Structure·Irony·Confucianism

Development of Chinese literature to the late Ming novels have sprung up everywhere. Had to be later known as the "Wonderful" and" Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Loyalty Outlaws of the Marsh, Journey to the West, Jin Ping Mei, this system of four monumental masterpiece.Since the advent of the Ming Dynasty Four Masterpieces,a number of research and academic point of view.American Sinologist Andrew H.Plaks researcher's point of view from the West,another way, using the method of comparative,to borrow the West's "novel" view, would be included in a novel four times or less the same,limited to a fixed system, by four the novel structure and rhetoric,and fiction into a book background studies to the "Masterpieces" research new perspective.Plaks think that since Hongzhi(1488-1505)to Wanli(1573-1619)Midium 100 years, scholars of this period have been the story at the source of raw material and the parallel revised based on the idea of art through the initiative,to create can follow modern Western fiction theory to define the new novel style - Masterpieces style,which marks the prose novel from of the new style of production. Plaks pointed out that the late Ming was a compromise on the core ideas,that is the cornerstone of Confucianism, Buddism and Taoism combines the idea of resources,which is his research,"Four Great Masterpieces" of the implicit meaning and the creation,revision and dissermination of The focus of the background. He believes four late Ming novel embodies the degree of cultural values and ideological aspirations,in the ideological sense, with more rich content,is a master of Chinese traditional culture to the important achievements during the one.Plaks grouped the "Four Great Masterpieces" another reason for the comprehensive study is that the internal structure of the novel and creative approach reflects the more common features.Four Novels of symmetry in the structure of stress harmony,repeated in the plot set on a good plot or Diego are similar to the details of the method in the rhetorical use of irony in practice longer. These features not only embodies the creation of traditional Chinese literary novel features,but also the tradition of Chinese culture are closely related. Plaks in reading this article and on the fiction novels and related literature based on the extracted Plaks of Four Great Masterpieces of the three important perspective:narrative structure,irony practices and physical background, to chapters of its main the academic point of view and methodology of analysis of characteristics of the style.