The Studies Of Chinese Novels Criticism In The Joseon Dynasty

Korea and China have maintained a long history of academic and cultural exchanges, and documents show that Korean people are always keen on reading Chinese ancient fictions since ancient times. This dissertation has made a research on Chinese ancient fictions critics and reviews during Choson Dynasty. In order to make further progresses in respect to current research findings, this dissertation particularly focuses on gathering and categorizing information. Based on the results, all materials are categorized into five genres:Memoir, Preface and Postscript, Miscellany, Novel Poetry, and Commentary, while relatively limited resources can be found regarding Pingdian, and relevant information available today would be the resources of the19th century. Therefore, this dissertation focuses on a time range of Choson Dynasty (15th century to19th century), and the analysis is based on four genres of historical materials-Memoir, Preface and Postscript, Miscellany and the Novel Poetry. This research is conducted in accordance to time and genres. As Miscellany at the period between the18th century and the19th century has an important role in the history of Korean Ancient Fiction and Commentary, this dissertation pays more attention to QinYing and stories in Guang Han Lou Ji respectively.Shan Hai Jing(山海经),Dong Ming Ji(洞冥记)Shi Zhou Ji(十洲记),Lie Nu Zhuan(烈女传),Shuo Yuan(说苑),Sou Shen Ji(说神记),Shi Shuo Xin Yu(世说新语)are typical popular novels in ancient Korea with regard to their lively and vivid delineation, which can be very attractive to a large number of readers, and this is particularly true when talking about Shan Hai Jing(山海经)Dong Ming Ji(洞冥记),Shi Zhou Ji(十洲记)and Sou Shen Ji(说神记)Secondly, take Shan Hai Jing(山海经)Dong Ming Ji(洞冥记),Shi Zhou Ji(十洲记)Lie Nu Zhuan(烈女传)Shuo Yuan(说苑),Sou Shen Ji(说神记),Shi Shuo Xin Yu(世说新语)as examples, the lively and vivid delineation of these stories and the detailed description of humanity, geography, and culture indeed let readers imagine freely and enjoy being thrown into an unknown world while explore their deeper feelings. Apart from that, some novels were embedded with lofty educational meanings. Lastly, under some special circumstances like war times or the era of turbulence, novels of performing arts are in great demand, for example: The Romance of the Three Kingdoms(三国演义),All Men Are Brothers(水�'传),and so on. All in all, lively and vivid description, profoundly educational meaning and conformation to readers’needs are the main reasons to explain Chinese Ancient Fiction’s popularity in Korea.In the15th century, there was critics of Bai Shuo(稗说)amd Legendries, and people believed that Legendary is exactly a form of novel. Lie Nu Zhuan (列女传),Tai Ping Guang Ji(太平广记),and You Yang Za Zu(酉阳杂俎)were mentioned in the15th century Memoirs. According to historical materials, there had been no disavowal of novels until the15th century. During the period of the16th century, large number of comments on Choson Quasi-tale type and Chinese historical novels emerged. Through comparison, we can see that the popularity of Legendary Novel and Historical Novel appeared before the advancement of Bai Shuo(稗说)In other words,16th century was the time when Legendary Novels becoming prosperous while processed differentiations. The popularity of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms(三国演义),All Men Are Brothers(水�'传),Story of a Journey to the West(西游记)also predicted the grand development of the cultural environment in the17th century. However, since the16th century, scholars started to severely criticize novel regarding its writing style. