Why is the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties the conscious era of literature?

1. During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, people had a clearer understanding of the concept of literature. During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, although there were also concepts of "literature" and "article", the meaning of "article" was different from that of Han Dynasty. Cao Pi thinks there are four articles: memorial, book theory, inscription and poetry. Although there are some differences between this kind of "literature" and today's "literature", it has made great progress than the Han people. On the one hand, it excludes historical biography, and on the other hand, it combines poetry with ci and fu into the category of literature. Although this reduction and increase is not a simple mathematical problem, it greatly purifies the concept of literature. In addition, the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties also made a clear analysis of "writing style". In the Han Dynasty, writing is a general term for all kinds of articles and works, and it is a very vague concept. Later, Liu Xie made a linguistic analysis of it: "Nowadays, as the saying goes, there is a pen in writing, thinking that those who have no rhyme write, and those who have rhyme write", which is also relatively superficial. Later, Xiao Yi made an accurate analysis of it from the nature of literature: "If it is inconvenient, it will be poetry like Yan usurped, and if it is good, it will be like Bo Song. If it is like this, it will be a pen; Those who sing the wind and linger in mourning are called the articles. " This distinction undoubtedly makes people have a further understanding of the concept of literature. It is precisely because people's understanding of literature in this period became clear that Song Wendi established the fourth museum "Wen Guan" alongside Confucianism, metaphysics and history. There is another point that I think it is necessary to mention, that is, Cao Pi's proposition of "taking qi as the text" highly summarized from the perspective of literary creation. "Wen is given priority to with gas, and the turbidity of gas has a body, which is not strong enough. For example, all kinds of music, although the curvature is even, the rhythm is the same, but as for the air bleeding, it is skillful and skillful. Although you are a father and brother, you can't move your children. " The "Qi" that Cao Pi thinks here is naturally not the "Qi" at the philosophical level, but should refer to a temperament personality created by literati, which cannot be imitated and taught. And from it, various literary works of different styles have been formed. This also has to be said to be a progressive understanding of literary concepts. To sum up, people's concept of "literature" in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties was much ahead of that of Han people, and it was also closer to modern literature.

second, the awakening of people and the improvement of the status of literati and literature in the Wei and Jin dynasties promoted the consciousness of literature. "The consciousness of literature is by no means an isolated phenomenon. It is guided by the awakening of individual consciousness. Without the recognition and affirmation of people's own value and the formation of the concept of respecting people's personality, it is impossible to have the coming of the literary' conscious' era. Because the creation of art has always been an individual spiritual activity, without the relative freedom of the creative subject, there is no' conscious' development of literature. " The Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties was a time when people realized themselves. Some people think that the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties period is the most turbulent period in China's history, with constant wars and frequent dynasty changes. The political unity and ideological unity formed in the Han Dynasty have become fragmented and the whole social order has been disrupted. In this troubled times, literati are different from ordinary people. Although they feel the hardships of life like ordinary people, however, scholars are thoughtful and their eyes are not limited to this. They are very sensitive, so "in the war, it is the easiest to feel the shortness of life, the fragility of life, the uncertainty of fate, the impermanence of fortune and personal powerlessness", so the literati thought at that time was extremely painful and complicated. They have no intention to continue to abide by the traditional Confucian ethics, and they don't want to let it bind their own thoughts, but spend more time thinking about their own values. They began to pursue their independence and freedom, and their sensual enjoyment. "The Six Classics are dominated by suppression, and human nature takes obedience as joy. It is contrary to one's wishes to suppress the quotation, and it is natural to get it from desire. " This is exactly the portrayal of the literati at that time. At the same time, at that time, scholars were especially treated by various local forces. In order to attract scholars for their own use, they all abandoned the principle of "taking people by virtue" followed by the Han Dynasty, but adopted a way of "selecting people by merit" regardless of their moral character. "A man who has a career may not be able to make progress, and an enterprising man may not be able to make progress." In such an environment, the literati realized the value of their own learning, which made their subjective spirit be publicized, and the lyric function of literature was greatly exerted. The literati were able to fully express their emotions and aspirations and show their individual spiritual world, "making people the real theme of literature." In addition to the improvement of the status of literati, the status of literature has also begun to improve. According to the traditional view, writing a book is regarded as a secondary thing in life. Confucius said, "If you have spare capacity, you should learn from literature." ⒄ Because of this, it is "too virtuous, second meritorious, and second statement, although it will not be abolished for a long time, this is immortal." The statement. However, Cao Pi has a different view. He elevated literature from a secondary position to be as immortal as virtue. He said, "Building an article is a great undertaking of the country and an immortal event. Years of life sometimes end, and glory stops at its body. Both will come to a normal period, not if the article is endless. " In his view, all the honors and disgraces in the world are not worth mentioning, they are all empty, and people don't have to take them as the standard of success or failure, but only literary creation can realize your life value. This is undoubtedly a supreme praise for literature. All these things were not available to the Han people, and it was precisely because of these that the independent and natural development of literature at that time was promoted.

Third, the themes and genres of literature in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties were greatly enriched and developed. "The Wei, Jin and Six Dynasties at the end of the Han Dynasty were the most chaotic and socially painful times in China. However, it was an era of spiritual freedom, liberation, wisdom and enthusiasm, and therefore the most artistic spirit." Therefore, the themes and genres of literati's creation in this period are diverse, which is unmatched by the previous generation. On the theme of creation, some are ambitious, such as Cao Cao's "Watching the Sea"; Some express their desire to make contributions, such as Cao Zhi's "Seeking Self-Test Table" and "White Horse"; Some describe the sufferings of people in a turbulent society, such as Cao Cao's "Hao Li Xing"; Some confide in the sufferings of thinking about women, such as Cao Pi's "Yan Ge Xing" and Pan Yue's "Mourning Poems". Some describe the pastoral scenery, such as Tao Yuanming's Poems of Peach Blossom Garden and Xie Lingyun's Journey from Jin Bamboo Stream to Ling River. In addition, there are those who express the hardships of marching, describe personal experiences and explain metaphysical meanings, which have covered almost all aspects of life and displayed people's real life and spiritual world at that time. In the genre of creation, with the efforts of Cao Shi and his son, the five-character poem entered its development and prosperity period; Seven-character poems also began to develop during this period. For example, Cao Pi's "Yan Ge Xing" is considered to be the first mature seven-character ancient poem in China. Lyric Fu and Parallel Prose all entered their peak period. At the same time, novels and metrical poems have also begun to take shape, such as Searching for the Gods. The emergence of heavyweight literary monographs such as Cao Pi's Dian Lun Wen, Lu Ji's Wen Fu, Liu Xie's Wen Xin Diao Long and Zhong Rong's Shi Pin made this period stand in a very important position in the history of China's literary criticism.

From all the above analysis, we can see that the literary consciousness came into being in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, which is also the conclusion recognized by most scholars. China's literary consciousness originated from this, and pure literature also embarked on the fast lane of development. It can be said that the prosperity of literature in Tang and Song Dynasties was based on the development of literature in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. It can also be seen that the literature of Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties occupies an important position in the history of China literature.