The Study Of Satirical Art In "Mirror Flower"

The book named ”The Marriage of Flowers in the Mirror ”,written by Li Ruzhen in Qing Dynasty,was published in the twenty-third years of Gia Khanh(1818).The academic study of this novel has many achievements and involves several aspects,such as the author’s life,the classification,the social criticism and ideal society,the textual research,the concept of women,and so on.The satire is also a research hot spot.Although there are lots of discussion about it,the statements are scattered,not systematic or comprehensive.Studies echo the views of others and lack more profound discussions.In view of this,I will try to research on the subject to get more comprehensive and profound understanding of the satire in “The Marriage of Flowers in the Mirror”,including the objects,the techniques and the value.The thesis is divided into three parts: introduction,body and conclusion.The introduction,introduces the origin of the topic and the survey research about this topic,selecting to defines the research value of this thesis.The body is divided into four chapters.Chapter one is an introduction to the art of satire.The first section illustrates the concept of satire,clarifying the meaning of two levels of language and literature.And then,it expounds the connotation of "the art of satire" from four aspects: the object,the attitude,the purpose and the technique.The second section,according to chronological,summarizes the satirical description in the literature before ”The Marriage of Flowers in the Mirror ”briefly to clear the origin and the progress of satire.The third section introduces a unique pattern called”satire in the travel notes”,including its development in novels of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.On this basis,the section points out that “The Marriage of Flowers in the Mirror ” is a comprehensive expression of this pattern.It had made great progress in objects and techniques.Chapter two consists of five sections,summarizing the objects of satire in this novel.Combined with the social background of the mid Qing Dynasty,this chapterintroduces the satirical description from five aspects.They are the human nature,the officialdom,the scholars’ circle,ideals,and habits.The satire in”The Marriage of Flowers in the Mirror ”achieves a good fit in the breadth and depth,which is rare in novels in ancient times.Chapter three discusses the techniques of satire.It is divided into eight sect ions,including insinuating,contrast,description in detail,hyperbole,symbolizing,en antiosis,repeat and others.Combined with concrete examples,it analyzes the skillf ul use of techniques by the author.Chapter four discusses the significance of satire,including two sections.The first section aims at demonstrating that the satire plays an important role in “The Marriage of Flowers in the Mirror”.The satire strengthens the ideology of morality,reflecting the author’s attitude and enhances the reading interests.The second section takes “The Travels of Lao Can”for instance to discuss the influence of the satire of “The Marriage of Flowers in the Mirror” on later satire literature from five aspects.The conclusion,makes the summary and definition.Recounting the body,it emphasizes that the art of satire in “The Marriage of Flowers in the Mirror”is unique and outstanding.Not only the content is comprehensive and profound,but also the techniques are handled very skillfully.Reflecting Li Ruzhen’s attention to the reality and the ability of art,they have vast importance to both “The Marriage of Flowers in the Mirror”itself and the later literature.