A Study Of Family Theme Novels In The Late Qing Dynasty

The novel is the most representative literary style of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The common people love them very much because of their vivid characterizations and unexpected plots. Many classic Chinese literary works in the history of Chinese Novels are still enduringly popular because of their unique artistic charm. The research achievements about the novel are immense. So it's very important to select appropriate angle and point cut about the novel research. In view of this, this article regards the family novels in late Qing Dynasty as the research object, and analyzes ideological contents and the artistic features. At the same time, we will get to know the era features reflected in these novels of the late Qing society from the aspect of the family novel.This thesis is divided into five parts. The first part is the introduction section. Based on the previous studies, we make a clear definition of the concept about the family novel. And we call it "the family novel". At the same time, we will define the research scope and the research object of this thesis, also summarize the research situation of the family novels in Ming Qing Dynasties and late Qing Dynasty, and put forward the research significance and value of this paper.The first chapter, gives a textual research on the version of the family novel in late Qing Dynasty by consulting the relevant Catalogue works, thus lays the foundation of further study. Next, we analyze the historical and cultural background of how the family novels emerged in the late Qing Dynasty from three views:the creation tradition of the family novel, the influence of the revolution in fiction and the mentality of scholars in the late Qing Dynasty.The second chapter analyzes the ideological contents of the family novel in late Qing Dynasty. Six kinds of different ideological tendencies are reflected in the novel: show of prosperity and decline of the family, plaint of fame and interests, rebellion to the traditional marriage, consideration and inspection of children's education, advocacy and maintenance of traditional ethics, reflection of the concept of Patriarchal Clan family. We can also understand the ideological and cultural connotation of the family novel in late Qing Dynasty by analyzing of this six aspects deeply.The third chapter is a study on a series of figures. Characters are the center of the family and the novel. We divided them into seven different types of characters by analyzing the thoughts and behaviors reflected in the family novels of the late Qing Dynasty. We can consider the influences of the late Qing Dynasty on the thought and behavior of the people at that time by analyzing of their ideological activities.The fourth chapter analyzes the artistic features of the family novels in the late Qing Dynasty. The family novels in the late Qing Dynasty mainly adopt the network narrative structure which is popular in the traditional novels. And there are two ways to shape the characters:the traditional line drawing approach and psychological description influenced by the concept of Western Novels. No matter from the conception or the fate of the characters, the family novels in the late Qing Dynasty show strong tragic.