Tang Xianzu, a writer in the Ming Dynasty, advocated a sentimental view of literature (the theory of utmost affection). In this regard, previous academic discussions failed to simply explain Tang Xianzu's "sentimental" thought in the inscriptions on Peony Pavilion and other documents, and failed to give a concrete and systematic theoretical explanation of his concept of "emotion". Focusing on Tang Xianzu's three important propositions, namely, "There is love in the world, there is law in the world", "All articles in the world are strange" and "There is always love in the world, and poetry is born and works in spirit", this paper systematically explains the core idea of Tang Xianzu's "emotionalism" literary view, and divides it into three aspects: emotion, strangeness and spirit.
Keywords Ming Dynasty Literature/Tang Xianzu/Sentimentalism
Author's brief introduction Xiao Ying (1962-), male, from Weiyuan County, Sichuan Province, is a professor and doctoral supervisor in the Department of Philosophy of Tsinghua University, and a researcher in the Research Center of Aesthetics and Aesthetic Education of Peking University, mainly engaged in aesthetics and cultural research, and is in the Department of Philosophy of Tsinghua University.
First, "the world of love has the world of law"
Tang Xianzu's literary theory stems from his dissatisfaction with the trend of imitation of weak countries in the late Ming Dynasty, represented by the "later seven sons". He said, "I stopped writing, Song Shixue. Fang Xun's ambition is weak. His strength is different from Li Mengyang to Langya, which is wrong. Brother, who can be true? Really not enough. " [1] (p1451) "Unreality is not enough" is a basic criterion for whether literature can be passed down from generation to generation. In the literary context of the late Ming Dynasty, "truth" is centered on "emotion" and is a straightforward expression and expression of self-emotion, while truth is the master of literature-not only the theme of literary expression is true emotion, but also the way of literary expression must be true and sincere. Before Tang Xianzu and since Li Mengyang, Tang Shunzhong, Jiao Hong and Tu Long all advocated the "theory of true love literature" with the connotation of expressing one's mind directly, while Xu Wei and Li Zhi, who were the ancestors of Wang Yangming's theory of mind, even praised the free expression of self-emotion to the naturalistic height of transcending laws, beauty and ugliness. It can be said that Tang Xianzu's literary thought developed on the route of personality and emotion initiated by Xu Wei and Li Zhi.
However, for Tang Xianzu, who suffered from "career exhaustion and Taoism pulling" for half his life, the theme of "emotion" in literary creation should be regarded as the result of long-term accumulation and suppression of self-emotion release. After 50, Tang Xianzu made no secret of his theme. After he created The Peony Pavilion, which preached the love theme of "Die for Love, born to love", Prime Minister Zhang Xinjian gently advised him face to face: "Only by being wise and wise can we climb high and look far. Why do you want to go out of Luoguan and cross Fujian, but let it slip between Bixiao and Red Teeth, and be laughed at for nothing? " Tang Xianzu's answer is: "Xianzu and my teacher give lectures all day, and people don't understand." Teachers talk about sex and show their ancestors. [2] (P82,84) refers to Tang Xianzu's great talent in spreading Taoism-if he takes the stage to give lectures ("grasping the pen and climbing the mountain"), it will affect the Taoist masters Zhou Dunyi (Lian), Er Cheng (Luo), Zhang Zai (Guan) and Zhu Min (Min) when he was not in the Song Dynasty. Tang Xianzu's answer clearly shows that he is different from Zhang Jianxin's philosophy of life, that is, "teachers talk about sex and show their ancestors with expressions". It is worth noting that he not only opposed the "sex" advocated by Taoism with the "emotion" performed by dramatists, but also thought that the drama art, like Taoist preaching, was "lecturing"-that is, the drama art was an emotional education for people.
