The Research Of Novel Preface And Postscript In Song And Yuan Dynasties

The research of novel preface and postscript has been attracted increasing attentions by academic circles in recent years. The novel preface and postscript could be considered as the origin of China’s novel criticism in some extent. By means of novel preface and postscript, the standard of Chinese ancient novel theory could be evidently found. Compared with the research of novel preface and postscript in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, that in the Song and Yuan Dynasties has not been well developed. However, the boom of novel preface and postscript of the Ming and Qing Dynasties is caused by the fine foundation of that of the Song and Yuan Dynasties. Thus the study of novel preface and postscript of the Song and Yuan Dynasties is helpful to better understand the developing process of Chinese ancient novel theory, and guide us grasp the change and heritage of Chinese ancient novel criticism comprehensively. Inspired by these attributes, the author presents a thesis named "The Study of novel preface and postscript in Song and Yuan Dynasties". The thesis is divided into six parts.The generation and development of preface and postscript has been reviewed by introduction. The aspects including origin, content and role of preface and postscript are detailedly introduced. Then the research history and status are described. The related researchers, the status of research object of preface and postscript (modern time is excluded), approximate number are illustrated in brief. At last, the overview of novel preface and postscript of Song and Yuan Dynasties is evaluated.In chapter one, the novel conception in the preface and postscript of Song and Yuan Dynasties is concluded. Compared with the novel conception of Ming and Qing Dynasties, that of Song and Yuan Dynasties is still obscure, but the preface and postscript have also many expressions. The author describes these expressions in three aspects:I) according to memoir and supplement the official history; Ⅱ) the rough reflection of outline and enrich one’s knowledge; Ⅲ) the clear expression of exhortation in order to expose the truth.In chapter two, the literature theory in the preface and postscript of Song and Yuan Dynasties is introduced. From the preface and postscript, the author’s creative motivation and creative purport are deeply excavated. The sources of novel’s materials are investigated and the effects on the novel authors of materials from different ways are compared. At last, the cognition and evaluation on the novel "emptiness or reality and reality and fantasy" of authors in the Song and Yuan Dynasties are studied.In chapter three, the multiple values of novels of Song and Yuan Dynasties are exposed from preface and postscript. In the novels of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, abundant materials on the culture and history have been remained and have very important historical values because China has a long history of historiographer culture and the tradition on the complementing the history, and the leaders of Song Dynasty emphasized to complementing the history. With the gradual integration of Buddhism and compatibility of Taoism, novels of Song and Yuan Dynasties were unconsciously influenced and a number of didactic content appeared. These results made the novels of this period show significant social enlightenment values. The emergency and growth of speaking art affect the people’s lives. The entertainment of novels became an integral part of people’s daily life because the novels possessed an abundant entertainment values.In chapter four, the communication and acceptance of Song and Yuan Dynasties are discussed from preface and postscript. Novels of Song and Yuan Dynasties originally existed as a symbol and communicated by spoken language, and gradually by text. Therefore, the novels marked an indelible trace in the human communication history. With the invention of movable type, public time came in the human history. The development of art of printing in the Song and Yuan Dynasties greatly promoted the communication of novels and many precious copies of novels have been retained.In chapter five, the evolution of novel editions is discussed based on the preface and postscript. We found many inaccuracies according to proofreading the editions, including written difference and error of edition. For a specific book, different editions unavoidably appeared at the same time because of various factors. We need to carefully investigate the deep-seated reasons for this phenomenon and form a fundamental judgment on the novel editions of Song and Yuan Dynasties.