Studies On Novels Related To Dream In The Tang Dynasty

Novels related to dream in the Tang Dynasty have shown new features in their contents, manifestations and the intentions in creation, which are quite different from the novels before the Tang Dynasty. This indicates the changes of the novels in Tang Dynasty in concept and in the writers'ideologies.Chapter one systemizes the non-fiction literature related to dream before the Tang Dynasty, and summarizes their features. Those works include biographical literature, the essays of the scholars and Ci-Fu. This chapter also makes a specific analysis of Zuo Zhuan, The Historical Records, Zhuang Zi and Song Yu's Ci-Fu which are related to dream. Some of those works wrote about dreams in order to express political views, and some intend to express emotional feelings. The descriptions of dreams vary a lot from each other. The biographical literature is brief and concise, the prose is profound, while Ci-Fu is beautiful and ethereal. The systematic study in this chapter aims to make a comparison between those literary works and the novels related to dream, and thus make an analysis of the characteristics of the latter.Chapter two analyzes the novels related to dream before the Tang Dynasty in details, especially those novels in the period of Wei, Jin, Southern-Northern Dynasties. Novels in this period have not achieved an independent status in style, and the concept of creation is not strong enough. They have shown inheritance and development of the previous biographical literature, and their own features are not quite striking. Most of those novels are quite identical in content, and they are roughly outlined without literary features. This is quite different from the novels in the Tang Dynasty.Chapter three begins to talk about the Tang Dynasty. There are a large number of novels related to dream in the Tang Dynasty which have shown a lot of new features. First of all, they are longer in length, and more abundant in content. In narration, they use dreams and suspense which greatly enhance their readability. Secondly, those novels pay attention to the descriptions of the scenes of fairyland and fantasy. The characters in those novels are more complete with special characteristics and relatively independent personalities. Meanwhile, the forms of the dreams are stranger and much more enriched.In subject, the novels related to dream not only focus on the function of education and the promotion of religious thoughts, but also makes great progress in the considerations of the meanings of life, among which the thought of "life is a dream" is the most common one. Besides, some of them are manifested as pure emotional aesthetic expressions, with Shen Yazhi's Qin's Dreams and Dreams Recorded as the representatives. This kind of expression becomes another important theme in the novels related to dream in the Tang Dynasty.Chapter four makes a conclusion of the whole thesis. First of all, the novels related to dream in the Tang Dynasty pay more attention to curiosity. The writers have the concept to create novels with intentions, not just collecting and recording like former writers. Secondly, the social environment of the Tang Dynasty has greatly influenced the literary creations. Although dreams in those novels are strange, the experiences and emotions are quite realistic, showing the fact that people in the Tang Dynasty are more concerned about the reality. They intend to entrust their ambitions and emotions in their novels. Like poetry, novels in the Tang Dynasty also become a new field in which writers express their feelings and ambitions.