The discussion of this problem is the basis of the whole research work of The Romance of Three Kingdoms. The delegates' discussion on this mainly involved three aspects:
(1) Luo Guanzhong's life and the time when The Romance of the Three Kingdoms was written. Three main points were put forward at the meeting.
First, Luo Guanzhong was born in the late Song Dynasty and early Yuan Dynasty, and the popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms was written in the Yuan Dynasty. Comrades who hold this view, the most important basis is the "Master Sacrifices Mr. Bao Feng" and other materials in front of the famous philosopher Zhao Xie's Collection of Mr. Zhao Baofeng in the late Southern Song Dynasty. They think that Luo Guanzhong is Robben in the master list; Gao Kerou in the list should be Gao Kerou, that is, Gao Zecheng, a famous dramatist in Yuan Dynasty who wrote Pipa Xing; Luo Guanzhong wrote the popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms with reference to the Pinghua of the Three Kingdoms, which was widely circulated in the Yuan Dynasty, and the Drama of the Three Kingdoms, a drama of the Yuan Dynasty. Some versions of The Romance of The Three Kingdoms in the Ming Dynasty were clearly titled "Romance of Luo Guanzhong in Yuan Dynasty" or "Edited by Luo Guanzhong in Yuan Dynasty". Some comrades provided circumstantial evidence for this statement, pointing out that Tian Ming Rucheng's Notes on Traveling to the West Lake called "Luo Guanzhong, a native of Qiantang, a native of the south in the evening"; According to the sentence in Wang Qi's Collection of the History of Ming Dynasty, "Zong Shura Guan Zhong, Ge Kejiu at the beginning of the country", from the aspects of writing, exegetics, grammar and logic, "Zong Xiu" should be a mistake of "Song Ji", so Wang Qi also thinks that Luo Guanzhong was a person at the end of the Song Dynasty; In addition, some details in the popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms just reflect some social systems and fashions in the Yuan Dynasty, and there are many "vulgar words" in the book. It can be seen that Popular Romance is a work of Yuan Dynasty. Some comrades further infer that it was completed in the1440s, that is, between the first year of Zheng Zheng (134 1) and the eleventh year (135 1). During this period, Luo Guanzhong was about forty to fifty years old.
Secondly, the popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms was written in the early Ming Dynasty. Comrades who hold this view believe that Robben, that is, Luo Guanzhong, in A Master Sacrifice to Mr. Baofeng is credible, and it is very understandable that he pretends to be a master because he admires Zhao Baofeng's character of "keeping pace with the times and learning from others". The thirty-one people on the list are arranged in chronological order according to the general principle of "sequential teeth" in the master. Eleventh Robben is in sixth place, Xiang Shou (born about 13 10), eighth place Usdao (born about 13 14) and thirteenth place. It can be inferred that his birth year is about1315-1318, and his death year can also be 1385- 1388. As for Gao Kerou on the list, he is certainly not smart (sincere in word, author of Rukezhai Collection). Referring to other materials, these comrades think that the popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms may have been written by Luo Guanzhong in the early Ming Dynasty, and the first draft of the book should be completed after the fourth year of Hongwu (137 1); At that time, Luo Guanzhong was about 55 years old, and his knowledge and experience were sufficient for writing popular romance, and the initial realization of a stable and unified social environment was also conducive to his completion of this masterpiece. Some comrades also discussed the relationship between Luo Guanzhong and Shi Naian, and thought that Shi Naian wandered around Suzhou and Qiantang around 1363, while Luo Guanzhong lived in Hangzhou and other places during that time, and also appeared in Cixi in 1366, so it was very likely that they would meet. Luo Guanzhong not only participated in the writing of Water Margin, but also completed the Romance of the Three Kingdoms by himself.
Third, the popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms was written in the middle of the Ming Dynasty. Comrades who hold this view believe that the evolution of literature has its own laws. The popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms is based on the Three Kingdoms Pinghua. The existing Yuan-published Pinghua of the Three Kingdoms in Quanxiang is one of the five Pinghua novels published in Xin 'an in Zhi Zhi period (132 1- 1323). The book is about 80,000 words, which is the longest and best written among the five editions, and it can be said that it represents the highest level of storytelling at that time. But the writing is still good. The length of popular romance is about 800,000 words, which is ten times that of Pinghua, and its description technique is close to maturity, so its birth cannot be far behind Pinghua. Some comrades further believe that Jiajing's popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms is the first mature version of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, so it is not the work of Luo Guanzhong in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty. Booksellers in the middle and late Ming Dynasty used Luo Guanzhong's name and added the word "Yuan Dynasty" in front of it, in order to advance the time of this book and raise its sound price. And the mediocre fool who prefaces this book (Jiang Daqi) is probably its author.
