A Study On The Literary Thought In Su Shi’s Familiar Essays

Su Shi lived in the interim of Northern Song Dynasty. As a great litterateur, hehad a versed accomplishment on but not limited to poetry, familiar essay, paintingsand handwritings. The uniqueness of his literary thoughts also has profound effects onliterature of the period and later. In Professor Wang Shuizhao’s opinion, Su Shi is arare generalist throughout the history of Chinese culture, a phantom of limit of humanknowledge and brilliance.Su Shi’s familiar essays are considerably numerous. They are of humorous style,broad-minded, natural and simple, from which readers can easily realize Su Shi’s wayof life, i.e. making the best of every situation in a leisurely and contented manner. Asan important carrier of Su Shi’s literary thoughts, the nearly4000familiar essays weremainly written in the form of letters, inscriptions, abstracts, parables, biographies, etc,concerning a variety of themes such as travel notes, delight in small creatures andcomments on paintings and poetry. Su Shi’s taste and inspiration of life, philosophyof artistic creation and his personality of love for nature and freedom, as well as hisaesthetic pursuit for purity, broadness, simple and depth were all exposed with hisfamiliar essays.This article is divided into3chapters. Chapter1mainly expounds the source anddevelopment of familiar essay, the difference between familiar essay and approximatestyles such as scribbles and jottings, as well as the main features of familiar essay,short, exquisite, graceful, natural and elegance.Taking Su Shi’s relegation as critical point, chapter2divides his creation offamiliar essays into3periods, pre-Huangzhou, in Huangzhou and in Lingnan, forstatistic research on Su’s accomplishment of familiar essay creation during differentperiods. The chapter3is based on familiar essays, discoursed the mutual compatibility ofSu Shi’s Main literary thought, that is the specific embodiment of the basic theoryof literature in different literary carrier, there is internal consistency in differentcategories of literature, it is communi cant.The first section discourses the opinion thatSu Shi attaches importance to the intrinsic charm, but put external formation on thesecond. This opinion expresses in essays, poetry, calligraphy, and painting. Thesecond section expounds Su Shi’s requirement about literature style-plain and natural,pay attention to the tico and pure. The third section discourses Su Shi’s prerequirement about the literary creation, that is Accumulation of knowledge, mainlyenumerates Su Shi’s requirement about three categories of literature and art creationon the essays, poetry and calligraphy in familiar essays.