs and Yiling.
Similarities: all are weak against strong, all use fire power, and the outcome is that the weak win.
Different characteristics: the characteristics of the two sides of the struggle are different, and the situations they face are different, so that they are never the same.
Learning content
First, the origin of history literature
The speaking skills in Song Dynasty were very developed. The performance place of speaking is not limited to Goulan Wasi, but also in rural temples. According to "Dream of Tokyo", Huo Sijian, a famous artist in Bianjing, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, is famous for "telling three points", which means telling the story of the Three Kingdoms, while Yin often sells it to tell the history of the Five Dynasties. Both of them are good historians.
No matter whether the speaker is an expert or not, he needs a speech. At that time, there was a "book club" dedicated to writing speeches. People in the book club must have profound literary accomplishment and extensive historical knowledge if they want to write stories. The speaker's manuscript may evolve into a novel with longer and longer length after continuous polishing, addition and deletion.
In Song Dynasty, Nai De-Weng recorded four stories in Ji Sheng Wa She Zhong Ji;
There are four schools of speech: one is a novel, which is called a silver word, such as smoke powder, ghosts and legends. When it comes to solving a case, it's all about throwing knives and sticks, and making a fortune. When we talk about iron riders, we refer to the matter of the horse and the golden drum. Talking about scripture means speaking Buddhist books. When we say "participation", we mean "participation in Zen and enlightenment". Talk about history books, talk about the history of the previous generation, and the war of prosperity and abolition. Those who are most afraid of novels, those who cover novels can tell stories from generation to generation in an instant.
The fourth of them is "talking about history books, talking about the historical biography of the previous generation and the rise and fall of wars." Stories about the Three Kingdoms should fall into this category.
The novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms can be said to be a direct or indirect collection of the stories of the Three Kingdoms circulated in the Tang and Song Dynasties, especially the lecture materials of the "stories from one generation to another" told by the novelist. It is a work that has been modified through numerous additions. The Three Kingdoms of Quanxiangpinghua mentioned below is a product of Yuan Dynasty, but its ancestor may have originated from the speaker's manuscript in Song Dynasty.
How does the spoken material become a scripted novel? Probably the speaker passed it on by word of mouth at first, not by text, but it is easy to forget by word of mouth. The more embellished the story, the more complicated the content is, and the more difficult it is to remember. Only by using words can it be recorded to avoid omission when speaking. As the written records are constantly sorted out, the length is getting bigger and bigger. There are two small problems worth considering here: first, the original manuscript may be relatively simple and rough, and the later revised edition may be more complicated, but the abridged version is the opposite; Second, once the first draft is circulated, many different versions of the same story may appear later, because different artists or literati polish and interpret it. Here are one or two examples to illustrate. There are three volumes of Zhi Zhi New Publication Three Kingdoms of Pinghua, which were published in Jian 'an (in northern Fujian today) during the period from Yingzong to Zhizhi in Yuan Dynasty (132 1 year 1 1323). Each volume is engraved with "Zhi Zhi New Publication Three Kingdoms of Pinghua" in the capital, which is generally referred to as "Zhi Zhi Xin Publication Three Kingdoms". This book is now in the Cabinet Library of Tokyo, Japan. It has 138 pages, with two columns on each page. The left and right pages are combined, with a picture on the top and text on the bottom. When the speaker holds this notebook, he can look at the picture and read the words, and he can foam at the mouth and perfunctory at random. This is not necessarily the speaker's first draft, but it is an earlier version, which shows that it is relatively simple and rough. Another example is "A Brief Account of Three Points", also entitled "The Story of the Three Kingdoms", with three volumes above and below, which is not written by the author, and also belongs to Jian 'an Bookstore. Although the first line of the upper and middle volumes is inscribed with the words "A Brief Introduction to the All-round Three-point Issue of Zhiyuan New Publication" and "A Brief Introduction to the All-round Three-point Issue of Zhiyuan New Publication", and the cover has the words "A New Edition of Jiawu", most academic circles think that it is not an engraving of Jiawu (1294) in the thirty-first year of Yuan Shizu Zhiyuan. It's a book dealer's mystifying, which is actually the product of fourteen years from Yuan Dynasty to Zhengzheng or the change of Yuan and Ming Dynasties. Because in the first, middle and next volumes, two or three pages of stories are deliberately omitted before the last page or two of each volume, but the page numbers are connected without interruption. Obviously, booksellers cut corners and cheated customers. Abridged editions are usually printed to cut costs.
