Dissemination And Acceptance Of The Text Of A Journey To The West

There were many editions in the spreading of A Journey to the West in the Ming and Qing dynasties, including the edition published by Shi De Tang, simplified editions such as The Story of Tang Sanzang dispelling adversity and The Story of A Journey to the West, and commentary editions such as Mr.Li Zhuowu Commentates A Journey to the West and Confirming the Principles of Taoism by A Journey to the West. The edition published by Shi De Tang is the earliest extant edition of A Journey to the West. It mainly disseminated among merchants, officials and intellectuals. In addition, it was introduced to the countries of East Asia and attracted foreign readers' attention. The edition published by Shi De Tang initiated the type of ghost stories and became the model copy of creation of writers. It influenced them deeply. The appearance of simplified editions had relation to the design of owners of bookshops and the demand of market closely. They made the story of A Journey to the West spreading among the people and remedied the defect of dissemination of edition published by Shi De Tang. But they faded away in later ages because of rough writing. Commentary editions include edition commentated by Li Zhuowu and edition commentated by Wang Xiangxu and Huang Zhouxing. The former is generally thought counterfeited by Ye Zhou and concentrates on remarks of content and artistry of the novel. It guides reading and promotes dissemination of the novel. The edition commentated by Wang Xiangxu and Huang Zhouxing makes arrangement and amendment of the novel, and firstly points out that A Journey to the West aims at confirming the principles of Taoism, which greatly affected later commentary editions such as True Clarification of A Journey to the West, Original Purpose of A Journey to the West and so on. But its comments don't spread so widely as the amended text because it distorts meaning of the novel.In modern society, A Journey to the West gradually establishes classics status and is highly valued. Some art forms such as drama and television develop A Journey to the West by different techniques of expression. Their adaptation not only blends ideology andaesthetic demand of contemporary people but also embodies understanding towards classics of contemporary people. There are some parodies in the dissemination of A Journey to the West. For example, Casual Description of A Journey to the West and A Story of Wu Kong build a new system of value by using characters of the novel. They demonstrate mental trend and aesthetic taste of contemporary people.From the Ming and Qing dynasties to today, A Journey to the West attracts people by its unique charm and is widely accepted by readers of social strata. In this thesis the readers of A Journey to the West are divided into professional readers and amateur readers by the standard whether they make criticism of the novel. Aside from getting aesthetic enjoyment, professional readers pay more attention to grasping the meaning of works and exploring the rules of art creation. They attempt to clarify the nature of works. Amateur readers make up a large proportion, which include readers getting entertainment from the novel, readers applying the novel to practice, readers taking nourishment from the novel to re-creat and children readers. Different readers bring works into their tendencies and obtain satisfaction of reading. A Journey to the West is explained by readers of different times in the process of dissemination. The purport of works is expanded constantly. Changes of explanation of purport embody cultural mentality of society of different times.