How to understand literary style

Basic meaning

★ Style, the basic concept and terminology of China's ancient literary theory, is essentially an aesthetic requirement for the content and wording of literary works. The most complete and systematic poetic style is Liu Xie's Wen Xin Diao Long.

★ "Style of character" was used to judge characters, which began at the end of Han Dynasty and became popular after Wei and Jin Dynasties. For example, Song Wudi called it a "unique style", and the world's new story Shangshu Yumen quoted the style of Wang Xizhi's Ji 'an Emperor, while the biography of Cai Jian called Cai.

Theoretical analysis

★ The style of painting discussion began with the Catalogue of Ancient Paintings by Sheikh of Nanqi. In the preface, Sheikh put forward six criteria for evaluating paintings, one is "vivid charm" and the other is "penetrating brushwork". The former focuses on style, similar to spirit, while the latter focuses on the powerful bone stem caused by brushwork. Sheikh divided painters into six categories and commented on one painter, Cao Buxing. He said, "The sign of inactivity is the sign of indifference." After that, the concept of "character style" was widely used in painting theory. The style of Chinese characters is also used for calligraphy evaluation. Mrs. Jin Wei's brushwork says: "Those who are good at writing are bony, while those who are not good at writing are fleshy. Those who are thin and fleshy are called Jin Shu, while those who are fleshy are called Mo Zhu. Strong muscles and bones are sacred, and weak muscles and bones are sick. " (Calligraphy should be recorded.

★ Liu Xie's "Wen Xin Diao Long Feng Gu" said: "To express feelings with melancholy must start from the wind, ponder over words, not before bones. Therefore, words are like bones, feelings contain wind, and they are still full of gas. When the words are straight, the bones become awkward; If you have a strong spirit, your writing style will flourish ... Therefore, those who practice to the bone will analyze the words accurately, and those who are deeply hidden in the wind will show their feelings. Typing is firm but difficult to move, and it is not stagnant. This is also the strength of the style of writing. " How to understand the exact meaning of Liu Xie's "style of writing" is quite controversial in later generations. Tomorrow, Mei Qingsheng will note that the word "Wen" is just a word, a word is a word, a word is a word, a word is a word, a word is a word, a word is a word, a word is a word, a word is a word, a word is a word, a word is a word, a word is a word, a word is a word, a word is a word. Therefore, the article "wind bone" belongs to qi, and qi belongs to wind. "In the comment on the article" Wind bone ",I said:" Although the word "wind bone" is divided, it is mainly wind. The wind can cover the bones, and the bones must be treated by the wind. Therefore, this paper starts with the wind, which is more important than qi, which belongs to the wind. "Cao Xue-first of all-'wind' is in a dominant position. In Qing Dynasty, Huang said in the annotation of Wen Xin Diao Long: "Qi is the root of wind. Ji Yun disagreed and said, "Qi is the character of the wind, not to mention its origin and end. "The understanding of' the character of the wind' is still inconclusive.

When talking about "the character of wind", Liu Xie first talked about the origin of "wind" in the Book of Songs: "Poetry has six meanings, and wind is the first, which is the source of emotion and the symbol of ambition." This is an educational function based on "wind". The preface of Shi Mao says: "Wind, wind. Wind, teach change. " With the wind, people can be moved, but the wind itself is neither enlightenment nor ambition, but the source of enlightenment and the expression of ambition. The relationship between wind and emotion is relatively close. Emotion not only refers to emotion, but also includes lyric narration. Therefore, the wind is also an ambition. Emotion is not the wind, but it is the moving wind. There are many kinds of qi, and what Liu Xie needs is "cool" qi. Form is a "clear and rigorous" wind to the wind. Full of qi leads to wind, and wind leads to clear meaning and obvious feelings. Therefore, the "wind" requires works to be emotional, touching, lively, fast and hearty.

★ Liu Xie said: "Thoughtful words should not precede bones. Therefore, words should treat bones, just like the skeleton of the body. ""If you finish your words directly, your words will become profound. " "If you practice in your bones, you will be good at analyzing words." (Wen Xin Diao Long Feng Gu) Bone is closely related to Ci. Use the word "bone" first. Poor thinking, concise writing, there is no "bone." Therefore, "bone" is an emotional work, which should be written concisely, with words and meanings commensurate, organized and powerful. In short, with "wind", it will be vivid, and with "bone", it will be vigorous. With "Qi", words will be vigorous and powerful.

Contrary to the above view, another view holds that "bone" is a literary meaning and "wind" is a literary expression. Mainly, "Ci is the root of skin and ambition is the bone marrow", and "Wen Xin Diao Long" says: "When studying literature, we should do what we can, and the system should be correct. He must take emotion as God and meaning as work. This is the backbone of literary creation. Without this backbone, it is absolutely difficult to form beautiful literature, so there is a saying that "thinking over words is not ahead of bones" At the same time, the bone marrow of an article is of course emotion and thought, but its expression depends on the momentum of the article, so there is also the saying of "thinking carefully and keeping the business spirit" This "literary spirit" is the so-called "wind".

There is another opinion that "style" and "spirit" are the unity of content and form of the work, forming the style of the work. In Wen Xin Diao Long, the style only discusses the diversified styles of literary works in general; By choosing different style factors among various styles, Feng Gu is an advanced style with rigid beauty. The so-called "Feng Gu" refers to a distinctive, vivid, concise and vigorous style, which is Liu Xie's higher requirement or standard for literary style.

In addition to Liu Xie, Liang Zhongrong of the Southern Dynasties also advocated character, but the word he used was "wind power" or "character". In his poems, he once called Cao Zhi "of extremely high character". "Preface to Poetry" also points out: "In Yongjia, we attach importance to Huang Lao, but our talk is a little empty. In time, the words were rationalized and the taste was weak. The poems of Sun Chuo, Xu Xun and Yuhuan are all as good as On Virtue, and the Jian 'an style is exhausted. " The theory of Wen Feng didn't achieve much at that time. In the Tang Dynasty, based on the need to reform the style of writing, Chen Ziang advocated "the style of writing in Han and Wei Dynasties" and used it as a weapon to sweep away the splendid style of writing left in the Six Dynasties, which made the poetry reform movement in the Tang Dynasty achieve fruitful results. From the perspective of the history of literary criticism, the theory of "literary style" is summed up from China's excellent literary tradition and is the perfection of later literary theory.