An Analysis Of Liu Xizai’s Ancient Prose Narrative Theory

Liu Xizai’s Fundamentals of Arts is a monograph on the theory of ancient prose in modern China,and the ancient prose narrative theory is an important part of the masterpiece.Liu’s ancient prose narrative theory also takes the merits of Zuo Zhuan,The Policy of the Warring States,Shi Ji,with rich and accurate content and unique opinions;he also put forward the narrative principles,narrative requirements and narrative methods of ancient prose,which are still instructive to the writing of narrative prose today.Therefore,this thesis makes a comprehensive,systematic and in-depth study on Liu Xizai’s ancient narrative theory.This thesis is divided into three parts: introduction,main body and the conclusion.The introduction firstly introduces the theoretical value and practical significance of Liu Xizai’s ancient prose narrative theory,summarizes the present research situation of this issue,and clarifies the perspectives and methods of this thesis.The main body consists of three parts: the theoretical basis of Liu’s narrative theory,the essence of it,as well as the modern enlightenment of it.Firstly,the theoretical basis of Liu Xizai’s ancient prose narrative theory.Liu Xizai’s points out that narration is derived from historical narration.Furthermore,ancient narrative theory is based on excellent historical narration.“Fa” in Zuo Zhuan lays the foundation for Liu Xizai’s narrative method of ancient prose;the “Yi” in The Policy of Warring States lays a foundation for Liu Xizai’s narrative principle of ancient prose;the spirit in Shi Ji lays the foundation for Liu Xizai’s narrative requirement of ancient prose.Secondly,the classical points of Liu Xizai’s ancient prose narrative theory.It contains three main points: narrative principle means main meaning,which means that before narration,the writer should have a main purpose with carefully discerning;the narrative requirement refers to the sustenance,which means that the author should be reasonable,emotional,and knowledgeable;the narrativemethod is "tailoring and transporting",and that narrative method mainly refers to the method of dealing with materials,which means that the whole of narration should be elegant and unified.Thirdly,the modern enlightenment of Liu Xizai’s ancient prose narrative theory.According to the three main points of Liu Xizai’s ancient prose narrative theory,combined with the bad tendency of today’s narrative prose writing,the modern enlightenment of Liu Xizai’s ancient narrative theory can be divided into three aspects: the theme of narrative prose should be single but deep,the materials of narrative prose should be flexible and abundant,and the narrative prose should be universally sensed.This thesis summarizes Liu Xizai’s ancient prose narrative theory,introduces some other similar theories in his book,points out the deficiency of his theory of ancient prose narrative,and concludes the theoretical value and modern significance of Liu Xizai’s narrative theory.