(2) How to treat the small notes in Jiajing's popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms?
1980 In April, Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House punctuated and published Jiajing's popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms. In the preface of this book, Zhang and Ma Meixin attach great importance to the small notes in the book, and take "today's place names" as the main basis for textual research on the writing age of popular romance. In their view, the "modern" places mentioned on the small note are all the names of the Yuan Dynasty except those that accidentally misused the names of the Song Dynasty. Therefore, the writing of "Popular Romance" should be at the end of Yuan Dynasty at the latest, not after Ming Dynasty. At this seminar, the delegates discussed two issues around the small note:
First, did the author write the note himself? There are three main opinions:
(1) thinks that most of the small pieces of paper were written by Luo Guanzhong, and some of them may have been added by the scribe in the process of copying. Some comrades also pointed out: "The annotation of this book is not the product of a program and a plan like later critics, but the result of the author's eagerness to achieve success in the writing process. Due to the lack of overall consideration and the limitations of mastering knowledge, the notes in the book are unbalanced, asymmetrical, inconsistent and inaccurate. "
(2) think that the small note and the text of popular romance are written by a fool. On the one hand, he is used to copying the original text of Romance of the Three Kingdoms without change, and on the other hand, copying Pei's notes to explain difficult words. In addition, he borrowed and copied a lot of Hu Sansheng's notes from As a Mirror.
(3) Think that the note was not written by the author himself, but by someone far behind the author. There are four reasons: first, some comments contradict the text; Secondly, many annotations destroy the artistic effect of words; Third, many annotations can be written into the text completely and do not need to exist alone; Fourth, many supplementary materials in the notes should be abandoned by the author.
The above three opinions have one thing in common: they all think that the fine print was written by one person.
Second, can the "current place name" in the small note be used as the basis for judging the publication time of the popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms? There are five main opinions;
(1) thinks it's a good way to find out the date of the book by "today's place name". There are more than 20 "today's place names" in the book, except for two obvious mistakes, two of which follow the place names of the Song Dynasty, and the rest are the place names of the Yuan Dynasty, which proves that The Popular Romance was written in the Yuan Dynasty.
(2) It is in favor of using "today's place names" to verify the book's completion time, but it is believed that some of the "today's place names" in the book were mistakenly recorded by Luo Guanzhong, and some were in the early Ming Dynasty, so it can be seen that "Popular Romance" was written in the early Ming Dynasty.
(3) It is considered that the annotations were written by people far behind the author, and it is not reliable to research the writing age of popular romance according to the "current place names".
(4) It is considered that to judge the date of completion of such a great book, we should not just draw a conclusion based on a few "today's place names", but should make a detailed study of the whole book; As for "today's place names", most of them belong to the Yuan Dynasty, because in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, that silly son deliberately pretended to be Luo Yuan Guanzhong.
(5) It is a muddled account to think that "today's place names" include the place names of Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming Dynasties. Therefore, it should not be used to determine the date of a book.
(3) About the Mao version of Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Judging from the origin of the edition, the following points are worth noting in the discussion on this issue at the meeting:
First, whose hand is Mao Ben's evaluation? Some comrades think that this book was written by Maureen and Mao Zonggang and his son, according to Yin Shan Ji written by Maureen, Jian Xuan Bu Ji written by Chu people and A Book on the First Talented Person written by Li Yu. Some comrades think that although Mao Lun has begun to interpret The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, at best, he can only say that he played a pioneer and promoter role in Mao Zonggang's comments on The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Because Maureen was blind in middle age, all the systematic comments on this book were made by Mao Zonggang.
Second, is the preface of "Jin Shengtan" in Mao Ben's Romance of the Three Kingdoms false? Some comrades made in-depth textual research and analysis, pointing out that the Preface could not have been written by Jin Shengtan, but by Mao Zonggang under the guise of Jin Shengtan, and the so-called "Book of the First Scholar" was also put forward by Shi Mao. However, until now, many people still cite this preface as the work of Jin Shengtan, which is actually a misunderstanding.
Third, how to evaluate the relationship between Mao Ben and Lao Ben? Some comrades think that Mao Ben is not only better than the old one in literature, but also makes the Romance of the Three Kingdoms a big step forward to realism in creative methods, and also shows a certain popularity and critical spirit in comments, which greatly strengthens the spread and influence of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and improves its position in the history of literature. Some comrades think: "What Shi Mao and his son changed certainly has its merits, but in many cases, they often made mistakes." "If the filth that Shi Mao and his son added to The Romance of the Three Kingdoms does not go away, it will be difficult for Luo Guanzhong's true ideological outlook to be presented to readers." Some comrades think that although Mao Ben is more mature in art and his characters are more consistent and full, it strengthens the atmosphere of feudal orthodoxy.
