Since childhood, I have been gifted and studied hard. "In addition to ancient Chinese words, I can also master Yuefu, Yuege and Wuqiyan poetry; There are hundreds of historical books, such as Tian Tongguan, geography, medicine, divination, he nationality, ink, soldiers, nerves and strange books (Zou Diguang's biography of Mr. Linchuantang). He not only likes reading "unholy" books, but also makes friends with "honest" people. Through active social activities, he created an upright and strong character and refused to go with the flow. When he was young, he refused to accept the courtship of the first assistant Zhang, and as a result, he won the second place. It was not until the eleventh year of Wanli (1583) that he was thirty-three, that is, the year after Juzheng's death, that he began to learn. But he still refused to please the new Prime Minister Shen Shixing, so he had to work as a doctor in Nanjing. Later, the official position was changed to the main book of Nanjing Zhan Shifu, and he was transferred to the priest of Nanjing Lile Temple. During his tenure, he kept close contacts with Zou Yuanbiao, Gu Xiancheng and other Lin Dong progressive party member. In the 19th year of Wanli (159 1), I went to "On Auxiliary Ministers", detailing the various drawbacks of Emperor Zongshen's reign in the past 20 years, such as corruption in political affairs, cheating in imperial examinations, bribing jesters, blocking the way of speaking, angering Zongshen, and being moved to xuwen county, Guangdong Province for history. A year later, he was transferred to Suichang County, Zhejiang Province. Lead an honest and clean life, take care of people's feelings, build sumo academy and martial arts school, go to the countryside to persuade farmers, rehabilitate unjust imprisonment and punish local ruffians and hooligans, which won the hearts of the people. In the 26th year of Wanli (1598), he abandoned his official position and returned to Linchuan to live in seclusion. His apartment number is "Tang Yuming", and he is devoted to drama and literary creation.
At the age of thirteen, Xianzu studied under Luo Rufang, a philosopher of Taizhou School. Later, he praised Li Zhi, who was regarded as a "heresy" by feudal rulers, and put forward the theory of "affection", arguing that "affection is unreasonable; There will be no love if there is a reason "; "I don't know what it is, but it's gone and deep. The living can die and the dead can live. Those who are born but can't be born and die, and those who die but can't be resurrected, are not emotional "("Peony Pavilion inscription "). In this way, it is affirmed that "emotion" is the objective law of life, which is opposite to the advanced philosophy of feudalism "reason". Coupled with complex political struggles and rich social experience, it has laid a solid ideological foundation and life foundation for his creative activities.
Xianzu opposed the school of imitation headed by Wang Shizhen in literary thought, advocated expressing the spirit of nature, and clearly put forward: "There are ridicules in the song." He wrote more than 2,200 poems in his life, and many excellent works, especially Feeling and I heard that the capital was thirsty for rain and paid taxes, were directed at feudal emperors, bold and sharp, which was rare for his contemporaries.
He especially loves the art of traditional Chinese opera, and has collected thousands of Yuan zaju, each of which can be recited orally. He wrote The Story of Purple Flute at the age of twenty-eight (1577), but he quit writing because he was criticized by people at that time as "the first slap in the face of bingo". However, his ambition still exists. Ten years later (1587), it was changed to The Purple Hairpin. /kloc-Shen Shi, born in 0/598, abandoned his official position and returned to his hometown to write The Story of Resurrection (namely Peony Pavilion); In the summer of 160, he wrote Conan Ji; 160 1 autumn, he wrote "Handan Ji". These four legends all have dreams, so they are also called "Linchuan Four Dreams".
His plays are rooted in the soil of real life, and at the same time show a high degree of romantic spirit. The masterpiece Rebirth of the Soul, with a strong progressive thought of pursuing individual liberation, mercilessly attacked the shackles of decadent feudal Taoism, and described that Du Liniang and Liu Mengmei fell in love in their dreams, but when they woke up, they could not find their dreams and died of depression. Later, Frida Meng dug a grave and opened a coffin, and Li Niang was resurrected, which profoundly expressed the author's idea that "the living can die and the dead can live". Li Niang's father Du Bao was exposed as a feudal guardian. In particular, the protagonist Du Liniang's complex and delicate sadness and firm and persistent rebellious character, which are bound by ethical codes, are vividly described by the author with a magnificent pen: "The original purples are everywhere, and it seems that they have all given that broken well." What a beautiful day! Who entertains at home? For hundreds of years, it has been sung for people quarreling. At that time, people said, "The Peony Pavilion came out and passed down from generation to generation, which reduced the price of the West Chamber" (Shen Defu's "Miscellaneous Words of Ancient Songs"). "... a good talent pushes Linchuan; Linchuan chest two folds, pen group seven, jade four, moxibustion circle. "(Shen Chongsui's Distinguishing Strings by Misorder)" The beauty of Resurrection of the Soul is wonderful and moving, and it can be called a masterpiece of ancient and modern times. " (Yao Xie's Textual Research on Today's Music in Qing Dynasty) Liu Hua and Michelle Li also recorded that a young girl died on the stage when she read her play "Die with the Breath", and a female stage in Hangzhou performed "Dream", which shows its great influence and touching feelings.
