The Ideological and Artistic Value of Shi Shuo Xin Yu
A work can be called a classic, and it must have special and irreplaceable value in a nation's cultural history, contain rich and meaningful cultural information, and have a noticeable influence on the development of national culture. Shi Shuo Xin Yu is a book compiled from old articles, and its content is only short stories of characters and even a few words of celebrities. How can you put it in the classics?
In short, Wei and Jin Dynasties were a turning point in the history of China. The political structure, ideology, culture, literature and art of society have all undergone important changes in this era, and the gentry class is the backbone of Wei and Jin society. The book Shi Shuo Xin Yu presents the mental outlook of scholars in Wei and Jin Dynasties by sorting out and modifying various related documents, thus reflecting the basic characteristics of Wei and Jin Dynasties' ideology and culture.
Although its contents are probably pre-existing, not only the books that originally included those materials are mostly scattered, but also the above effects could not be so clearly reflected if the editors did not selectively collect and sort out these books. It is precisely as the concentrated carrier of Wei-Jin ideology and culture and the concentrated expression of the spiritual outlook of Wei-Jin scholars that Shi Shuo Xin Yu has the conditions to become a classic. What needs to be added is: when we talk about the value of Shi Shuo Xin Yu, we include Liu Xiao's comments; Because Liu Zhu used various materials to supplement the original work, it objectively played the same role as the original work.
The rise of gentry forces and the formation of the gate valve system is a historical process, which cannot be described in detail here. Generally speaking, gentry is an aristocratic class developed by local forces. They have a solid economic foundation and superior cultural resources, and their dependent population can be transformed into independent military forces when necessary. Members of the gentry participated in national political activities through official positions and safeguarded family rights and interests. The superior conditions led to the situation of being an official forever. At the same time, different aristocratic families connected with each other through marriage, which consolidated and expanded their strength as a special social group. It is generally believed that Cao Pi's implementation of the "nine-grade system" after the Wei Dynasty marked the recognition of the privileges of the gentry by the state and the establishment of the door-door politics, the most typical of which was formed in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. In the era of door-to-door politics, there has been a political structure in which imperial power and aristocratic power coexist and balance each other. Although imperial power is still regarded as the highest power and symbol of the country in theory, in fact it can not cancel and surpass the power of the gentry; In some years, imperial power actually became a virtual thing, completely out of the control of state affairs. The reason is simple: in other cases, the power of bureaucrats comes from imperial power, while the power of gentry is entirely based on their own strength. When we say the concept of "Wei and Jin scholars", we don't mean the gentry class; Its meaning is vague and its scope is much larger. For example, "single-door scholar" is also a part of "scholar", which is often just opposite to the gentry-often called "aristocratic family". However, in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, as the backbone of society, their thoughts and interests will inevitably influence and dominate the whole "scholar" group.
Lu Xun believes that the popularity of such novels, from Yu Lin and Guo Zi to Shi Shuo Xin Yu, has a lot to do with the need of ordinary literati to imitate the manners of senior intellectuals, which is credible. In the historical process of the collapse of the Han dynasty, the growing influence of the gentry and the profound changes in society, Confucianism, which exists as a national ideology to safeguard the unified politics, gradually declined. Of course, Confucianism has not withdrawn from social and political life, and some contents of Confucianism (such as the exploration of "ceremony") are paid more attention than the previous generation. However, its exclusive authoritative position no longer exists, and its blinding and stupid functions have disappeared in the minds of scholars. Since the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, while making a new interpretation of Confucian classics, the theory of Laozi and Zhuangzi flourished and Buddhist thoughts spread widely. Therefore, Wei and Jin Dynasties have become another era of ideological emancipation and a hundred schools of thought contend since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, so it is also a particularly rich era in the history of thought. Although Shi Shuo Xin Yu doesn't include a long story, the words and deeds of the characters recorded in it vividly reflect the above important characteristics of this era.
Shi Shuo Xin Yu is often called a book that records metaphysical words in Wei and Jin Dynasties. Although it is not comprehensive enough, it also reveals the basic characteristics of this book. The so-called "metaphysics" is the theory of integrating Confucianism and Taoism and then Buddhism, which is popular in aristocratic society. It involves many problems, but the root of it can be said that metaphysics has a strong metaphysical nature. It pays attention to the universe itself, investigates the principles behind objects, and often questions human thinking rules and language expressions. The concept of "metaphysics" is often associated with adjectives such as emptiness, remoteness, profundity and subtlety. Metaphysics, even when discussing issues with realistic political background such as "Ming religion and nature", likes to conduct it in a logical way from the level of abstract principles. Therefore, although many people have accused metaphysics of being impractical since ancient times, and even accused it of "saying the wrong country", it actually represents an important progress in the ancient people's in-depth thinking and thinking methods about the relationship between man and the world. Shi Shuo Xin Yu not only retains many names and some important contents of metaphysical words in Wei and Jin Dynasties, but also describes the specific scenes and atmosphere of metaphysical words, and records all kinds of interesting remarks presented by scholars in Wei and Jin Dynasties under the influence of metaphysical atmosphere in a wider scope. Researchers generally pay attention to the awakening of individual consciousness in Wei and Jin Dynasties, and think that this phenomenon is of great significance to the development of China's ideology and culture.
