The Comparative Research Of The Demons On Pilgrimage To The West And The Strange Tales Of A Lonely Studio

The thesis is on the comparative research of the demons in the two books whose namesare Pilgrimage to the West and the Strange Tales of a Lonely Studio. The two books are allfamous Chinese classics. They influence Chinese literature deeply and widely so that theywere paid great attention to by scholars home and abroad a long time ago. So far, a lot oftheses and monographs about them have come out. But there are few theses and monographson the comparative research of the two books now. Though there are many differences informs and languages between them, the two books all include lots of demons that can turninto people, and the demons in them have resemblances and differences. The thesisapproaches the demons' resemblances in the two books according to their qualities of livingbeings, society and legend. Then it approaches the demons' differences in the two booksaccording to their features of living beings, their types and individual characters, theconditions in which they were created and the creative attitudes of the two books' authors.Finally, the thesis traces back to the source and course of the demons in Chinese classicalnovels, from fairy tales at ancient time, tales of mystery and the supernatural in Wei-Jinperiod, tales of the marvelous in Tang-Song period to colloquial stories in Song period, and soon. It probes into not only the demons' orbit of emergence, development and maturity inChinese classical novels but also the two books' inheritance and development with regard tothe novels that include demons before them. Comparing the two books is good to understandtheir ideologies and artistic styles correctly and deeply.