After reading the biography of Pu Songling co-authored by Mr. Yuan and Mr. Wang (published by Nanjing University Press in June 2000), it seems that the answer to this question can be found.
In the introduction of the book, we see this introduction: "Pu Songling was an outstanding writer in the Qing Dynasty. He studied, taught and wrote books all his life, and his deeds were unremarkable, but he made outstanding contributions in the field of elegant and popular literature, especially the collection of novels, Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio, which was famous for later generations and the world literary world. This book describes Pu Songling's life track and friends in detail, and profoundly reveals the creative mentality and successive changes of his various works. It is more profound and pertinent to understand the book Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio as a way of literary aesthetics from the perspective of religious mystery consciousness and to comment on it from the perspective of novel morphology. " This means that Mr. Yuan and Mr. Xu abandoned the influence of vulgar sociology in the past and adhered to the principle of seeking truth from facts, which is very valuable. The research method of Pu Songling's Biography has three characteristics: first, stick to the traditional research method, make great efforts to textual research, discuss Pu Songling's tracks and friends, and explain the life foundation and social environment of his creation; Secondly, from the writer's creative mentality, it analyzes the artistic personality of Pu's "Elegant Love Seeking God"; Thirdly, analyze the related works of Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio from the perspective of religion and folklore, so that the understanding will be closer to that of Pu Songling, and the "flavor" may be solved.
Pu Songling was born in the 13th year of Chongzhen in Ming Dynasty (1640) and died in the 54th year of Kangxi in Qing Dynasty (17 15). Pu Songling lived in a historical era of dynasty change and social unrest. The important thing is the change of political situation, but the writer's personal hardships made him struggle at the bottom of society with his intelligence and spirit of struggle in poor and bad times. Pu Songling's biography highlights two major events in the master's adult life: the analysis of his brother and the loss of his position in the examination hall. In this way, he had to take the library as his home and lead a guest life. It is such a relatively stable living condition that Pu Songling can "show the red window of the terrace of the famous garden". Far-sighted Luan Jing fish courageously, Mo Wen powder flat. It's as quiet as the road by Wuling Creek, and there are only a few chickens and dogs in the village. When you lie down, you can avoid the noise. It's flying with teeth gnashing, and you don't have to rely on He Dian. "(Pu Songling's" He Xinliang ",see chapter 6 of Pu Songling's comments, page 104) This analysis is very objective.
What is particularly commendable is that the review quoted 102 works of Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio, accounting for 20% of the 497 works of Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio. Coverage is wide, with distinctive typicality. This is not a simple analysis of the author's life story and works, but a combination of the author's life situation to analyze the author's creative mentality. For example, in the second chapter "Youth", combining "Wild Dog" and "Grandson nine niang", the author points out that; "This is obviously a tortuous expression of the accusation of the Qing court's bloody suppression and indiscriminate killing of innocent people, and deep sympathy for the good people who were killed." The author then pointed out: "With the passage of time, the Qing Dynasty gradually consolidated, and Pu Songling, an adult, could only be his docile subjects. Like most scholars, he still hopes to enter the official career through the imperial examination. " However, Pu Songling's road to imperial examination was very difficult and unfortunate. Mr. Jin Kemu also talked about Pu Songling in his New Essay on Stereotyped Writing. He said:
Pu Songling was the author of Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio in the early Qing Dynasty. He tried every time, and he didn't get a tribute until he was seventy years old, which was equivalent to a scholar. Is this stereotyped writing? Stereotyped writing influenced him to become an official, but it didn't affect his composition. Liaozhai is mainly narrative. Stereotyped writing is not narrative. He can write parallel prose. In the preface to Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio, it says, "Gather your armpit hair and continue to record the ghost." . A pen in vain is just a lonely and angry book. It is also sad to pin it on it. "Stereotyped writing and parallel prose are linked together, and the antithesis of Eight Bits is parallel prose. In Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio, the "Day of a Different Stone" that imitates the style of "Taishigong Gong Yue" in Historical Records is often similar to the eight-part gossip. In "Si Wenlang", I talked about an interesting "broken topic". Many articles involve the imperial examination, and they are quite dissatisfied with the examination and examiners. It can be seen from these that his eight-part essay should be equally talented. He can go to senior high school in the county examination and the government examination, and will be the last in the provincial examination, which shows that stereotyped writing is by no means bad, nor can it be entirely attributed to bad luck, but most of his articles are exposed out of date, and the main company refuses or is inconvenient to admit them. There is already a prison slut in the serial, and there is a story outside the book to prove it. (See On Stereotyped Writing, Zhonghua Book Company, June 2000, p. 93).
