A Case Study Of Xu Wei:from Cultural Perspective

Late-Ming literature, born in the special social context where the regime and its rule were disintegrating, has arrested much attention in the history of Chinese literature. The currents of social and cultural thoughts springing up in that period which was undergoing radical changes in politics, economy, culture, ethics and social morality had brought about unprecedented fission and bewilderment. In the course of social changes, with scholars’transgression against and contempt for social codes and customs, and their independence in both words and deeds interweaving with the clashes between the conventional and unconventional, the orthodox and heterodox, the open and closed, waves of thoughts alternating between restoration and reform, reverence for the classics and catering to the vulgarity were given birth. Xu Wei. emerging in this turning point, with his intractable and unruly personality, extremely queered experiences and great brilliance, has become a typical figure in this transitional period from the recent antiquity culture to the modern culture.A society expresses itself in its member’s mental morbidity. Xu Wei. as a typical representative of the morbid society, has provided us with a pathological sample. This dissertation attempts to give a case study of Xu Wei. by putting him in the context of the late-Ming society, from the perspective of the thinking currents of Yang Ming philosophy of the mind and neo-Confucianism. the mentality changes of the scholars. It reveals his representativeness in cultural-psychological history by investigating into the relationship between the individual’s mental and life experiences, pathological changes in thinking and the society of the times; meanwhile, it grasps the interaction between the writer, his works and the trend of thought of the times, the ecology of the literary world by examining his works from the perspective of literary creation and practice, so as to shed light on the thinking and cultural evolution in late Ming Dynasty as well as its dynamics.This dissertation consists of six chapters. Chapter one gives a systematic review of the society centering around Xu’s "morbidity" to demonstrate the political and cultural implications of his "abnormality". Chapter two traces the shaping and development of Xu’s idealistic thoughts back to the sources of his philosophy, and analyzes his mental prospect which evolved from extensive study on Buddhism and Taoism and wide absorption and utilization of the various mental sources. Chapter3explores Xu’s literary principle. It displays his achievements both in restoring and innovating as well as his art and literary theories featured with "true me" and "naturalism", and also gives an analysis of the social and cultural factors for Xu’s decline in the art and literary circle. Chapter four demonstrates the new vistas, both the vulgar and elegant, opened up by Xu Wei in poetry, essay, calligraphy, painting and drama. Chapter five focuses on Xu’s friendship with and grudges against the hermit community and scholar bureaucrats to explore the mental idiosyncrasies of the time, in resonance with modern people in fate, emotions and psychology. Chapter six concludes the dissertation in a broader perspective by presenting Xu’s thinking prospect in a longitudinal view, considering it a vivid reflection of literary conception upheld by those "mad" and "eccentric" scholars in the mid-and late-Ming Dynasty, who valued "feelings" and sought "interests", and hence reflects on the merits and demerits of the current of thought in late-Ming Dynasty.