Literature And Law:a Different Research Perspective Of Novels About Human Relationship Of Ming And Qing Dynasties

This dissertation is about the association study of literature and law in novels, involving the study of plots relating to law —litigation plots. On one hand, the paper explores the legal status reflected by the plots at that time; on the other hand, the paper studies the functions of the plots from the aspect of literature expression. The dissertation includes five parts, with each part as follows:The first chapter introduces features of ancient Chinese legal culture. This part belongs to the basic research. The introduction of the ancient legal culture can’t be exhaustive, so materials reflected in the law-relating plots of the novels, with typical feature of ancient Chinese legal operation, and reflecting the characteristics of ancient Chinese legal culture, are selected. Since ancient Chinese brought Confucian’s thoughts and rituals into law, the features of distinct autocracy, hierarchy, and ethics were formed. With the restriction of these features, the legal culture formulates the basic concept of "integration of family and state, and combination of etiquette and law","law of human feelings, and temper justice with mercy","personal privilege, and filial respect". There are also some inevitably contradictions, such as the imperial examination and the requirements of the law to government officials, litigation and non litigation, human and law, agriculture and litigation etc.The second chapter makes a classification and categorization of the litigation plots of the novels of Ming and Qing Dynasties, which is the foundation of the text study. The features of litigation plots are different in novels about human relationship, legendary novels, and mixed-type novels. There are also lots of litigation plots in short stories and novels written in classical Chinese. The litigation plots depicts all kinds of people, reflects the social life at that time, and reveals the dark inside of lawsuits and the reality of official collusion with the pervasion of the Buddhist concept of karma, which literally reflect the living condition of ancient Chinese. These rich and thought-provoking text materials lay a solid foundation for further research. Chapter three is one of the focuses of this dissertation which explores the cognit ive function of the litigation plots from the angle of law. These functions are mainly reflected in the judicial system, in the case of complaints, the hearing process, applicable law, and execution procedures. Some of the "supplementary materials" of official inside also appear in large numbers. What’s more, at the back of litigation there is one "lobby" formed through the imperial examinations. Members of the "lobby" together with some high rank officials and noble lords make intervention of justice procedure. With the help of "revenge plot" in the novels, this dissertation discusses the judicial system supported by the concept—the internal contradictions of Confucian "Rites", which has been unable to reconcile in the past two thousand years. There are certainly limitations for the awareness of the value of the litigation plots in the novels, which illustrated best through the plot of "tattoo and exile" in Water Margin. Besides the reflection of "legal—litigation" in reality, novels have an unique function, namely, through the mouth of the character, the author may express his criticism and willing of reform of the judicial system, which provides extremely important historical material for the study of ancient legal culture.Chapter four is also the focus of this dissertation. It studies the functions, ie. building up plots, enriching narrative methods, and characterization, of the litigation plots from the aspect of literature expression. It takes three ways to build up plots, namely,"start the novel with a case","flashbacks and multiple lines", and "transit with the case". It enriches the narrative methods of novels about human relationship in three ways, namely,"Among narrative","multi linear narrative", and "flashback narrative". As for characterization, it is the core of a fiction. The author portrays a series of typical characters through litigation plots, including "litigation operator—Wang Xifeng","litigation participants —weak Tan Shaowen","action plan—smart Grandma Tong" as the representatives.The fifth chapter views litigation plots from the perspective of the history of novel. This chapter and the fourth chapter are the two aspects of one problem. This chapter contrasts detective novels and novels about human relationship in terms of characterization, story structure and the degree of reflecting society. It also analyzes the litigation writing experience and influence of novels about gifted scholars and beautiful ladies, works in transitional phase, and short stories on novels about human relationship. As famous novels about human relationship, Golden Lotus and A Dream of Red Mansions, there are great differences in terms of basis a case depending on, case writing, the function of the case for characterization. When it comes to late Qing Dynasty, the society changes dramatically, according to which, literary style also begins to change. New features take shape in litigation writing. When times move to modern society, the litigation writing in Jinghua Cloud and Jinfenshijia have their own features but also influenced by A Dream of Red Mansions deeply. All of them highlight the characteristics of litigation writing.Therefore it is safe to say that the litigation writing of novels about human relationship of Ming and Qing dynasties embodies the author’s value judgment. Due to the different levels of authors’thoughts, the novels shows different characteristics of litigation writing in three aspects, namely, recognition of the reality, trying to reform partially, and beyond the reality. In addition, what can’t be ignored is the author’s narrative attitude behind the litigation plots which determines writing style of the novel, hence the distinct features of litigation writing.