We quoted Mr. Jin Kemu's article to confirm Pu Songling's biography, saying that the biography is about the knowledge of scholars. Of course, the comments are more precise and detailed. The Biography of Pu Songling also combines the scandal that the examination room was abandoned in the 29th year of Kangxi (1690), and Pu Songling's works Sansheng, Yu Qu Xie and Jia ridiculed and cursed the darkness of the examination room and the ignorance of the examiners, so as to vent their anger. How much we hated in ancient times, how sad we were. "(River of No Return) He could not swallow this tone.
Pu Songling once named his mystery novel History of Fox and Ghost, which fully explained the status and proportion of fox and ghost (including immortal, flower demon, refined charm, etc.). ) In Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio. Lu Xun commented on Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio in A Brief History of Chinese Novels, saying: "Nothing more than remembering the gods and spirits, but describing twists and turns, telling stories in an orderly way, and using legendary methods to take the strange shape as before;" Or it's easy to change tones and strings. Don't say abnormal people are different. Out of illusion, they will be human. Even the anecdotes are concise, which makes readers feel refreshed. "Why did Pu Songling create so many unforgettable artistic images of foxes and ghosts? There are two reasons for the author's analysis: first, Pu Songling's artistic hobbies are "seeking God's elegant love" and "talking about ghosts happily"; Second, when he was depressed and away from his family, he leaned against the window and closed the door. He can only meditate under the blue light and wander around with the ghost fox, which can not only enrich his spiritual life, but also show his emotions, punish evil and promote good, and make the world turbulent and clear. There are many examples in the commentary, so I won't repeat them here. For example, Ying Ning, a silly Ying Ning girl who loves to laugh, laughs regardless of the object, occasion and discretion. According to comments and analysis, this is just Pu Songling's way of expressing his thoughts. "The name, taken from" Zhuangzi Masterpiece ":"It is the meeting of all things to meet, destroy and succeed, and its name is Ning. Have a good life, have a good life after the cherry blossoms. "The so-called' Ning' refers to a spiritual realm that is indifferent to success or failure. Pu Songling's poem "Sitting Cross-legged" says: "Close the door in your busy schedule. "The image of Ying Ning is the symbol and embodiment of this realm. It should be said that this analysis is very accurate.
The critic adopted the speculative method of imagery when studying Ying Ning, and the retrospective technique when discussing Jin Ping Mei, which promoted Pu Songling's creative mentality to another realm with realistic struggle significance. Wang Shizhen recorded the life of the monk Jin in Volume 4 of Talking about Parting with Gan: "Living in a villa, wearing fresh clothes, singing and dancing, although the famous family is not as good as Yan." A special monk died. "If there is a person who hangs, he will be punished as a layman." Pu Songling made a vivid description in The Golden Monk, which reflected the corruption of Buddhism as a land of pure land from one side, and the corruption of Buddhism was a manifestation of extremely decadent society. Pu Songling tried his best to impeach the club through his works of art, and his combativeness was obvious.
Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio has a wide range of materials, including anecdotes heard from friends and villagers, and materials extracted from ancient books to enrich and develop it. Compared with melons, Pu Songling's comments on planting pears in Volume I of Su Ji Shen point out wonderfully that planting pears is full of extravagance and exaggeration, and full of vitality, which is an important task. There are so many foxes and ghosts in the serial story. Is it because Pu Songling preached feudal superstition?
The answer, of course, isno. The commentary specifically discusses Pu Songling's religious view, pointing out that he has read Buddhist scriptures and likes to say Buddhist words, but he is not a Buddhist or a good person who believes in Buddhism. He is just an ancient scholar who "waits for his heart to release", seeking a kind of comfort in the spiritual world and obtaining a way of sustenance. He has read Taoist books and yearns for the return to nature advocated by Laozi and Zhuangzi's philosophy of life, but he is not a Taoist believer. He doesn't believe in ghosts and gods, but he thinks that ghosts and gods in people's hearts, including the absurd theory of hell, have an effect on people's minds, which can comfort, induce, warn and avoid knowing. This also runs through the creation of Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio, which makes the content and ideas of this book quite complicated and the artistic creation different. Generally speaking, he got rid of the restriction and bondage of religious consciousness, expressed his life experience, feelings and expectations by writing ghosts and gods, and created a new realm of strange novels with his creative thinking. He combined the methods of persuasion and punishment of religion, especially Buddhism, rewarding the good and punishing the evil, so that the good can be blessed, the bad can be punished by heaven, and the bad can be condemned. Then he combined the consciousness of Shinto, which is basically similar to the religious book "Persuading the Good". It should be said that such an analysis is in line with reality.
The Biography of Pu Songling introduces Pu Songling's Liaozhai Folk Songs and Liaozhai Essays, including The Complete Book of Marriage, Daily Vulgarity, Classic of Agriculture and Mulberry, Medical Collection, Watching Elephants and Playing Characters, etc., which shows Pu Songling's extensive knowledge and extraordinary achievements. It also introduces that Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio is one of the most widely translated classical novels in China, probably no less than A Dream of Red Mansions.