On the Theme of Romance of the Three Kingdoms
This issue is one of the most controversial and divergent issues in this seminar. In addition to the five viewpoints put forward in the past, such as orthodoxy, loyalty, supporting Liu and opposing Cao, reflecting the rise and fall of the Three Kingdoms and eulogizing feudal talents, the new viewpoints mainly include tragedy, benevolence, agricultural desire and separation. Moreover, even a few old formulations in the past, some people have made new explanations and injected new content.
1) tragedy theory.
This is a very striking sentence in this seminar. The commentator believes that Cao Cao and Liu Bei, including the groups they represent, not only occupy a very prominent position, but also remain in sharp opposition in a large number of artistic images created in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Cao Cao was portrayed as an immortal traitor, a concentrated representative of the self-interest of the exploiting class and a symbol of greed and power desire. He almost summed up the whole set of ruling means and all essential characteristics of the exploiting class. The close combination of cruelty, cunning and great talent, and the high unity of "traitor" and "hero" are his most remarkable signs. This image is the entity of evil virtue, a personalized social existence and a direct reflection of the writer's historical environment. On the contrary, the essential feature of Liu Bei's image is the pursuit of ideal morality. He fantasized about implementing "benevolent government" and establishing an ideal society in the world. The fierce confrontation between the reality of feudal society represented by Cao Cao and the ideal symbol of feudal society represented by Liu Bei constitutes the most basic contradiction in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
Unfortunately, the reality of China feudal society represented by Cao Cao finally defeated the ideal pursuit of China feudal society represented by Liu Bei. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms reveals a harsh fact for people: the power that dominates the current situation and feudal political life is not justice, but evil; Not morality, but blackmail; Fresh and shameless cruel reality, the law of the jungle overcomes the ideal concepts of filial piety, courtesy, loyalty and faith; Tyranny raped benevolent government, and animal nature replaced human nature; The ethical concept of loyalty to the monarch and filial piety to the father had to give way to the bourgeois principle of intrigue. This is not only the historical reality of the Three Kingdoms period, but also the historical reality of the whole feudal society. Therefore, the tragedy of the Shu-Han Group in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a historical tragedy of the birth of our nation in the tragic era, which has become the inspiration of national history and established an immortal position in the history of China literature.
(2) Benevolence.
The commentator believes that the Romance of the Three Kingdoms has a very distinct political tendency, which is mainly manifested in "respecting Liu and restraining Cao". Many commentators used this as the theme of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms before, which makes sense. However, this strong tendency of the work does not mean that this is its theme. Through the appearance of "respecting Liu and restraining Cao", what we see is the praise and yearning for benevolent government and the criticism and lashing of tyranny. The "respect" and "support" for Liu Shu in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms reflect the enthusiastic support of the people struggling in the cruel reality of the feudal system for benevolent government; The "repression" and "opposition" against Cao Wei reflected the people's deep hatred for tyranny. This is not only the theme throughout the book, but also the concrete embodiment of the democratic and progressive ideological tendency in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
(3) The theory of farmers' wishes.
The commentator believes that we can't and shouldn't analyze the theme of The Romance of Three Kingdoms without the history of its formation. Although The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is mainly based on Chen Shou's The Three Kingdoms and Pei Songzhi's Notes on Books, that is to say, it is mainly based on official history, but as a literary work, it is more influenced by storytelling, Yuan Zaju and a large number of folk stories and legends circulating since the Song and Yuan Dynasties. The tendency of "respecting Liu and restraining Cao" was gradually formed in such a long-term spread and evolution process. Respecting Liu Shu Group, deifying Guan Yu and advocating loyalty and orthodoxy are not all the thoughts of the ruling class, nor are they the thoughts of citizens. What they reflect is actually the wishes and demands of farmers. The so-called "loyalty", "benevolent government" and some ethical concepts expressed in the book should be said to be one of the contents of this desire. However, because the thought of the work itself is quite complicated, it is difficult for us to summarize its rich connotation in detail.
(4) Switch theory.