Lu Xun said that the speakers of Song Dynasty were many experts, but he didn't know about any works. Most of the existing stories in Pinghua are works of Yuan people (1982, 127 pages). Among them, Zhizhi New Publication All-round Pinghua History of the Three Kingdoms and Zhiyuan New Publication All-round Three-point Sketch both have the main plot of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which is its embryonic form.
To sum up the contents of this section: China's storytelling originated very early, and storytellers in Song Dynasty especially liked to tell history. In the Northern Song Dynasty, Huo Sanxue was famous for saying "three points". However, the scattered fragments of the story of the Three Kingdoms spread very early and were recorded in the Tang Dynasty. Song people devoted themselves to ornament and extravagance, which made the content richer and the plot more exciting. The existing All-phase Pinghua History of the Three Kingdoms is a work of Yuan people and should be the embryo of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
Second, the author, date and edition of The Romance of The Three Kingdoms.
There are many controversial issues in the information provided in this section "Author, Version and Year of Writing". It is suggested that you don't memorize the materials, just know the outline.
author
In the long period of autocratic emperor rule, it is strange that China's novels and plays have been neglected and discriminated by orthodox scholars, so that most of these works are secretive and furtive. It is a pity that its author always knows his life clearly with an alias or without a name. The authors of several masterpieces selected in this course all have similar situations.
The author of The Romance of The Three Kingdoms is generally said to be Luo Guanzhong. The records of his native place and life story are very different, and the materials are also very brief.
There are four main theories about Luo Guanzhong's native place: one is from Taiyuan, the other is from Hangzhou, the third is from Dongyuan (Dongping, Shandong), and the fourth is from Luling. For decades, there have been many previous two statements, but so far there is no conclusion. Today, Liu Zhixian, Wang Qili, Shen Bojun and Zhou Lengga all hold the theory of Dongyuan. Judging from the available data, the theory of Dong Yuan is more credible.
-Taiyuan said
Ming anonymous "ghost book sequel" cloud: "Luo Guanzhong, Taiyuan, No. Be widowed with others. Yuefu and argot are extremely fresh. "
Second, Hangzhou said
Ming Lang Ying's "Seven Revision Manuscripts" has twenty-three clouds: "The Three Kingdoms and Song Jiang were compiled by Luo Benguan, a native of Hangzhou. There must be a book for the old meaning, so it is compiled. "
Ming Tian Rucheng's Notes on the Tour of the West Lake (Volume 25) says, "Luo Guanzhong, a native of Qiantang, was born in the Southern Song Dynasty and compiled dozens of novels."
Wang Qi's "A General Examination of Continuing Literature" in Ming Dynasty, volume 177 "Textual Research and Biography" is like a cloud: "The Water Margin is written by Luo Guan. In the word book, Hangzhou people. "
Third, Dongyuan (Dongping) said
Ming Yong Yuzi (Jiang Daqi)' Preface to the Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms' says:' If Luo Guanzhong was originally from the East, he passed on the biography of Chen Shou in Pingyang, and studied the history of various countries, from the first year of Zhongping, the Emperor of Han Ling, to the first year of Jin Taikang. Pay attention to the gains and losses. The purpose of the book is the Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which is not very deep and vulgar. In fact, it is almost historical.'
Wang Qili's Luo Guanzhong and the Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms (page1983, 240-265) found Robben and Gao Kerou among the thirty-one men listed in the book "The Master Sacrifices Mr. Bao Feng" attached to the preface of Zhao Xie's Collection of Mr. Zhao Baofeng in Yuan Dynasty, and thought that Robben was Luo Guanzhong. This involves the author of Water Margin. The only good official in Water Margin is Chen Wenzhao, the prefect of Dongping. Why? It turned out that Chen Wenzhao, the magistrate of Cixi County, asked Zhao Baofeng, a citizen of the city, to apply for a job and to be a disciple, and Baofeng informed him of the civil affairs. Therefore, Chen Wenzhao was also listed as Mr. Baofeng's protege in the Song and Yuan Dynasties, so it is not difficult to explain the mystery that the only good official in Water Margin is Chen Wenzhao. "The Water Margin" was written by Shi Naian and compiled by Luo Guanzhong. Luo Guanzhong is clearly Robben and Dongping is the country of his parents. Describing this good official as the prefect of Dongping, Wang Qili thought it was "carefully arranged by Luo Guanzhong".
