| Book of Xuankong is a satirical novel of the late Qing dynasty written in dialectin his late years by Guo Yousong, a noted wit of Songjiang. The novel narrates worldlyaffairs with the characters who are mostly nicknamed, which assumes a hue of asatire. The language of the novel is characterized by dialect which is not only used innarration, but also in invectives and ironies; owing to this, a large amount of dialectalwords are preserved so that the novel becomes an important reference for researchof Songjiang dialect. Concerning the good command of language,Book of Xuankong isworthy to be compared with He Dian which is written by Shanghai’s writer, ZhangNanzhuang. They are both good at deliberately distorting dialectal idioms in theirfavors and then by putting them together producing a subtle sense of humor.However, despite the flippancy and frivolousness, the author successfully delineatesquite a few vivid characters and sketches out a landscape of social manners andcustoms; also he shows his cynicism which makes the whole novel filled with a strongnote of irony and humor. This thesis is a research and elaboration mainly about theauthor’s life and the ideas and artistry of his novel.The thesis is divided into three chapters. The first chapter is a sketch of theauthor Guo Yousong’s life;a close look will be conducted on his friend circle inShanghai. The second chapter is a research on the text about the Book of Xuankong;specifically this is to sort out the ideological contents of the novel including a generalidea of worldly life, indulgences of the society, aspects of officialdom and everythingthat is related to contemporary society and able to offer a certain value of knowingthe society. The third chapter is to elaborate the artistry of the Book of Xuankong,including ingenious use of the dialectal idioms,rhetorical devices and the satirical art.In the conclusion, the special status of the Book of Xuankong in Wu dialect satiricalnovels will be discussed from an objective view. |
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