A Comprehensive Survey Of The Characters In Two Surprising Story Collections

Among the researches on famous works in Chinese literature, rare is concerned with Two Surprising Story Collections, and this situation does not correspond with its cognitive and artistic value. Therefore, it is extremely necessary to make a study on Two Surprising Story Collections, in which quite a number of extraordinarily splendid figures are created, such as intellectuals, merchants, females, monks, officials, brigands, gangsters, and swindlers. All of them present a vivid and genuine look to the readers. The images of the main characters are the soul of the novel, and the crux of writing a good novel lies in designing people's characters, their destinies, portraying their psychological activities and disclosing the complex relationship between the diverse people, so characters often play a determining role in the aesthetic and artistic value of a novel. Consequently, the status and influence of the figures produced by Ling Mengchu in the Two Surprising Story Collections should not be neglected. Considering the diversity of the characters and the successful experience of creating figures, added to the fact that the current investigations about Two Surprising Story Collections lack systematicness and ignore artistry, it is quite necessary and important to carry out a comprehensive survey about the characters in Two Surprising Story Collections.This thesis attempts to make a detailed and systematic study about characters in Two Surprising Story Collections, trying to discover their life goals, economic activities, marriage views, religious beliefs and life style and to reflect the spiritual states, existing conditions of the people living in the late Ming Dynasty from a special perspective. In the meantime, this thesis makes an effort to disclose the characteristics and the developing patterns of various images in the literatures of different styles and in different times. On the other hand, from the artistic features of Two Surprising Story Collections in creating figures, the author intends to find out the contributions made by Ling Mengchu to the Chinese ancient novels and tries to grasp accurately the developing trails of the art of creating figures in modern Chinese novels. In order to achieve this goal, the author adopts the researching approaches of analyzing, comparing and inducing and sets Two Surprising Story Collections in its historic, economic, cultural and literary background of the ancient China, especially the late Ming Dynasty, combining it with Ling Mengchu's life career and his writing features. In doing this, the author is able to penetrate into the characteristics, commonality of various figures, the resulting factors as well as the interrelationship between all kinds of images and comprehend the writing intentions, the artistic traits and techniques of creating figures in the original book.This thesis can be divided into nine chapters: Chapter 1 is devoted to the traits of intellectuals and the forming factors. Intellectuals in Two Surprising Story Collections deviate the traditional images of intellectuals, having ordinary life goals and lacking the...