The Cultural Study On The Novel Of Gifted Scholars And Beautiful Ladies

The novel of gifted scholars and beautiful ladies reached its height at the turning point from Ming dynasty to Qing Dynasty. At that time, the novelist created a lot of romances on the gifted scholars and beautiful ladies which are to the average people's liking.If we consider this kind of novel from the cultural point of view, we shall see the great and over-lasting influence of Confucianism and literati-controlled government in China. Dialect , a book which collected the proverbs by Confucius, put forward a concept: "Junzi". That means a man of high morality which was totally different from the concept of hero in the Chinese ancient fairy tales. "Junzi" focused on the wisdom but not the power of a man. So there is a great many similarities between Junzi and the scholar afterward in the aspect of gentleness and hard study or so. Confucianism has put a solid foundation for the scholar as a main character in the Chinese literature.Moreover, literati-controlled government gave more opportunities to the average people who wanted to gain political success through national examination. But the number of enrollees was too little. In the Ming and Qing dynasty, the literati who couldn't get the admission to the higher political status had to give their vent to the novel. In their novels, they could realize all their dreams which couldn'tcome true in the reality.Because the writers' experience was probably the same as the readers', their novels could strike a sympathetic chord to the readers. The ups and downs of the characters in the novel might arouse the readers' true feelings in their heart. That was the reason for the great popularity of the novel on gifted scholars and beautiful ladies. This kind of novel was the reflection of influence by Confucianism and literati-controlled government.In the Greek mythology, the similar story also existed, while the character took the totally different measures from the character in Chinese novel. Cultural differences between the east and the west could account for this phenomenon. How to combine the two cultures so as to perfect our traditional culture is a problem we should take into account.The thesis has taken the method of comparison to unfold the great influence of the traditional culture before our eyes through the novel of gifted scholars and beautiful ladies. The thesis is to be divided into four parts. The first part reviews the history of novel on gifted scholars and beautiful ladies. The second part introduces the broad outline of the novel of gifted scholars and beautiful ladies. The third part demonstrates novel from the cultural points of view. The fourth part interprets the Chinese culture through the comparison between Greek mythology and novel of gifted scholars and beautiful ladies.