Study On Su Shi’s Two Collecitons Of Notes–Dongpo’s Forest Of Notes And Notes In Qiuchi

Dongpo’s Forest of Notes and Notes in Qiuchi, which were important collections ofnotes composed by Su Shi, are considerably rich in contents and of extraordinarily high valueto research. Researchers in the past tended to separately focus on either of them in whichmore attention was paid to the former on discrimination and artistic features while less to thelatter on the research of editions. It is argued in this dissertation, however, that the two bookscomplement each other both on the level of contents and style. The notes in the former aremainly travel sketches, records of strange happenings and non-fictional stories as well ascomments on history, whereas the latter was primarily composed by criticism on poems,proses and calligraphy. The overall features of Su Shi’s notes could be revealed by thecombination of the two in research, which is why this dissertation attempts to be engaged in acomprehensive study on them.This paper, while viewing the two books as an organic whole, attempts to conduct arestudy on them from three aspects including literary thoughts, artistic achievements andcultural values. The innovation lies basically in two facets, which are the discussion of SuShi’s literary thoughts through his notes collections and investigation on the cultural values ofhis notes. Further attempts, based on now available research findings, are also made torespectively explore the artistic achievements of the two books according to various types ofnotes collected.Not only did Su Shi have monumental achievements in his literary writings, but also didhe bring forward considerable amount of deep and unique propositions on literary thoughts,which were embodied in the criticism on proses, poems and calligraphy in his collection ofnotes and characterized notably by criticalness, artistry and complexity. The literary thoughtsexpressed in Su Shi’s collections of notes would complementarily facilitate comprehensiveresearch of these thoughts as an integral whole.Having made great artistic achievements, Dongpo’s Forest of Notes and Notes in Qiuchiare addressed in this paper on these achievements in three aspects including argumentations plain yet deep, travel sketches with philosophical described scenes and allegories brilliantlynarrated.The cultural values contained in the two books are mainly reflected in two aspects. First,Su Shi’s efforts in virtue promoting and insistence in abstinence and life preserving deliveredhis humane care. Second, his humorous disposition and detached living mode wasepitomized.