A Study On The Compilation Of The Complete Works Of The Pieces In The Late Ming And Early Qing Dynasties In Kangxi Period

During the period of Ming and Qing Dynasties, with the high development of book printing and citizens’reading needs, various anthologies of literary genres were compiled and published, resulting in the change of the writers-and-works centric literary criticism and literary reception. More than a dozen collections of late Ming and early Qing period letters were compiled and published in Kangxi reign, which were the earliest criticism practice related to contemporary epistolary literature. This thesis is comprised of five chapters as follows:The first chapter overviews the context of compiling epistolary collections:(1), Historical background, and (2), Compilers and their company. Most of compilers were celebrated publishers or frustrated literati in the imperial civil-service examinations system. In addition, epistolary collections also depended on compiling companies,(3), Motivations for compilations. The main motivations consisted of recording history and preserving figures and commercial profit purposes.The second chapter discusses the compiling activities of epistolary collections in its entirety:(1), Methods and standards of compiling. The compilers went to great lengths to collect letters, and contributions were appended on the collections, and they asked literati to contribute by post. The compiling standards included originality and uniqueness, as well as the learnedness of celebrity writers.(2), Classification systems. Classification of epistolary literature was difficult, but it was also necessary to classify the letters. The classification systems were not based on logic, but daily experience.(3), Revising situation. This part consists of removing formulaic expressions, revising errors and rewriting the texts.The third chapter studies the important topics of epistolary collections. This can be summarized into four categories:(1), Literati’s social interaction and communication in daily life,(2), National economy and people’s livelihood under the context of changing world affairs.(3), Literary thoughts and cultural ideas.(4), Other topics such as letters of the boudoir. The forth chapter analyzes the genre characteristics of epistolary collections. The collections substantively reflect the compilers’ tastes of the perfect artistic letter genre, such as:(1), A letter’s poetic features. Compilers preferred poetic letters in literati daily life communication activities, emphasizing their real affections and elegant expressions, which characterizes literati’s identity in late Ming and early Qing period.(2), Authorship features. Letters on social and historical phenomena and artistic and cultural phenomena distinctly display authorship features.The fifth chapter discourses the relationships between the compiling of epistolary collections and the importance of literary aesthetics, such as:(1), Criticizing existing collections and setting up new paradigms, and (2), Compilers’ concept of genre, and (3), Relationship between multiple criticism and the readers’ awareness. Multiple criticism stands out in the collections of late Ming and early Qing period letters. The specific dialogues within the letters, the recreation of the letter texts through criticism and multiple criticism consist of multiple dialogistic space, which highlights the readers’awareness, and mirrors latest reading interest and market demand.