The theme of The Purple Hairpin also embodies the author's concept of "love". Through the theme of love, it reflects the political struggle, lashes the feudal tycoon Lu Taiwei and praises the ideal chivalrous yellow shirt, which makes the play have deeper ideological significance, which is closely related to the author's personal experience in political activities.
Conan Ji and Handan Ji are allegorical satires. The second drama uses dream scenes to write realistic things, citing the morbidness of society, the treachery of human feelings, the darkness of officialdom and various psychological activities of intellectuals, all of which are vividly on the paper. The script is covered with a layer of Buddhist and Taoist fog of "empty nature" and "floating ant colony", which reveals negative world-weariness and reflects the author's class and historical hatred. However, judging from the mainstream trend, it is still an outstanding combination of realism and romanticism, and should occupy an important position in the history of China opera.
Xianzu also made great achievements in drama criticism, expression theory and director theory. Through a lot of letters and comments on Dong Jieyuan's The West Chamber and Wang Yufeng's Burning Incense, he expressed his new views on drama creation. He believes that content is more important than form, so we can't simply emphasize the rhythm of Qupai. The so-called "all essays are based on meaning, interest, spirit and color, but when they are all four, or have good words, can they take care of the nine palaces and four tones one by one?" If you must pronounce words according to the shape of words, you will have the pain of procrastination and may not be able to make sentences "(Answer Lu). He had a tenacious argument with Wujiang writers who emphasized formal rules headed by Shen Jing. Especially, as the story of Qingyuan Temple, a drama god in Yihuang County around 1602, it not only recorded Yi Yinqiang's singing situation and left precious materials for the history of China's opera, but also expressed incisive views on the art of Taiwanese opera and directing, emphasizing that actors should experience life, experience roles, understand the meaning of music, be strict with themselves in life and art, and infect the audience with the feelings of characters. He himself is diligent in artistic practice, "acting for love and specializing in drama", and has maintained extensive contacts with thousands of Yihuang artists who sing Haiyan opera in Linchuan area, and has actually become the leader of the local opera movement. He also personally explained the meaning of the song to the actors, guided the rehearsal, "taught singing and dancing by stepping on new words" and "taught the poem by pinching the tan mark".
His works and drama activities have far-reaching influence. The "Linchuan School" dramatists who learned from him were Wu Bing and Meng Chengshun in Ming Dynasty. There were Li Yu, Hong Sheng and Jiang Shiquan in Qing Dynasty. Today, many wonderful fragments in Four Dreams still remain on the stage of Kunqu Opera. Shi Linghe's adaptation of the Yi Tone of Gan Opera "Soul Returning to Hometown" was also made into a color film, which was well received by the audience. Xianzu not only belongs to China, but also is one of the great cultural figures in the world. Masako Aoki, a Japanese scholar, called him and Shakespeare two stars that complement each other in the history of modern drama in China, and called them "Shakespeare of the East". At the beginning of this century, his works were constantly translated and introduced abroad. Hideo Iwamori, a Japanese writer and professor of "China Opera Performance Research" at Yamaguchi University, believes that although Xianzu was more than 100 years earlier than Japanese dramatist Jin Songmen Saemon, his achievements were far better than the latter. Since the Ming Dynasty, many of his plays and poems have been published. His operas were not valued by rulers of Jin Dynasty, and Sikuquanshu only included 29 volumes of Tang Yuming Collection. 1962, Zhonghua Book Company published the four-volume Collected Works of Tang Xianzu, which included all the works of Tang Xianzu, and made a detailed collation with reference to previous editions. It is a perfect version so far. 1978 and 1982, Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House extracted operas and poems from Tang Xianzu's Collected Works respectively, and published them as Tang Xianzu's Plays (Part I) respectively, which made them spread more widely.