A Research On Yuan Zuguang And His Drama

Yuan Zuguang(1869-1930),also known as Yuan Yin,styled himself Quyuan,under the pseudonym of Nuanchushi sometimes,was born in Taihu,Anhui Province.Born in a family of scholar,Yuan started to learn Confucianism from his childhood,but was not unfavorable in his career.When Yuan passed the highest imperial examination,he was already more than 30 years old,and never got any important official post in the capital.During this period of time,he once had the chance to make an on-the-spot investigation of politics in Japan.After returning to the capital,he participated in the---the Zhuyun Club,a famous literary group in the capital,making friends and corresponding with a group of poets.He was the author of the following collections:Quyuan Poem Collection,Notes on Poets and Poetry in Lutianxiangxue Yi,Quyuan Poetic Drama,A Sequence of Quyuan Poetic Drama.On the basis of the predecessors' research,this dissertation will focus on the analysis and research of Yuan Zuguang's family,friends and life trace,and works of drama.This dissertation will be divided into three chapters.The first chapter focuses on the research of Yuan Zuguang's family,friends and life trace.Many scholars have already worked on this field,but the relevant study is far from sufficient,especially inconclusive in the years of his birth and death.Based on the documents and materials about Yuan Zuguang's personal history and local topography in A Collection of Zhujuan in Qing Dynasty,this chapter combs the basic conditions of his grandparents and parents,children and other important family members,examines the exact time of his birth and death,gives a detailed discussion on the main stages of his life and digs out the communication between Yuan and his teachers Ke Shaojing and Wen Tingshi,literary friends Shen Zongqi and Jin Shouxi,therefore having an overall view of his life and speculating the influence of his life and family members on his attitude and literary creation.The second chapter researches Yuan Zuguang's poetic prose and poetry writings.This chapter is divided into two parts.In the first part,the chapter combs Yuan's poetic prose creation.Secondly,the chapter sorts out the basic situation of Yuan's poetry creation,and analyzes the relationship between his poetic prose and poetry creation and drama creation.The third chapter researches Yuan Zuguang's drama creation.This chapater sorts out and introduces the versions and the list of plays of his opera collections Quyuan Poetic Drama,and A Sequence of Quyuan Poetic Drama,analyzing his creative thought and artistic features.Combining the text study of his operas and the situation of his family,life,friends,etc.,the chapter summarizes Yuan's feeling of his official career,his concern for political situantion and his reflection on the influences of Western culture,explores the artistic value of plot setting,characters,writing style in his plays.This dissertation not only combs the relevant historical materials about Yuan Zuguang,but also achieves the comparatively systematic research of his opera creation.Through the study of Yuan' opera creation,we can explore the development and changes of the artistic features,style and aesthetic ideal of the classical opera in the late Qing Dynasty.Yuan Zuguang and his drama works are worthy of further study.