Public Security Three Yuan Circle And Literature Research

The Yuan brothers from Gong’an led the literary fashion in the Wanli period of the late Ming. By advocating "spontaneous human nature", they brought new air for the late Ming literary world which had been dominated by the "Late Seven Masters"’ style of restoration to and imitation of the ancient. With Yuan Hongdao as the leader and the Yuan brothers as the core, a group of talented literati form the most influential literary circle in the Wanli period-the Gong’an literary school.This dissertation investigates the Gong’an school’s forming, developing, expanding and declining process from the perspective of the Yuan brother’s social relations. Three theoretical consideration are applied:first, static analysis and dynamic analysis are combined. On one hand the Gong’an school is taken as a stable group for static analysis of its social relations’nature. On the other hand, from the dynamic angle, the development of the Gong’an school is examined in terms of a variety of aspects, including time, space and network. Second, horizontal study is associated with vertical study. Horizontally, integrality of the group’s social relations is investigated within the Gong’an school; vertically, complicatedness of the group’s social relations is examined in the light of the historical development of literary schools (from the "Late Seven Masters", to the Gong’an school, to the Jingling school). Third, study of individuals and study of the group are integrated. Both case study of individual poets and general grasp of the whole social network are conducted. Influences of the Gong’an school’s social relations are researched from both the micro and macro perspectives.The first chapter, as an introduction, investigates involved members of the Yuan brothers’social network, its developing phases, relevant regional elements, the role of civil examination, ways of their communication, and related literary works. The goal is to generally grasp the network of the Yuan brothers’social relations.The second chapter focuses on the relations between Yuan Zongdao and Tao Wangling, Huang Hui, between Yuan Hongdao and Jiang Yingke, and between Yuan Zhongdao and Zhong Xing, Qian Qianyi. Based on these cases, the relationship between the Yuan’s social relations and the Gong’an school’s development is analyzed from the micro perspective.The third chapter, centering on Yuan Zongdao, Yuan Hongdao and Yuan Zhongdao’s social networks, analyzes the flourishing and declining processes of the Gong’an school throughout time.The fourth chapter research on individual cases of the Yuan brothers’ letters and diaries. From the perspective of genres, the characteristically combination of individual and group in their social relations is analyzed.