Chivalrous Fashion And Literature In The Tang Dynasty

The Tang Dynasty witnessed a thriving chivalrous fashion and thus it made another climax of chivalry after the Warring States Period, Two Han Dynasties, Wei, Jin, and the Southern and Northern Dynasties. At the same time, there appeared literary men' s chivalrous tendencies, literary swordsmen, swordsmen- pras-ing poetry, and chivalrous novels in this dynasty, which contributed an indispensable part to Tang literature in both content and style. Obviously, there existed a close relationship between chivalrous fashion, literary men and literature. Few people, however, have devoted their efforts to exploring "Tang chivalrous fashion and literature" when studying Tang literature. Therefore, close attention should be directed to this ignored field. This paper, supposed to make some contributions, endeavours to reveal the epochal character and spirit of Tang chivalrous fashion and chivalrous swordsmen, and to reveal the development of chivalrous tradition and chivalrous culture in the Tang Dynasty so as to scientifically analyze the relationship between Tang chivalrous fashion and literature, and to analyze the formation of a certain peculiarity of Tang literature. Besides, this paper tries to reveal Tang literary men' s unique epochal cultural psychology, and the direct causes of the birth of a certain literary subject, form, and style in Tang literature.This paper mainly contains three parts including chivalrous fashion and swordsmen in the Tang Dynasty, chivalrous literature in the Tang Dynasty, and the relationship between Tang chivalrous fashion and literature.The first part analyzes the chivalrous fashion and swordsmen of the Warring States Period, Two Han Dynasties, Wei, Jin, the Six Dynasties, Sui, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, thus establishing an important coordinate for Tangchivalrous fashion and swordsmen in chivalry history. Besides, it comprehensively an-1alyzes the social and cultural background, chivalrous fashion development, groups and distribution of Tang chivalrous fashion by using the related records in The Old Tang Bood, The New Tang Book and some other historical documents.The second part, based on the macroscopic development of swordsmen ?praising poetry, analyzes the social and ideological sources of Tangees' swordsmen - praising poetry, Tang poets and the creation of Tang swordsmen - praising poetry, and the content, art, and literary position of this kind of poetry. Moreover, it deeply researches into the creation, content, art and the relationship between martial arts and acrobatics of the 93 chivalrous novels obtained from Tang romances and literary sketches.Based on the first and second parts, the third part studies the influences by chivalrous fashion on literary men' s personality ideal, life ideal and aesthetic ideal in the Tang Dynasty. It also provides a deep analysis of the relationship between Tangees' chivalrous fashion and literature.Three concluding points stand out in this paper. In the first place, the Tang Dynasty is the watershed between ancient chivalry and modem chivalry in the whole chivalry history. Secondly, Tangees' swordsmen 梡raising poetry, closely connected with chivalrous fashion, frontier affairs, and literarymen' s career, constitutes a complete value system with enhanced art taste and aesthetic effects, and it makes an art climax serving as a link between past and future in the history of swordsmen -praising poetry. Besides, numerous chivalrous novels in the Tang Dynasty not only make chivalry a subject type in Tangees' novels, but also lay a solid foundation for later martial arts novels. Thirdly, there exists a close relationship between chivalrous fashion and literature in the Tang Dynasty, and this relationship is displayed in two cultural layers ?literature and literary men.