Zhou Lengjia's New Historical Materials about Luo Guanzhong's Life (edited by Tan Luofei, 1992,19-130 pages) also looks for information from The Collection of Mr. Zhao Baofeng and The Case of Song and Yuan Dynasties, and thinks that Luo Guanzhong's original name is straightforward. After the death of Yuan Dynasty, he went to his elder brother Luo Gong Zi Yanwei, who lived in Cixi, Zhejiang Province. Luo Gong was a protege of Zhao Baofeng, a descendant of the Song imperial clan, so Luo Ben also studied for Zhao Baofeng. Fear of penetration is another name.
As for Luo Guanzhong's life, some people thought he was from the Southern Song Dynasty. It is reasonable to say that some people thought that they were in the Yuan Dynasty and the early Ming Dynasty, because the turbulent experience in the late Yuan Dynasty and the early Ming Dynasty and the writer's political aspirations had a substantial impact on the creation of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The following quote Zhou Yi, Feng Qiyong, Zhang Peiheng, Zhou Lengga and others:
-Southern Song Dynasty (Zhou Yi)
Zhou Yi's article "The Outlaws of the Marsh in Luo Guanzhong and the Romance of the West Chamber in Wang Shifu as Seen by Scholars in the Yuan Dynasty" (1985, pp. 76-82) holds that "Luo Guanzhong may be from the Southern Song Dynasty or between the Song and Yuan Dynasties." We can refer to Zhou Yi's opinion in the previous section "The Origin of Historical Literature".
2. Born around 1295 (Feng Qiyong, Zhang Peiheng).
Feng Qiyong's On the Times of Luo Guanzhong (199 1, page 80-93) thinks that since Luo Guanzhong and Ge Kejiu are mentioned together, Ge is a Yuan person, and Luo is certainly a Yuan person. According to the record of the sequel to the ghost book, Luo Guanzhong was born around Zhenyuan year (1295) and died around the 12th year of Hongwu in Ming dynasty (1379), and lived about 85 years.
Zhang Peiheng's "About Luo Guanzhong's Birth and Death Year" (1982, the third issue, page120-126) insists on textual research on the book's date of completion based on the present place names in the book, so as to trace the author's birth time. He thinks that The Romance of the Three Kingdoms was written in1326.
Iii. Born in 1330 (Lu Xun, Zhou Linga)
Lu Xun's A Brief History (1page 29) is considered as "a man between the Yuan and Ming Dynasties" (about 1330- 1400).
Zhou Lengga's Notes on Novels (198 1, No.4, pp. 76-82) agrees with Lu Xun's statement that Luo Guanzhong "came from Yuan Dynasty to Ming Dynasty" and may be from Cixi.
Combined with various opinions, it is roughly like this: Luo Guanzhong Dongping people, formerly known as Robben, the word Yan Zhi, alias Guan Zhong, also known as Hu Hai San Ren. He was born in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty. He once entered the Zhang Shicheng shogunate, then lived in seclusion in Cixi, Zhejiang Province, where he was engaged in writing, and died in the early Ming Dynasty. There are three kinds of zaju, including "Song Taizu Dragon and Tiger Meeting". He is also the author of six novels: Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Cihua of the King of Qin, Tales of Sui and Tang Dynasties, Historical Romance of the Remnant Tang Dynasty and Five Dynasties, Biography of Sansui Pingyao and Fenzhuanglou. It is generally believed that the novel Water Margin also contains Luo Guanzhong's painstaking efforts.
Year of writing
There are four main theories about the date of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms: first, before the Song Dynasty; second, in the middle of the Yuan Dynasty; third, in the early Ming Dynasty; and fourth, in the middle of the Ming Dynasty. In any case, because Luo Guanzhong can't be denied as the editor of The Romance of Three Kingdoms, the writing time can't jump out of the era of Luo Guanzhong's life, and the writing time must be combined with Luo Guanzhong's birth and death years.
First, Song used to say
Zhou Yi advocated that The Romance of the Three Kingdoms was written before the Song Dynasty or the Northern Song Dynasty, which we have quoted earlier (see this unit, page 3).
