A Research On The Political Consciousness In Tang Chivalrous Novels

As products of times, Chivalrous novels in Tang Dynasty certainly reflect the characteristics of that time. Political consciousness is included which, embodied by the narrative approach, reflects authors’personal consciousness, and at the same time, implies a common political views and attitudes of a particular time. There are two clear political consciousnesses in Tang chivalrous novels:one is the decision firmly defending the national unity in that rebellious era; the other is the passive and helpless mood produced by the divided situation in country. Both of these two politic consciousnesses reflect a common politic anxiety among citizens. Moreover, the political consciousness in Tang chivalrous novels are not only of its unique personalities, but also of common thoughts with literature. It is proved that the formation of the political consciousness is not accidental but inevitable, which greatly depends on the cultural influence before Tang Dynasty and benefits from the social, political and ideological environment of Tang Dynasty.This thesis consists of four parts:first, briefly explain the reasons of choosing this topic and introduce the significance, outline and research methods of this research and then explain what are political consciousness and chivalrous novels. The resting three parts are the main body of this thesis. The second chapter classifies the political consciousness into two types:one is united national consciousness, which includes advocation the orthodox reign of Li families and propaganda reinforcement of the centralized power; the other is the awareness of the falling nation which is reflected in the corruption of upper class and the hardship of ordinary people and the prevalence of negative and cloistral thoughts. The third chapter summarizes the political consciousness characteristics in Tang chivalrous novels, including the strong sense of times, great contrariety and profound anxiety. The last part analyzes the reasons of formation of political awareness, that is, it is caused by the history and reality.