Jin Shentan' Mentality And Literary Criticism

Jin Shentan' mentality is very complicated, subtle and even contradicted. He regarded himself as a great talent, which was a lifetime mental complex that he could' t remove. He tried to show his great talents by giving comments on "the books written by six gifted persons" Shinaiyan was the gifted person he praised highly. Following the art laws, she wrote many books, showing his greate writing talents, which could be regarded as Jin Shentan' own "self-account" . He had read many books and had deep thought. Early in his life time he even regarded establishing moral standards and being a wise man as his life ambition. Just like most intellecturals, Jin also wanted to gain fame from the imperial examination hall, but failed because of his conceit. Then he switched from "rendering meritorious service" , "establishing moral stnadards" to writing books. Being conceited is the common weakness of ancient gifted persons. Jin Shentan lived in the contradiction of his ambition and the reality: He was frank but unacceptable by others, gifted but unsuccessful in the imperial examinationals. He aimed at serving the emperor and helping the common citizens but ended up in poverty and disease. The tragedy of having unrecognized talents became the permanent pain deep in his heart.Jin shentan' s complicated mentality strongly influenced his motives for literary critical activities. He not only wanted to show his talents by giving comments on books and by guiding readers to read "the books written by gifted persons" , but also placed his ideal on his comments, expressed his piculiar opinions toward society, his complaining and critical thoughts, and his earnest hope to the futurengeneration.Such a complicated mentality also had very strong influence on his practice in literary criticism. In his works, he boldly disclosed the darkness of society, intensively analysed the social origin of complaints. Meanwhile, he emphasized the role that the literary endowment played in artistic conception, plot shift, details description and the use of words and sentences. He spoke hightly of the artistic beauty of typical characters. Based on the ancient scholars' theories on books, painting and poems, he put forward his standard forthe achievement of fiction art and his aethetic ideal---- theory onarticle' s "three situations" .