Second, the theory of the mid-Yuan Dynasty
Yuan Shishuo's book The Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms, a printed edition of Jiajing in Ming Dynasty, is the original work of Luo Guanzhong in Yuan Dynasty (199 1 94-108) thinks that the book uses more than 330 poems to evaluate characters, and the plot is very similar to that of Pinghua in Song and Yuan Dynasties. And when quoting, it is Tang Xian or Song Xian, not Yuan Xian, which is really Yuan Ren's tone; Except for a few clerical errors, today's place names mentioned in the small print notes in the book are almost all consistent with the names of administrative regions in the Yuan Dynasty. Because Jiangling, Jiankang and Tanzhou are all old place names before the second year of Yuan Tianli (1329), the time for making annotations will be broken in this year, and then it will be extended for more than ten years. Basically, it can be determined that the book was written in the middle of Yuan Dynasty, about the 1920s and 40s of the 14th century. He also thinks that Luo Guanzhong's date of birth and death is about 1300 to 1370, and Jiajing publication can be regarded as Luo Guanzhong's original work.
Third, the theory of the early Ming Dynasty
Ouyang Jian's essay "On the Writing Time of the Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms" (Institute of Literature, Sichuan Academy of Social Sciences, 1983, pages 280-295) holds that the Romance of the Three Kingdoms was written in the early Ming Dynasty. He disagreed with Yuan Shishuo's conclusion that the date of the footnote in the book was before the second year of the calendar (1329), and thought that the situation of place names was complicated. He thinks that Luo Guanzhong started writing in the early Ming Dynasty, and the twelfth volume was written not earlier than the third year of Hongwu (1370), and the first draft of the whole book was completed after 137 1 year. He also thinks that according to the "Master's Tribute to Mr. Bao Feng", Robben is ranked between the eighth Usdao (13 14 years old) and the thirteenth Wang Huan (13 14 years old), and his birth year is about13. Robben Guanzhong was about fifty years old when he started writing.
Fourth, the theory of the middle of Ming Dynasty
Zhang Guoguang's article The Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms was written in the middle of Ming Dynasty (1983, pages 266-279) holds that the Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms was written on the basis of the Pinghua of the Three Kingdoms, and the Pinghua of the Three Kingdoms published in Yuan Dynasty was from the reign of Yu's reign to the reign of Emperor Zhi of Xin 'an (1379). Zhang Guoguang therefore believes that "the writing of this book will not be the Yuan Dynasty, nor will it be the early Ming Dynasty, but it will be in the middle of the Ming Dynasty. Jiang Daqi, the foolish son who wrote the preface for this purpose, is probably its author. " He estimated that because Jiang Daqi had no money to engrave the book after writing the preface, it took twenty years before it was published by Xiuzuzi.
It is worth noting that Zhang Guoguang put aside Luo Guanzhong as the author of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, so that there is no need to worry about whether the book's writing date coincides with Luo Guanzhong's birth and death year. If combined with Luo Guanzhong's life, the second and third statements are closer to the truth. If the fourth statement is reasonable, the middle of the Ming Dynasty is the time to start spreading.
version
-Jiajingben
Existing Ming Jiajing Renwu (1522) edition. Twenty-four volumes, 240 articles, each with only seven words. The book is signed "Biography of Hou Chenshou in Pingyang, Jin, and later edited by Robben Guanzhong". It should be noted that many scholars thought it was the closest version to Luo Guanzhong's original work, even Luo's original work, but now there are many skeptics.
Second, local chronicles
There are several editions printed in the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty (1573-1620), which are referred to as "Wanli Books" for short. Liu Longtian Qiaoshan Hall and Yu Shuangfeng Hall were earlier. It is worth noting that the content is somewhat different from Jiajing edition, and the text is relatively simple. Many scholars believe that the ancestor of "Biography" is earlier than Jiajing's.
Third, Li Pingben
"Mr. Li Zhuowu's Criticism of the History of the Three Kingdoms" was published after Wanli and during the Apocalypse as a fake comment on Wuxi people's leaf painting under the name of Li Zhuowu, so it was also called "a fake commentary on Li". Combine every two copies of Jiajing book into one hundred and twenty copies, and do not divide volumes. There are several kinds of existing Ming Jianyang Wu Guanming publications. In the Qing Dynasty, Mao Zonggang took the abridgement and revision as the Mao commentary.