In China's cultural tradition, it has always been the dominant consciousness to emphasize the obedience of individuals to groups and the suppression of individual will and desire by social ethics. However, although people must form groups to seek common survival, they must abide by some principles of group life, which is fundamentally an individual existence that can only be self-centered; Except me, it's not me. We may use this sentence to describe the confrontation between an independent spiritual subject and the whole world. Therefore, the suppression or even obliteration of individual consciousness will inevitably lead to the distortion of gender and the shrinkage of people's creative ability. Since the middle and late Eastern Han Dynasty, social unrest, the decline of imperial power, the weakening of national consciousness and the improvement of social identity of the gentry have all provided conditions for the individual consciousness of the gentry. On the other hand, it is also the response of human nature caused by the irrationality and even absurdity hidden in the old cultural tradition. The so-called self-consciousness of personality consciousness, from the internal connotation, emphasizes the individual's body as the truth and the standard of deciding right and wrong with one's own heart; From the external performance, we should show our uniqueness everywhere, even if we are not superior to others, we should maintain our own style. Yin Hao replied to Huan Wen: "I have been dealing with me for a long time, I would rather be me!" That's what I'm saying. Therefore, the words and deeds of the characters recorded in Shi Shuo Xin Yu will be ridiculed whenever there are strange and shocking things that are the same as the customs; Just like a scholar-bureaucrat, holding a pink satin in his hand and feeling sorry for himself, it was ridiculous in later generations, and it was also a fashion of self-promotion in the upper class at that time. There are also researchers at home and abroad who compare the ideology and culture in Wei and Jin Dynasties with the Renaissance in European history. The most interesting thing here is that the prosperity of literature and art and the strengthening of individual consciousness are interrelated and roughly synchronized.
As we all know, Wei and Jin Dynasties are called the era of "literary consciousness". Music, painting, calligraphy and even Go all underwent qualitative changes in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, showing unprecedented prosperity. Why is there such a connection? Because, although literature can also be used for publicity and education, although music and painting can also be used as the object of daily enjoyment of the rich, its real value is the display of personal intelligence and creativity, and it is a way of self-expression and self-venting. In a society, if the creation of literature and art is not mainly determined by the author's own spiritual needs, it may have technical achievements, but its vitality and appeal can only be limited. During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, it was precisely because of the strong individual consciousness of scholars that they were full of enthusiasm for literature and art, which also triggered its prosperity and growth. In Shi Shuo Xin Yu, we can read many beautiful stories related to literature, music and calligraphy. For example, Ji Kang played a song "Guangling San" and died calmly.
In a word, Shi Shuo Xin Yu mainly reflects the spiritual outlook of literati in the late Eastern Han Dynasty and Wei and Jin Dynasties. If it is unreasonable for the gentry to enjoy political privileges, as a noble culture, the gentry culture must have many defects, which is of course a fact. But from another perspective, it is precisely because the gentry are a special class with little dependence on the state and imperial power that they experienced and responded to universal problems in their own way earlier in history: the value of personal dignity, the necessity of freedom, the price of freedom and dignity, the nothingness and beauty of life and so on. Shi Shuo Xin Yu is certainly a book with rich connotations, and the value orientation of each part of the book is not strictly unified. However, if the author is asked to summarize its main spiritual value in the simplest language, it can be said that it embodies the understanding and love of Wei and Jin scholars for dignity, virtue, wisdom and beauty. In the above analysis, we emphasized the characteristics of the times of Shi Shuo Xin Yu. When it comes to the art of this ancient novel, it is completely inseparable from its characteristics of the times. In the aristocratic society of Wei and Jin Dynasties, the most attractive thing for a senior figure is his elegant and noble temperament and charm, so Shi Shuo Xin Yu also focuses on the characters. It describes the characters, starting from the details, but it often has far-reaching implications, which makes readers feel cordial and admire at the same time. Since the end of the Han Dynasty, folk algae have prevailed, and they often distinguish right from wrong by comparing people. Therefore, Shi Shuo Xin Yu often depicts characters by contrast, and one side sets off the other. From the end of Han Dynasty to the metaphysical words of Wei and Jin Dynasties, the alert, meaningful and unexpected interest of words was valued by the world, and the characters' words recorded in Shi Shuo Xin Yu were naturally full of Miao Yan's handsome words, which made people relaxed and happy. Therefore, under the influence of this atmosphere, in the narrative landscape, the writing in the book is far more successful than the words. Needless to elaborate on the artistic features of Shi Shuo Xin Yu, I just want to see its basic features through the above points. The charm and feelings of the next generation of metaphysics can be clearly seen through thousands of years, which is the greatest artistic achievement of Shi Shuo Xin Yu.