A Study Of The Description Of Dreams In Classical Chinese Novels In Qing Dynasty

Qing Dynasty literary novels are an important part of classical Chinese fiction,and they contain a large number of colourful dream descriptions.Description of the dream are an important way of revealing the psychology of the dreamer and deepening the theme of the novel,and they contain the author’s aesthetic tendencies and ideological connotations.The Qing dynasty literary novelists took into account the wide range of genres when describing dreams,and also focused on the role of dream descriptions in the storyline.This paper analyses the classification,characteristics,artistic features,reasons,differences and roles of dream descriptions in Qing Dynasty literary novels by looking at the texts of dream descriptions in Qing Dynasty literary novels as a whole and selecting typical dream stories,with a view to discovering the unique artistic charm of dream descriptions in Qing Dynasty literary novels.The first part is to delineate the types of dreams in Qing dynasty literary novels.Based on the dream texts in Qing Dynasty literary novels,the author has sorted out four types of dreams,including the category of foretelling and guidance,worldly love,cause-and-effect sermons,and wandering immortals in the underworld.Through this detailed and comprehensive classification,I hope to grasp the dream descriptions in Qing dynasty literary novels as a whole,to understand the full picture of the dreams depicted by Qing dynasty literary novelists,and to use this as a basis for discovering the shining points of dream descriptions in Qing dynasty literary novels.The second part further discusses the characteristics of dreams in Qing dynasty literary novels.Dreams in Qing dynasty literary novels are numerous and have distinctive characteristics.Firstly,despite the different types of dreams,they are influenced by the properties of nature and are able to break the limits of time and space,presenting transcendental characteristics.Secondly,dreams are a special kind of psychological phenomenon,and to a certain extent they reflect the potential psychology of the dreamer,presenting psychological characteristics.Thirdly,the dreams imply various revelations,reflecting the author’s praise of traditional morality such as loyalty,filial piety,faith and righteousness,and inspiring people to accumulate virtue and do good deeds,presenting a revelatory character.Fourthly,as many contradictions were exposed in Qing society,the subject of the dream complains about the shortcomings of the imperial examinations,denounces the dark officialdom and exposes the bad habits of society,giving the dream a critical character.Fifthly,the literary novelists of the Qing Dynasty paid attention to the poetic depiction of dreams,creating poetic characters,imagery and settings,which gave the dreams a poetic character.The third part examines the artistic characteristics of dream descriptions in Qing Dynasty literary novels,specifically in terms of narrative arrangement and artistic techniques.In terms of narrative arrangement,the author adopts a rich and flexible perspective and a comprehensive and inclusive structure,which enhances the narrative charm of dream descriptions.In terms of artistic techniques,the Qing dynasty literary novelist uses meticulous psychological descriptions,ingenious descriptions of action and mannerisms,a combination of real and imaginary techniques and elegant and vulgar language to create vivid characters and a highly appealing storyline.The fourth part focuses on the reasons for the emphasis on dream depiction in Qing dynasty literary novels.From the objective reasons,under the special social and cultural background,the oppressive political policy,ghost and god culture and dream omen superstition influenced the depiction of dreams in Qing Dynasty literary novels;Buddhist and Taoist religious thoughts provided a deep soil for dream depiction;and readers’ reading preferences also strongly promoted the creation of dreams.From the subjective point of view,Qing Dynasty literary novelists inherited the tradition of dream depiction from previous literary works and innovated it,while the author’s personal encounters,ideological interests and edification consciousness also influenced the dream depiction in Qing Dynasty literary novels.The fifth part explores the role of dream descriptions in Qing Dynasty literary novels in the context of specific texts.The discussion focuses on four aspects: thematic ideas,storyline,characterisation and narrative effects.Specifically,dream descriptions in Qing dynasty literary novels help to express rich and profound thematic ideas,convey deep feelings between characters,convey the author’s creative sense of moral education,and metaphorically describe certain problems in social reality.As part of the development of the plot,dream descriptions help to move the story along and make the novel’s plot more exciting.Dream descriptions also help to shape the characters,not only by revealing their character traits in detail,but also by reflecting their true and complex inner world.At the same time,dream descriptions help to achieve a distinctive narrative effect,as Qing dynasty literary novelists construct dream spaces that expand the narrative time and space of the novel,creating a relaxed narrative rhythm.The sixth part examines the differences between dream descriptions in Qing Dynasty literary novels and Qing Dynasty vernacular novels from a comparative perspective.In terms of the content of dream descriptions,those in Qing Dynasty literary novels are more realistic,while those in Qing Dynasty vernacular novels are more unrealistic;in terms of the structure of dream descriptions,each dream is a unique individual in Qing Dynasty literary novels,while those in Qing Dynasty vernacular novels are systematic;in terms of the language of dream descriptions,those in Qing Dynasty literary novels are more simple and elegant,while those in Qing Dynasty vernacular novels are In terms of the aesthetics of dream descriptions,those in Qing Dynasty literary novels are more bizarre and treacherous,while those in Qing Dynasty vernacular novels are more beautiful and dreamy.The dream descriptions in Qing Dynasty literary novels and the dream descriptions in Qing Dynasty vernacular novels each have their own characteristics and strengths.Through comparison,we can find that the dream descriptions in Qing Dynasty literary novels have certain uniqueness and present a high literary value.