Four, Mao Ben (Mao Ping Ben)
"Mao Zonggang's Comment on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms", published in Kangxi of Qing Dynasty, sixty volumes and one hundred and twenty times. Mao Lun and Mao Zonggang and his son revised the "Pseudo-Li Commentary" in the name of Jin Shengtan, and made a comprehensive revision. Lu Xun said that Mao Shi and his son mainly carried out three tasks, one was to change, the other was to increase, and the third was to cut. The rest of the sections were "one was to rectify the eyes, the other was to correct the wording, the third was to delete the praise, the fourth was to add and delete trifles, and the fifth was to change poetry". It should be noted that Li Huiwu thought that this book strengthened feudal orthodoxy more than the previous edition, but greatly surpassed the previous books in terms of artistic processing.
In a word, there are only three versions of these four versions: one is the popular romance of the Three Kingdoms published by Jiajing, the other is the biography of the Three Kingdoms, and the third is the system of Mao Pingben. Zhi and "Li Pingben" have been incorporated into Mao Pingben after being revised by Mao Zonggang, so they should belong to the same system. At present, most of the books printed by the bookstore are Mao's evaluation system, but some changes are usually made with reference to the different versions of Jiajing's book when collating.
Third, the formation of the story of the Three Kingdoms
Chen Shou in Jin Dynasty compiled The History of the Three Kingdoms, and Pei Songzhi cited more than 400 kinds of books in Liu and Song Dynasties as notes. We know that in the Wei, Jin and Six Dynasties, it was popular to judge characters, and it was always necessary to judge characters according to specific deeds. Later, Shi Shuo Xin Yu contained many wonderful stories of various figures in Wei and Jin Dynasties. The atmosphere of judging characters has been circulating for some time, and many people are very familiar with the words and deeds of the characters at that time. In the process of talking, on the one hand, the interest is strong, and the speaker's subjective opinions and personal colors are added between word of mouth, so the description of people and events has become more and more wonderful.
For example, there are more than 30 kinds of documents that narrate, describe and sing the stories and characters of the Three Kingdoms in the Jin and Southern and Northern Dynasties. This is the existing literature, the actual number must be more than this.
In the Tang Dynasty, there were more than 140 poems on the Three Kingdoms, while in the Song Dynasty, there were about 80. These also mean that as far as the materials are known today, there must have been more at that time.
In addition to poetry and prose in the Yuan Dynasty, there were more than 60 Yuan Zaju dramas with stories of the Three Kingdoms. This is even more noteworthy. First, individual fragments of the stories of the Three Kingdoms were well developed at that time before they could be compiled into plays. Second, plays were more widely spread and had greater influence than poems, and they became mutually causal with the development of novels. The theory of three points, which has been circulated since the Song Dynasty, has become the basis of the novels of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a novel, but the original story is sporadic. It is an interesting process how these scattered materials are finally organized into a masterpiece. This process can be said to be a long time. Because it is not an official history at all-if it is similar to the official history, there is no need to compile the Romance of the Three Kingdoms after the History of the Three Kingdoms is written. Of course, the materials of The Romance of Three Kingdoms are not only directly taken from the History of the Three Kingdoms, but also indirectly taken from the annotations of the History of the Three Kingdoms and other historical materials of the Six Dynasties, and more are story materials that have been fully developed by later generations (as the saying goes, "adding materials"). In particular, the drama works of the Yuan Dynasty have permeated the story of the Three Kingdoms into a life of flesh and blood. The formation of the story of the Three Kingdoms can be divided into the following four stages:
The first stage is the records of Chen Shou's History of the Three Kingdoms before it was written, most of which are historical materials, including records and legends of historical figures' origins, words and deeds. Chen Shou's "The History of the Three Kingdoms" admitted some of them as materials to compile official history, but more materials were left behind by literati or folk.
The second stage is the early stage after the publication of The History of the Three Kingdoms, especially in the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Because it is not far to the Three Kingdoms, there are still a lot of documents and folklore popular, but the content of the story inevitably begins to increase or change.
The third stage is the singing of literati and the performance of storytellers in the Tang and Song Dynasties. The former can make stories and legends more interesting, while the latter can combine sporadic stories into longer units.
