Research On American Sinologist Edward Hetzel Schafer's The Divine Woman:Dragon Ladies And Rain Maidens In Tang Literature

In Chinese classical literature,the Divine Woman(all the terms in the abstract are according to Edward Hetzel Schafer)can be traced to Sung Yu's Shen-nu-fu.This literary work shapes the image of a bold and unrestrained goddess so that sexuality has been the most obvious feature of the Divine Woman.Since then,in Chinese classical literature the Divine Woman signifies not only the goddess from Wu Shan but also unrestrained women.Actually,the Divine Woman can also refer to the ancient goddesses such as Nu Kua,the Lo Divinity,the Hsiang Consort,the Han Woman and some Taoism's goddesses such as "Du Lanxiang","Chenggong Zhiqiong".American sinologist Edward Hetzel Schafer has put these ancient goddesses as the study object in his treatise The Divine Woman:Dragon Ladies and Rain Maidens in Tang Literature.The paper put The Divine Woman:Dragon Ladies and Rain Maidens in Tang Literature as the study object.On the one hand,combing and commenting the study of Edward Hetzel Schafer.On the other hand,Expanding his study of goddesses in literature and exploreing the relationship between goddesses and Chinese classical novels.In practical terms,the paper includes six parts:the part one is preface of the former study on goddesses at home and abroad,as well as sinologist Edward H.Schafer's research characteristics and value;the part two and three comb and analysis Edward H.Schafer's research;the part four studies goddesses's images,story archetypal and deformation as well as ideological implication in these novels;the final part is the conclusion.The value of researching Edward H.Schafer's study on the goddesses embodies in two aspects:on the one hand,it's contributed to drawing lessons from the sinologist's unique research angles and methods.On the other hand,it's helpful to systematically study goddesses so that we can discover the relationship between goddess and mythology,literature,religion,as well as the relationship of the Chinese classical novels about goddesses.