A Study On The Preface And Postscript Of Condemnation Novels In The Late Qing Dynasty

This article is based on the concept of condemning fiction put forward by Lu Xun in "A Brief History of Chinese Fiction",and further expands on this basis.It was concentrated in the last ten years of the late Qing Dynasty,with the aim of cracking down on officialdom,pointing out current malpractices,improving current customs,and emancipating the mind.In the new novel of the theme,the whole preface and postscript of the condemnation novels of the late Qing Dynasty are taken as the research object.On the basis of sorting and proofreading the condemnation novels of the late Qing Dynasty,combined with the social political and cultural background of the late Qing Dynasty and the texts of the condemnation novels,the overall value and content of the novels are analyzed.The novel concepts and novel theories expressed and embodied are analyzed and discussed.The first chapter makes an overall observation on the preface and postscript of the condemnation novel in the late Qing Dynasty,and discusses the existence,source and content form of the preface and postscript of the condemnation novel.There are two main types of prefaces and postscripts that condemn novels:the prefaces are written after the novels are written,the prefaces are written before the novels are written,the prefaces are written out of order and then supplemented,and the prefaces are written for them by later literati,and the postscripts are always out of order.The sources of prefaces and postscripts are divided into two types:self-prefaces and other prefaces.Other prefaces include prefaces commissioned by friends and prefaces written by literati.The content form of the preface and postscript can be divided into various situations:according to the style,it can be divided into classical Chinese preface postscript and vernacular preface postscript;according to the functional value of preface postscript,it can be divided into three categories:one kind of preface postscript has a close dependence relationship with the novel,to explain the process of writing the book,the reason,the novel The purpose of the preface and postscript is to expound the author’s point of view.While expounding the connotation of the novel’s thoughts,the preface and postscript can be regarded as an independent literary beauty with its superb literary skills and profound ideological content;The third kind of preface and postscript is aimed at literary criticism,criticizing the content,structure,artistic skills and ideological value of the novel.Through the overall observation of the preface and postscript of the novel of condemnation in the late Qing Dynasty,we can get a glimpse of its overall appearance and its unique characteristics from other novel prefaces and postscripts:while inheriting the content expression and style of ancient Chinese novels,it integrates modern novel concepts and novel theories.It echoes the social and political changes in the late Qing Dynasty and has strong sociological significance.The second chapter discusses the content expression of the preface and postscript of the novel of condemnation in the late Qing Dynasty,and explores the response of the political expression and social expression to the political changes and social changes in the late Qing Dynasty.Novelists in the late Qing Dynasty expressed their opinions and concerns about national politics and social thought by means of the preface and postscript to the novel,which was not only due to the expansion of the novel’s writing subject,but also influenced and appealed by the bourgeois novel theorists of the late Qing Dynasty.The political expression in the preface and postscript includes the mentality of the scholars who saved the nation from perishing,the analysis and understanding of the situation at home and abroad,the criticism of the officialdom,and the reflection on the bureaucratic system.The ambivalence of maintaining feudal rule and supporting reformed ideas.The social expressions in the preface and postscript include an analysis of old and new ideas,concerns about women’s rights in women’s studies,and concerns about other social issues in the late Qing Dynasty.The third chapter discusses the novel concept and novel theory embodied in the preface and postscript of the late Qing Dynasty condemned novel and its changes after the May Fourth New Literature.The last ten years of the late Qing Dynasty were a decade of vigorous development of popular novels and a period of unprecedented improvement in the status of novels.The introduction of foreign translated novels and Western novel theories,the development of domestic novel theories,and the"revolution in the novel world" proposed by Liang Qichao all had an impact on the late Qing Dynasty’s condemnation of novels.People’s concept of novels has changed,and novels have changed from a recreational text that can only be viewed as a "small way"to a classic meaning attached to the history of scriptures.The novel theory discussed in the preface and postscript not only discusses the artistic technique of condemning novels,but is also influenced by Western literary theory,and puts forward some theoretical concepts about novel creation,such as the pursuit of "artistic authenticity"of novels,emphasizing that novels should integrate delicate and real stories.Scene description,etc.It can be seen that while the novelists in the late Qing Dynasty paid attention to the ideological nature of their works,they did not ignore the literary and artistic nature of the novels.As a literary work in the period of great change,the novel of condemnation in the late Qing Dynasty and its preface and postscript not only reflected the changes of the novel in a specific period,but also reflected the changes of the author’s thought and social thought.By means of the preface and postscript of the condemnation novels,we can not only get a glimpse of the overall appearance of the condemnation novels in the late Qing Dynasty,but also explore their inextricable links with the society of the late Qing Dynasty.