The Transformation From Chronicle To Fiction, From History To Reality

Many scholars have studied the relationship between NOVEL and HISTORY. This article puts an emphasis on the formation of style-independence reflected in ancient Chinese novel. The grounds of argument in the article are the works and critique of novels in Ming Dynasty.The transformation from CHRONICLE to FICTION, from HISTORY to REALITY reflects the formation of style-independence in classical Chinese novel. CHRONICLE respects the historicity of historical events, and records the fact of historical events. The "FICTION" mentioned here is a theoretical word in modern literature, and it is the core element that NOVEL is different from CHRONICLLE. HISTORY means that the novel is written according the historical reality while ignoring the realistic life. REALITY indicates that the authors began to pay attention to the society that they lived in and tried make their works reflect the realistic life. Thus, the novels became more worldly and realistic, finally detached itself from the influence of "Complementary History " and initiated its course of style-independence.The clear relationship between the subject and the object reflected in classical Chinese novel also demonstrates the transformation from CHRONICLE to FICTION, from HISTORY to REALITY, Works of any age are created in accordance with the trend of social thought and novel theory of that age, the same with classical Chinese novel-composition. The evolution of novel theory demonstrates the same transformation. This article tries to make this point with sufficient grounds of argument.Sufficient grounds of argument draw a logical conclusion: influenced by the theory of "Complementary History", the composition of historical works has been confined to "CHRONICLE". Meanwhile, because classical Chinese novel is originated from historical works, it has been confined to the sense of historicity. The principal of CHRONICLE has become the core element of the composition and critique of classical Chinese novel. However, NOVEL is quite different from historical works. After long time evolution, classical Chinese novel got a breakthrough in the novel The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. It transformed from pure CHRONICLE to a new form, of which 70percent of the plot is true while 30percent is fictive. Novels of this age were based on official history; anyway, they already kicked off their journey to FICTION. Thereafter, the novel Outlaws of the Marsh and the novel The Journey to the West totally broke away from historical works, and the elements of FICTION were increasing. Actually, at this stage, half of the plot is true while the other half is fictive. As we can see from the novel Jinpingmei and the novel Sanyanliangpai, it doesn't matter whether the characters and the plot are true or not. If only the moral reflected in the novel is true, the characters and plot can be created. In this way, the style of novel declared its independence from historical works. The journey from the novel The Romance of the Three Kingdoms to and the novel Jinpingmei is the journey on which classical Chinese novel transformed from CHRONICLE to FICTION, the journey on which classical Chinese novel declared its independence.