The theorist believes that the analysis of the theme of the work should strive to seek from the unity of the subjectivity of the writer's thoughts and the objectivity of the theme of the work. Judging from the work itself, it seems to be an era of division, turmoil and imminent war in China's history, which objectively describes the history from "long separation" to "long separation" in the late Han Dynasty and the early Jin Dynasty. The intricacies of political and military struggles between Wei, Shu and Wu political groups described in the works are essentially the struggle for the throne and the unification of China. The so-called "loyalty" and "unification" are all in a subordinate position and are woven into the overall structure of the unified war and the whole contradiction and conflict; Secondly, from the writer's subjective point of view, due to the striking similarity between Luo Guanzhong's life in the late Yuan and early Ming Dynasties and the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, he witnessed the desolation of the countryside and the misery of the people, and naturally recalled the turbulent and violent split period in China's history. Therefore, he wrote the romance of the Three Kingdoms in nostalgia, entrusted his grief and ideals, and consciously and unconsciously showed his dislike of war. Romance of the Three Kingdoms is the artistic expression of this tendency. It summarizes the universal and regular historical phenomenon of China feudal society from unity to division and from division to unity since the Zhou and Qin Dynasties.
Close to the theory of separation and integration is the theory of world unity.
In addition, many comrades believe that it is difficult to summarize the theme of such a literary masterpiece as The Romance of the Three Kingdoms in a few words. All kinds of statements put forward at present should be said to be "reasonable and reasonable", but it seems difficult for people to accept them unanimously. The important thing is to carefully analyze the similarities of these formulations, find out their internal relations, and compare their substantive differences, instead of jumping to conclusions. At the same time, the theme of Romance of the Three Kingdoms is also inseparable from the study of the version. Different versions often lead to different degrees of differences in theme ideas, which can not be ignored.
On the Artistic Achievements of Romance of the Three Kingdoms
(1) What do you think of the historical authenticity and artistic authenticity of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms?
This is the first question that must be answered when discussing the artistic achievements of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. On this issue, there are three main views:
The first view holds that as a historical novel, one of the most fundamental requirements is to be faithful to history, and there is no distortion or fiction of basic historical facts. The greatest advantage of Romance of the Three Kingdoms is that it is faithful to history in general and basic outline, which is manifested in the following aspects: First, the major historical facts it describes are true and well-founded; Second, although it has also made some adjustments to some materials in the official history, it has been abandoned in a small scope, exaggerated and restored, but it only belongs to the artistic technique of using historical materials and does not violate the basic facts of history; Thirdly, add some details, that is, the "virtual" part of Zhang Xuecheng's "seven realities and three virtual", but it does not violate the general trend of major historical facts and historical comments.
The second view holds that the dialectical unity of the truth of historical facts and the truth of historical essence can only be the criterion for evaluating historical works, but literary and art workers have the right to get rid of this bondage. Because literary and art workers are concerned about and interested in history, not only because it happened, but because it happened in some way. Historical events woven in historical materials are just bricks and tiles. Without the creation of writers, they cannot be turned into beautiful art halls. Therefore, what literature needs is not historical authenticity, but artistic authenticity. Although the truth of art comes from the truth of contemporary history and life, the proposition of the source cannot be replaced by the proposition of equivalence and substitution, and the qualitative difference between the two cannot be erased. As Schiller said: "Seriously destroying the authenticity of history will make the authenticity of poetry more effective" ("On the Art of Tragedy"), the author of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms tried to show not the particularity of history, but the universality and regularity of history. This universality and regularity are the basic laws on which feudal society depends. Therefore, if we don't break the shackles of historical authenticity, we can't enter the vast art palace of Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
The third view holds that historical authenticity and artistic authenticity are not diametrically opposed. As far as a specific historical novel is concerned, we have the right to require it to achieve a high degree of unity of historical authenticity and artistic authenticity. Historical truth is the foundation of artistic truth, and artistic truth is the development and deepening of historical truth. Some comrades who hold this view also point out that discussing the historical authenticity of Romance of the Three Kingdoms should not only be understood as the period described in the work, that is, the history of the Three Kingdoms period, but also include the era in which the author lived, that is, the history of the late Yuan Dynasty and the early Ming Dynasty. Because the works are written by writers, it is impossible not to be deeply branded with the times when writers live. Although The Romance of the Three Kingdoms describes a history of division, war and turmoil in the last years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the people who wrote this work lived in the late Yuan Dynasty and the early Ming Dynasty, and Luo Guanzhong would never perfunctory this history 1000 years ago just because of nostalgia. In fact, his writing of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms is well-founded, that is, he borrowed someone else's cup to pour his own piece. Therefore, instead of making great efforts to compare the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the History of the Three Kingdoms and their notes, or unofficial history's essays, it is better to study the political and historical situation in the late Yuan Dynasty and the early Ming Dynasty, just as we must study the political history of the Gan Yong era in the Qing Dynasty when we study A Dream of Red Mansions. Only in this way can we explain clearly whether the artistic truth of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms conforms to the historical truth.
