Criticism originated in the middle of Ming Dynasty, including Jin Shengtan's criticism of Water Margin, Mao Zong's criticism of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and Zhang Zhupo's criticism of The Journey to the West.
The fixed format of critics: preface, inscription, reading, question and answer, illustration, praise, etc. There are eyebrows, clips, comments, etc. , mainly circles and comments.
Second, the Suoyin school
Suoyin School, also known as Political Suoyin School, is an old school of Redology, which has a history of 200 years since its birth.
Seeking the truth is literally exploring the true story hidden in the book by the author. Under the influence of textual research style of Confucian classics in Ganjia period, Suoyin School formed a school. The main means is to make a big fuss about textual research, and find out what is hidden from the plot and characters of the novel and who is hiding it.
Third, the topic of chanting schools
Poetic school is a school that focuses on the perspective of A Dream of Red Mansions in the form of verse in the early days, focusing on the joys and sorrows of the characters in the book, thus sending them envy or emotion.
Some of the poems and songs of the Wing Huai School express the outlook on life of "floating like a dream"; Some exaggerate the prosperous scenery and romantic feelings, revealing a kind of admiration and a kind of thinking; Some sympathized with Baochai and expressed a feeling of "helpless flowers falling".
Fourth, critics.
The beginning of criticism was the publication of Wang Guowei's Review of A Dream of Red Mansions in 1904. Wang Guowei used Schopenhauer's theory to analyze not only the spirit and theme of A Dream of Red Mansions, but also its aesthetic and ethical values.
After comparing A Dream of Red Mansions with The Peony Pavilion, The Palace of Eternal Life and The West Chamber. It is concluded that the author of A Dream of Red Mansions is a tragedy among tragedies.
This is the first paper to systematically comment on A Dream of Red Mansions with philosophical aesthetics. Since then, academic circles have started a comprehensive and systematic study and comment on A Dream of Red Mansions.
Textual research school of verbs (abbreviation of verb)
Textual research school is the most influential and powerful school in the history of redology. Hu Shi's Textual Research on a Dream of Red Mansions is the pioneering work of the Textual Research School, which opened up a new era of redology.
Through a large number of historical materials, Hu Shi researched the author, the author's life background, the process of writing the book and the prototype of the feudal family in the book, and came to the conclusion that A Dream of Red Mansions was Cao Xueqin's "self-legend", which was amazing at that time.