Two Tang Tang Writer In Biographical Research

The Old History of Tang Dynasty which was compiled in the Period of Five Dynasties and the New History of Tang Dynasty which was compiled in the Northern Song Dynasty showcase different composition of texts as far as the writings of the biography are concerned. The text differences in the biography of Mid-Tang litterateurs are more obvious when it comes to the biography of the litterateur. This dissertation focuses on the biography of the Mid-Tang Dynasty litterateurs in the history books and tries to trace the change in the evolution of the literary conceptions from Mid-Tang Dynasty to the Period of Five Dynasties and then Northern Song Dynasty. In the introduction part, the meaning, value, current research status and the developing trend are discussed. The dissertation consists of five main parts.Chapter 1 The writing of the history books is studied under the background of the revival of Confucianism and the reform of writing styles. The writing times of the two History of Tang Dynasty: one was completed during the suspension period of "Ancient Prose Movement". The other was completed when the reform of the poetry and prose was on the going. The historiographers' different attitudes toward to the Mid-Tang Dynasty litterateurs are signified in the different writing conceptions. This dissertation discusses the different orientations in the writing of the history by the historiographers and the litterateurs respectively under the history background of historiographers at that time. The Old History of Tang Dynasty selected fewer litterateurs while the New History of Tang Dynasty sees more change due to the era factor. In a contrast, the New History of Tang Dynasty shows more concern for the Mid-Tang Dynasty litterateur in its visual field, which worth further studying. It not only lay down new "King Rules" for the literature of Tang Dynasty but also became a kind of effective resource for the historiographers' comments as well as argumentations. It is characteristic in such areas as in selecting the articles, making use of the articles of Tang Dynasty from a multiple angle and rebuilding its evaluative system. On this point, we try to discuss the relationship between the change of the literary outlook of Song Qi and the writing of biography in the New History of Tang Dynasty. It is Song Qi's participation in the writing of the biography that makes his literary outlook stands apart from the others.Chapter 2 is centered by the selected biography in the Wenyuan of the New History of Tang Dynasty and Wenyi of the Old History of Tang Dynasty and discusses the establishment of historiographers' view of literature of history. We can reach a conclusion that the Old History of Tang Dynasty puts more emphasis on the application value of the works and such applied writings as the suggestions and memorials to emperor and the understanding of the poems writing is not shown by analyzing the contents of the prefaces of these biography, criteria of selecting the litterateurs, identity orientation, narrative strategies and the processing principles of the texts. However, the New History of Tang Dynasty puts more emphasis on the aesthetic value of the works and the "reformation of writing style movement", "poet writing and communication". We specially compared the biography of the ancient prosers in the two History of Tang Dynasty and give a text evidence for the viewpoints above.Chapter 3 focuses on the biography of Yuan Zhen and Bai Juyi and analyses the treatment methods and principles of the two History of Tang Dynasty. Yuan Zhen and Bai Juyi's literary activities are fully exhibited in the Old History of Tang Dynasty without a clear affective attitude in the whole book. All these viewpoints can be verified in the selected biography and the narrative process. However, many words about Yuan and Bai's literary activities were deleted and the creation value of Yuan's works are dissolved by the moral outlook of the historiographers in the New History of Tang Dynasty for it takes the political activities as the treatment principles. Bai Juyi was approved for he could maintain his own morality. However, it masked the receptive effects of Yuan and Bai's literary activities and some works. In consequence, Yuan and Bai gave up their leading positions during the Yuanhe Period in the Old History of Tang Dynasty.Chapter 4 focuses on the biography of Han Yu in the two History of Tang Dynasty and discusses emphatically if they are depreciating or appreciating Han Yu. The depreciation of Han Yu in the Old History of Tang Dynasty has nothing to do with his literary activities. It notably negated Han Yu's "historical talent" and "argumentations" and acknowledged his creation trend of "standing apart from others". In a contrast, the New History of Tang Dynasty holds an opposite position by selecting Han Yu's essays. It enrolls a lot of "historical talent" and "argumentations" in an overall context and writes emphatically Han Yu's model personality and representative of spreading spirit as a scholar bureaucrat. Therefore, Han Yu took Yuan Zhen and Bai Juyi's leading place and become the leader in the literature of Tang Dynasty. The evaluations in the New History of Tang Dynasty on the essays are centered by Han Yu.Chapter 5 focuses on the biography of Liu Yuxi and Liu Zongyuan and analyzes the different treatments in the two History of Tang Dynasty. Moving Liu Yuxi from the camp of litterateurs to the camp of Yongzhen Renovation manifests the different attitudes. The Old History of Tang Dynasty wrote more on Liu Yuxi's literary activities while the New History of Tang Dynasty on his psychology of complaining. The New History of Tang Dynasty emphasizes on Liu Zongyuan and highly appraised him by enrolling his articles and making comments on his writing purposes. Therefore, Song Qi tries to push Liu Zongyuan from "Liu Yuxi-like" to "Han Yu-like". That view can be supported in the selected articles by Song Qi, which appraises Liu Zongyuan's "outstanding talent" and "deep thought".In a word, although the Old History of Tang Dynasty also uses the moral sentiments of the scholar bureaucrats as a standard, there are not definite value scales in the practical realization as far as the attitudes to the litterateur of Mid-Tang Dynasty are concerned. On the contrary, the significance of the writings was able to be manifested. Although some writers and their works were masked in the existing historical materials, such as "the ten gifted writers of Dali", its ontology is still very pure. The New History of Tang Dynasty tries to use orthodoxy to restrict the orientation and evaluation of the value of pure literature and standardize the literary tradition in orthodoxy instead. The significance of the writer's creations is adhered to their political stand and moral conceptions. There are not many restrictive factors in the literary evaluations of the five litterateurs by the historiographers in the Old History of Tang Dynasty from the angle of the construction of the texts of Yuan Zhen and the five litterateurs. As said in the Preface of Wenyuan, they were seniors in the literary field, whose moral cognition and ideological inclination didn't interfere with their literary activities directly. Song Qi adopted an overall contextual way to judge the previous people in the contemporary values. Once the litterateurs have some wrongdoings in their spiritual characters and political stand, their writings would be intentionally derogated naturally. In the meanwhile, the historiographers incorporate their views of poems and prose into the evaluative systems by organizing the political -affairs-centered biography. From "articles used in the temples" to "articles used by the scholar bureaucrats " is a manifestation of his affection for Han Yu and Liu Zongyuan's articles and established his own evaluative system which is centered by the ancient prose.