A Analysis Of Zhouzhenfu's "the Literary Mind And The Carving Of Dragons's Commentary"

Zhou zhenfu is contemporary prominent expert on study of The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons which is one of the most famous critical literary classics. Zhou devotes himself into probing into The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons and makes great achievements in it, whose writing The Note for The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons is regarded as the popular version for our understanding of the said classics in respect that it gives us access to the abstruse theories with proper, terse and smooth words in an easy-to-understand, user-friendly manner.The purpose of the essay is to bring back Zhou's proper understanding for Liu xie's The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons to us by outlining the contents and analyzing features of The Note, exploring the thread of Zhou's thought, and appraising Zhou's effort in the approaches of illustrations and dialectics.The essay is divided into three parts: introduction, body, and conclusion.Part I mainly introduces Zhou zhenfu himself and his writing The Note for The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons,also, its value and significance for study.Part II develops Zhou's theories gradually, thus turns to Zhou's accomplishments in the study of The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons by analyzing Structure and Style Thought (Shenxing lun), Rhetoric and Nature Thought(wenzhilun)and Flexibility Thought(Tongbian lun) separately.Structure and Style Thought (wenzhi lun) derives its name from the Preface of the classics dealing with the structure and style of the essay, and mainly comprises Structure(Shensi) and Style(Tixing). It concerns about preparation before creation, writer with design and style of the essays and then comes to the relation between writer and essays.Rhetoric and Nature issue is an axis of Chinese literary history, around which ancient compositions evolve into modern ones. Harmony between rhetoric and nature is not only the core but also the objective of the essay which is stressed much in The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons. Zhou defines rhetoric and nature with reference to Chinese literary history, and reach the conclusion that the rhetoric and nature in the specific field of Chinese classical literary theories is different from the content and form originated from western literary theories. Furthermore, Zhou fully demonstrates the separate and depending relations at the same time between them.On the controversial issue of flexibility (Tongbian), Zhou thinks of Liu xie's original intention of it as change relying on heritage from the ancient literary theories. The main conclusion such as strength of content and form and change of the literary works are rooted in the very definition of flexibility.All three parts, Structure and Style Thought (Shenxing lun), Rhetoric and Nature Thought(wenzhi lun)and Flexibility Thought(Tongbian lun), accord with logical sequence of contemporary literary theories, and materialize the system of Zhou's study. By the discussion , it comes to the conclusion that Zhou makes great contribution to the study of The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons.Conclusion part points out the limitation and contribution of The Note for The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons.