The Study Of The Epistolary Essays In Jin Dynasties

The epistolary essay is a special style of practical writing in ancient times of China. It has the unique literary aesthetic value and occupies an important position in the history of Chinese classical literature, especially in the history of prose. After the rudimentary period in the pre-Qin Days, the process of personalization in Han Dynasties and the"conscious"development in Wei Period, epistolary essays reached an unprecedented height in quantity, content and art in Jin Dynasties, which made great contributions in various aspects to the prosperity of epistolary essays in later ages, and provided rich work resources for Liu Xie's systematic comment on epistolary essays in Wen Xin Diao Long.Although the politics lost its essence, and people had little personal integrity in Western Jin Dynasty, many epistolary essays were closely linked with the political and military situation. First, some works reflected the indignation against the current event and the dilemma in making choices because of the Revolt of the Eight Kings from the different angles. For instance, Fu Xian admonished those monopolizing the power in To Yang Jun, and vindicated his view on straight personality in Reply to Yang Ji. The letters of Sima Yi and Sima Ying to each other reflected struggles then. Second, some epistolary essays were about scholars'choice between becoming officials and living in seclusion. Some rushed about between each kind of influence to seek reputation, such as Gu Rong, Lu Ji. Some, encouraged by the recluses in ancient times, flaunted they escaped beyond the material world, like Huangfu Mi. Third, there were many epistolary essays about the war against Wu. They either induced somebody to capitulate, or sowed discord, or stated the success and failure in wartime, or expressed signs with feeling, exploiting a different style in epistolary essays then.Lu Yun may be called Top 1 in the field of epistolary essays in Western Jin Dynasty. Among his 35 To My Brother Pingyuan, 30 were monographs on literature creation. They developed the scale and content of letters to family and on literature creation. Lu Yun's letters to deceased friends were also characteristic. Liu Kun was...