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms(三国演义),The Romance of Chu and Han(楚汉演义)Jian Deng Xin Hua (剪灯新话)and Tai Ping Guang Ji(太平广记)were not welcomed at the time. After the middle of the16th century, Historical Novels were firstly taken into record. It can be concluded that Chinese historical Novels were generally accepted at the time.In the17th century, two wars hit Choson Dynasty and critics of Memoirs were rare. At the time, nobody could find the differences between ’fiction’ and ’fact’. Therefore, some people regarded Historical Novels as history textbooks or collected biographies. The18th century was the changing period of Restoration Policy and the relevant novels, and it was an interesting period of the development of Korean novels. Also there were new ways of communication and new recognition of novels. Memoirs in the18th century recorded Zheng Zu’s edict of ’Restoration Policy’ and ’Forbidden Edict import of Chinese books were forbidden.’In the early19th century, there had always been comments that Choson novels were same as before.In the15th century (Choson period), there were Prefaces and Postscripts such as Tai Ping Xian Hua Hua Ji Zhuan(太平闲话滑稽传),Bi Yuan Za Ji(笔苑杂记)and Xiang Jie Tai Ping Guang Ji (详节太平广记), all of which supported Bai Shuo from a negative perspective with a focus on Tai Ping Guang Ji(太平广记)Prefaces and Postscripts can be found in Zhi Feng Lei Shuo(芝峰类说),Yu Yu Ye Tan (于于野谈), Xun Wu Zhi(旬五志)Xi Pu Man Bi(西浦漫笔)completed in the17th century. Prefaces and Postscripts in18th century tell us things about how people asked for copy books and how they loved reading novels, such as Yan Shu Xi Zhou Yan Yi(谚书西周演义)(Postscript) by Zhao Taiyi, Zhongguo Xiaoshuo Huimo Ben(中国小说绘模本)(Preface) by Wanshan Lishi which listed full categories of the then popular novels. Comments to novels of the19th century can be found in the Preface and Postscript of San Han Shi Yi(三韩拾遗),which collected many Prefaces and Postscripts by typical classical litterateurs, and the19th century was the period of transformation for the history of classical novel critics in Korea.There were plenty of Za Lu with abundant contents in Choson period. Regarding contents of Za Lu in the15th century, Jian Deng Yu Hua(剪灯余话)and Tai Ping Tong Zai(太平通载)mentioned about Baiguan Xiaoshuo, and there are plenty of Baishuo Kaozheng materials. There are dozens of books in various areas in the16th century, among which some are related to novels, such as Jian Deng Xin Hua (剪灯新话),Chu Han Yan Yi(楚汉演义),Tai Ping Guang Ji(太平广记),You Yang Za Zu(酉阳杂俎),Lie Xian Zhuan(列仙传)More works of Za Lu started to emerge in the17th century. Different from reading the official history records of San Guo Zhi(三国志),reading novel The Romance of the Three Kingdoms(三国志演义)could help to understand comments and critics on facts of history, and Jin Shixi had a positive view of popular novels. The most important standard for critics on novels lies in whether they are based on facts or not. Meanwhile, large number of imports, translations, and writings resulted in the fact that it would be difficult to differentiate the truth and fiction. That was the situation in the18th century. Through context we may have a better understanding of novels. Furthermore, Yu Wanzhu’s Qin Ying(�'�英)in the18century provides people’s views and critics of novels at the time. Za Lu in the19th century discussed not only issue of Gong Fang novels, but also the issue of format and context, among which we may find records which tell us that Choson literati particularly welcomed works by Jin Shengtan.The follows are characteristics of novel critics in Ti Xiaoshuo Shi. Critics by Jin Shixi were among the typical pieces. Ti Xiaoshuo Shi in the17th century criticized Chinese legendries, which proved the critics of legendries, and particularly highlighted the most important parts in each chapter. Most Han Shi Critics to classical novels made records of metaphorical reviews, abstracts, or understandings of the novels. However, Ji Jian made his critics on subjects in Ti Xiaoshuo Shi, especially with a focus on the core parts. Though Li Xianghuang in the18th century read novels, he composed very strong critics on novels such as Jie Bai(诘稗)and Chi Bai Shi after he was caught reading novels by Zheng Zu. Critics of Ti Xiaoshuo Shi by Jin Yunchun in the19th century commented Ganfen Shi, which was regarded as famous for its critics on characters.