The fourth stage is Yuan drama works. Many playwrights in the Yuan Dynasty tried to write the story of the Three Kingdoms into a wonderful script. Take the story of Lyu3 bu4 and Diaochan as an example. The existing scripts are Unknown's "Jin Yuntang's Secret Series", Zheng Guangzu's "Hulao Pass's Three Wars Lyu3 bu4", Wuhan Minister's "Hulao Pass's Three Wars Lyu3 bu4" (incomplete), and Yu Boyuan's "Cutting Lyu3 bu4 in White". In addition, there is "The Story Of Diu Sim Daughter" (Incomplete) in Yuannan Opera. We can estimate the contribution of Yuan playwrights to the development of all the stories of the Three Kingdoms.
The fifth stage is Luo Guanzhong's book. The book "Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is true in terms of official history, novel selection, textual criticism, and popularity. In particular, all kinds of classics, including historical notes, notes, legends, Pinghua, scripts, poems, etc., have been melted into a great work. This actually brings together the efforts of thousands of people in Qian Qian; Before Luo Guanzhong, the anonymous author who modified and processed the story text and plot also contributed. Luo Guanzhong can be said to be a master in his later period.
Fourth, the ideological content of The Romance of Three Kingdoms
There is an article "Reading the History of the Three Kingdoms" in front of the popular Mao Review of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. This is an article that teaches people how to appreciate the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, including the analysis of its content and literary skills. Not every point of view is correct, but it is very enlightening and must be read.
theme
The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, based on the historical scope of Chen Shou's The History of the Three Kingdoms, reproduces the evolution process from the end of the Han Dynasty to the unification of the Western Jin Dynasty from the literary point of view. Because historical events are inconvenient to edit at will, but the details can be brought into full play, and the author can integrate personal subjective elements when writing and become a literary work with obvious ideological content. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms takes Shu Han as its orthodoxy, and respects Liu and despises Cao everywhere, which is different from Chen Shou's Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which takes Wei and Jin as its orthodoxy. It has always been regarded as its theme. Yang Liu and Cao Cao are the main theme of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, especially the popular Mao Review. It should be correct to say that "emphasizing orthodoxy" is the theme of the book. The so-called concept of long-term separation and long-term separation also has something to do with the background of the author's early Ming Dynasty.
Five, the artistic achievements of The Romance of The Three Kingdoms
First, describe the war; second, shape the characters; Third, structural art; Fourth, the language features.
Describe the war
The first point is the diversification of war. The book describes hundreds of wars, which can be divided into land wars, water wars, or mixed land and water wars, such as flooding the seventh army; It can also be divided into offensive and defensive battles; Or ambush warfare and sneak attack warfare; Or sub-positional warfare and guerrilla warfare; Or the Lord will compete, or the two armies will scuffle in various forms.
The second point is the combination of military action and political strategy. For example, Cao Cao's invasion to the south was not for no purpose, but to complete the great cause of reunification. Liu Bei joined forces with Wu to resist Cao Cao in order to have a foothold and then revitalize Liu's Han family. Zhuge Liang's expedition to the south was to solve the disputes with the southern minorities and stabilize the rear areas in order to deal with the powerful Cao Wei with all his strength.
Third, the outcome of the war depends on ingenuity. The key lies in the intelligence of the planner, whether he can adopt the good strategies of his subordinates, whether he can correctly judge the enemy's situation, whether he can objectively distinguish between loyalty and treachery, and whether he can handle things calmly. The victory or defeat of large and small wars is all related to the use of wits. "Man Manuscript" gives many examples, and it is recommended to read the original book.
Fourth, focus on people, not on the war process. Absorbing the experience of Zuo Zhuan in describing the war, he wrote the strategy in detail and briefly wrote the battle process; Write in detail those who have the upper hand, and write slightly those who are at a disadvantage; Write the winner in detail and the loser in brief. Through several confrontations, the characters are gradually shaped.
