Integration And Innovation. "travels," The Art Of The Ancient Novel

By the time of the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, with the rising of the revolution in the circle of fictions, the circle had turned into one where great achievements had been made in the enlightenment of thought and literal innovation with numerous fictions emergin. Among all the fictions published in the last decadeof the Qing Dynasty, Travels of Lao Can was the most outstanding one. No other book was in parallel in popularity among the learners with it. The author of this paper holds that it is the preminent art of the fiction that established its fame and popularity, and that the artistic achievements derived in this book stemmed from the conformity and innovations of the art of the classical fictions rather than the impact of the foreign literature, for the extent to which exterior factors like the foreign literature function virtually limited while the traditional ties are deep-rooted. Accordingly, the paper aims to explore the artistic values of the book from the angle of its contributions to the Classical fictions with an detailed analysis of its causes and significance. Another point which should be clarified here is that because the late Qing Dynasty was a time when classical Chinese and modern vernacular Chinese were co-exiting and mutually affecting each other, we start the paper with the development of the art of the classical and modern vernacular fictions; meanwhile, a comparison is made between the development and the analysis of the artistic features of the book.I. Conformity and Innovation of the Descriptive artThe emphasis of the scenic description in the classical fictions is put on thebrevity and elegance of the language and the subtlety and implication of the mood, while in the vernacular fictions the stress is on plainness and popularity of the language and the reality and naturalness of the sceneries.The scenic description in Travels of Lao Can embodies not only the strong flavor of life but also pure and elegant mood, which is in fact the result of the conformity and innovation of the art of classical Chinese and vernacular fictions. In the book, new terms are employed to grant things unique features and attach profound political and literal connotations to sceneries, thus each scenery is entitled with distinctive aesthetic value. It can be seen that changes in the ways of describing sceneries are made in the book from traditional ones to modern ones.In the classical fictions, the psychological descriptions focus on refinement and implications; whereas in the vernacular ones, delicacy and vividness are emphasized. In the case of Travels of Lao Can, the relatively modern means of explication in terms of one's own experiences is used in the demonstration of the psychology of human sexual desire and greed for material things. Meanwhile, blunt analysis used in the western fictions is avoided; instead, a reasonable absorption of it is conducted based upon the traditional methods. The psychological descriptions in the book thus prcesses the plainness and vividness of the vernacular fictions as well as the implication and delicacy.II. Inheritance and Development of Language SkillsThe language used in the book Travels of Lao Can is a refined and purified Shandong dialect, vivid, lifelike, and with a strong provincial colour. In addition, Liu E, the author, maintained to use those thoroughly tempered new words, rather than the out-of-date ones to describe things and sceneries; thus a fresh and natural language style is formed and has become a paragon of vernacular language.III. Unique Structure of TravelsThe novel adopts the structure of travels, which is similar to the Traditional linear structure. However, it deviates in a wider sense from the novels of old types that stress plot rather than anything else. A deep essay-writing skill has been integrated into the novel. Therefore, the lyrical part of the novel is enhanced and the lyrical mood in the ancient fictions is reserved. In such a sense, Lao Can was viewed by many as the pioneer in...