A Study On The Prefaces And The Postscripts Of Chinese Ghost Stories

The prefaces and postscripts of Chinese ghost stories are complex,content-rich and high in theoretical values. What is more significantis that they function as an introduction to the ideological origins,social functions and artistic characteristics of the novels, whichconstitutes not only the important supporting materials of reading theghost stories, but also the necessary textual evidence for studying thetheories and criticism of the ancient novels. There are profoundideological content in the prefaces and postscripts of the ghost stories,which is the thoughts and feelings of the literati, the embody of thebeliefs of the people, and the influence of the Confucianism, Taoism andBuddhism. In these ideological foundations, not only the personal andsocial factors in the creation of the ghost stories, but also theideological foundations for theoretical studies on the prefaces and thepostscripts of these ghost stories.The author’s novel theories andcriticism on the artistic characteristics of the creation and thefunctional summaries can be found in the prefaces of the ghost stories,too.In the functional theories, the prefaces and the postscripts of theghost stories reveal the ghost stories functiongs, especially focusingon the expressive, entertaining and exhortative functions. The prefacesand the postscripts of the ghost stories from two aspects of aestheticrealm of the real and the imaginary untiy and singular refines theartistic features of the ghost stories. What is more, the prefaces andpostscripts of the ghost stories are of great value in the study ofliterary theories. They are reflected in the historical data values, andthe values in the literary ideological history and the cultural vales.The comments on the values of the prefaces and postscripts of the ghoststories lay an important foundation in the literary history and culturalhistory.