(2) Are the characters in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms typical types or typical surnames?
Among the papers received at the meeting, one thinks that there are two basic forms of literary and artistic models: one is ancient and the other is modern. The important figures in the popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms highlight the important features of typical typology art: First, all the important figures have one main feature, which is very prominent and plays a decisive role in the internal factors of the image. Only this prominent feature can support the whole image. Second, the main characteristics of the characters and other factors are basically stable, lacking both vertical and horizontal development and changes, and are in a classic state of silence. Even if there are some changes, it is not a change in internal character. Thirdly, the complexity of characters' avoidance personality is manifested in: (1) the contradiction between avoidance phenomenon and essence; (2) Avoid the contradiction between reason and emotion; (3) Avoid the contradiction between the main features and other features. Fourthly, portrait description and natural environment description are also typed.
Some delegates agreed with the above views, but many others expressed different opinions. Some comrades believe that artistic typicality is the unity of * * * and individuality, and so are the figures who can be regarded as artistic typicality in the popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms. It is untenable in theory to divide artistic patterns into two types: typology and individualization. Some comrades believe that some important features of the "typical art model" summarized in the above paper (such as the second point "the main features of the characters are basically stable") do point out the weaknesses of many classical novels such as the popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but the first point ("important figures have a main feature, which is very prominent and occupies a decisive position in the internal factors of the image"). Take/kloc-the "typical personalized art" that appeared in Europe after the 0/8th century as an example. Don't Balzac's Grandet, Goethe's Faust, Goncharov's Aubrey Lomov and Chekhov's Bie Rykov all have a main feature of "prominence" and "occupying a decisive position"? Look at the famous examples in China's modern literature. Don't Ah Q written by Lu Xun, Xiangzi written by Lao She and Li Youcai written by Zhao Shuli all have a main feature of "prominence" and "dominance"? It can be seen that although this article has many incisive opinions, its central argument is not scientific enough.
At this seminar, the debate on this issue has not been fully developed, but it has aroused the interest of many comrades and needs further study.
In addition, some comrades analyzed the art of refining plots, describing wars and transforming historical facts with romantic imagination in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and pointed out that The Romance of the Three Kingdoms has made great achievements in these aspects, which has had a great and far-reaching impact on the creation of China's classical novels, including A Dream of Red Mansions, and is worthy of serious summary.
On the position and influence of Romance of the Three Kingdoms in the history of China literature.
On this issue, the views of the comrades attending the meeting are relatively consistent. Everyone agrees that as the first chapter-by-chapter historical novel in the history of China literature, the ideological achievements and artistic value of Romance of the Three Kingdoms cannot be underestimated. Especially as a historical novel, in the history of world literature, there are few works that are highly faithful to historical truth and highly artistic like The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Scott's historical novels can't compare with them. When The Romance of the Three Kingdoms appeared in China, there was no novel in the strict sense. Romance of the Three Kingdoms, like A Dream of Red Mansions, is also a treasure of our national culture. Our country's novel heritage is very rich, but only The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, The Water Margin and A Dream of Red Mansions have been preserved, which has exerted great influence, indicating that they have stood the test of the people and history. In the history of China literature, perhaps no work has attracted so many readers for so long as The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which has been treasured by our whole nation for hundreds of years. It has a wide and far-reaching influence on the spiritual and cultural life of our nation, and plays a great role in promoting the formation of our national character and the promotion of our national spirit.
Everyone agrees that up to now, we haven't done enough research on The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and our previous evaluation of it was also low. This situation is out of proportion to the position of this book in the history of China literature. Participants agreed that the study of The Romance of The Three Kingdoms should be further strengthened, and efforts should be made not only in the source of the edition and the textual research of the author, but also in exploring its ideological and cognitive value and artistic creation experience. As a "political and historical novel" in a strict sense, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms covers a wide range of important issues such as politics, military affairs, society, life and ethics, which we should all analyze, understand, evaluate and learn from. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is about state affairs and encourages military courage and wisdom, which are of great practical significance at present. In addition, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, as China's first Zhang Hui-style historical novel, all the basic elements and main features of China Zhang Hui's novels were formed in this work, which deeply influenced the creation of a large number of Zhang Hui's novels in later generations. A careful study of his artistic achievements will undoubtedly help us to deeply explore the nationalization and popularization of contemporary literary creation.