Create a character image
Because Lu Xun criticized the Romance of the Three Kingdoms in A Brief History, "as for writing people, it is also quite lacking, so that Liu Bei's long and thick looks like a fake, and Zhuge's wisdom is close to a demon; Only for Guan Yu, he is very kind and brave, and he always sees it. " In the past, many critics were influenced, and they dared not overturn their theories, and almost reached a conclusion. In fact, Lu Xun's view is biased. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms may have a clear subjective intention of loyalty and treachery in characterization, but it is not black and white. Kong Ming expected everything to be as good as god, but it was not infallible. Cao Cao was a treacherous man, and it was not without advantages. Guan Yu is loyal, righteous and brave, but he is proud for his own use and ignores the overall situation. For example: to compete with Ma Chao in martial arts; Abuse Sun Quan and refuse to get married; Shame is tied with Huang zhong, and it is not subject to the seal of the five tigers; The fourth is to despise Lu Xun, which leads to failure.
Structural art
The story of the Three Kingdoms basically takes the rise and fall of Wei, Shu and Wu as the vertical line, and takes the development of war and the activities of characters as the material. The rise and fall history of more than 90 years can be divided into three main stages: the first stage is from the Yellow Scarf Rebellion to Battle of Red Cliffs; The third stage is from the separation of the Three Kingdoms to Zhuge Liang's death. In the meantime, with the complicated disputes between Wei, Shu and Wu, all kinds of wars, large and small, and the ingenious schemes of civil servants and military commanders were brought out one by one, and finally a complete big story was formed. Because the structural rounds of traditional Zhanghui novels echo each other, following the development of the main line, there is concentration in dispersion and consistency from beginning to end, forming a unified novel system.
However, in dealing with the 97-year-long historical events, from the beginning to the death of Zhuge Liang, it took 104 times in fifty-one years, while in the following forty-six years, the length of time was actually nearly half, but it took only 16 times to summarize the historical evolution, and its component arrangement was obviously uneven. What's the reason? Because the Romance of the Three Kingdoms takes Shu Han as its orthodoxy. In the first 50 years, it was Shu Han who grew from nothing to strength, so he was able to unite Wu against Cao, and these glorious deeds in the world were naturally worthy of a great book. But after Zhuge Liang's death, the situation took a turn for the worse, and Shu Han began to face collapse, and time was running out, so the space was greatly reduced. It can be seen that in terms of structure, the factor of processing time is important.
In the description of Wei, Shu and Wu, there are wars between Shu and Wei, but there are more wars between Shu and Wu, and there are more wars between Wu and Wei. However, the focus has always been on Shu and Wei, and the description of Wu is somewhat neglected. It is also for this reason that people who study the figures of the Three Kingdoms also lay particular emphasis on Shu and Wei Junchen, intentionally or unintentionally. In other words, the author is also very thoughtful in determining priorities.
As The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a war novel, which describes the theme of war, we can also sort out a structural context from the special plot formed around war stories. Zheng Tiesheng's Art Appreciation of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms tries to analyze its structure in this way, taking the three major battles of Guandu, Battle of Red Cliffs and Yiling as the main line, with some minor auxiliary battles in the middle, which runs through the book and forms a war system (1992, pages 246-273). Mao Xin and Ye Xu also have a similar statement. They take Battle of Red Cliffs as an example: from the beginning to the end, * * * counted eight times, including a series of short stories, including Cao Cao's writing, Zhuge Liang's verbal warfare with Confucianism, Jiang Gan's recruit, Huang Gai's use of risks, Kong Ming's borrowing of arrows, borrowing from the east wind, and Hua Rong's explanation of Cao Cao, all of which formed a big focus and became a well-organized structure.
Linguistic feature
Romance of the Three Kingdoms is written in plain classical Chinese, which is concise and has a bright tone. This was generally appreciated by those who were slightly literate in feudal times, which was conducive to communication.
The book Romance of the Three Kingdoms, especially Mao Pingben, borrows many poems from ancient writers. Compared with vernacular Chinese, the use of plain classical Chinese can make it more unified and harmonious with these poems in language style.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms has created many idioms, quoted or invented many proverbs, which are lively and enriched the language of the Chinese nation.
6. The influence of Romance of the Three Kingdoms on later literature.
The Romance of the Three Kingdoms has several influences on later literature. First, it is the originator of historical novels, and many later historical novels take it as a model and imitate its institutional structure. Second, the story of the book is wonderful, and many dramatists in Ming and Qing Dynasties and even in modern times have adapted it into scripts; Third, later poetry works are taken as allusions or as singing themes; Fourth, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is precise in language, which can enrich the language of later writers.