However, compared with Li Zhi and Xu Wei, the pioneers of emotional theory in Ming Dynasty, Tang Xianzu paid more attention to establishing an irreplaceable legal status for emotion in the life world. Tang Xianzu put forward the opposing views of "there is love in the world" and "there is law in the world" in the article "Qinglian Pavilion" written after his resignation. He said:
It is true that ancient and modern people are irrelevant, and they are also in the right place at the right time. There is love in the world and there is law in the world. In the Tang Dynasty, people were influenced by Sui Chen's romantic love. Fortunately, both the monarch and the minister were self-defeating, and they could * * * take a bath in Huaqing, rise to the top and enjoy the cool. Bai Sheng is in this world, he is in a state of turmoil, and he can't be ruled by a middle school county. He is sincere among all sentient beings. Today, I have generally lowered my talent and respected the official law, so I look down here. He was born in vain and lived a brilliant life. He rode backwards on a donkey and wiped his face with a towel. How can he kick [1](P 1 174)?
Tang Xianzu's article entitled "The Story of Qinglian Pavilion" is not about Qinglian Pavilion, but a comparison between Li Jixuan, a romantic genius in Ming Dynasty, and Li Bai (Qinglian), a fallen fairy in Tang Dynasty. In Tang Xianzu's view, Li Bai is a golden millet Buddha, quiet and romantic, eight hundred years earlier than Li Jixuan. Second, Li Junwen is brilliant, charming, arrogant and willful. However, Li Bai was highly valued by the emperor and ordinary people, and he shone brilliantly after his death. However, Li Jixuan is well known and is not tolerated by the contemporary world. Not only did my career not go far, but I was also depressed and eventually spent the rest of my life in loneliness. Tang Xianzu believes that the reason for Li Er's difference in fate is not the two themselves, but the difference in times. In the Tang Dynasty, the monarch and his subjects indulged themselves ("winning by talent"), creating a world where people traveled with immortals ("climbing stairs and enjoying the cool"), which was a "world of love". Contrary to the Tang Dynasty in the Ming Dynasty, the purpose of governing the country was to "lower talents and respect the law", and the official law was heavy and harsh, that is, to use the law to destroy feelings. This is a "regular world". Li Baisheng, in a sentient world, can let go and become an immortal among adults; Born in a world with law, Li Jixuan is romantic and helpless, but he is trapped-"Here is the low eyebrow."
To divide the world by law and emotion, one is to clarify the two opposing life spirits of emotion and law in the life world, and the other is to establish the independent position and value of emotion in the confrontation between emotion and law. "Law" is not limited to "official law", but also includes and is related to the Taoist system dominated by Confucianism. Since the Song Dynasty, Zhou Dunyi, Er Cheng (Cheng Hao, Cheng Yi), Zhang Zai and Zhu have systematized the Confucian theory of etiquette and law, and formed a Taoist system in which etiquette, law, emotion and nature are unified in "reason" (righteousness). The essence of Confucian Daoism is to unify feelings with ceremony, emotions with reason and things with reason. To understand the difference between "law" and "emotion", we must understand the difference between "emotion" and etiquette, sex and reason-in the final analysis, we must understand the difference between emotion and reason, that is, the difference between reason and reason.
Tang Xianzu's debate on reason and reason is mainly manifested in his debate on letters with Zen master Shi Zhenke. After Tang Xianzu entered his forties, he worshipped Taoism as a teacher, and Taoism advised him to "get rid of his feelings and return to Taoism." In a letter to Tang Xianzu, philosophically said:
Sincerity is beautiful, emotion is infatuation, infatuation is dying, dying without knowing it, a few stubborn hearts, and all kinds of bad things come uninvited. ..... An old friend knows that I can do what the environment can do; If I can't have it, can I have it? This truth is as bright as the sun and stars. If it is clear, the feelings will disappear. If the feeling disappears, sex will be restored. If sex is restored, men can finish their work. Although he is dead, why should he regret it? Zhong Ni said, "When you hear the Tao, it is enough to die at night. Because it is, so it is. For example, life and death, metabolism, cold and heat, logistics, human nature. People are confused, don't know how to reply, but can't smell it. So it's a pervert. The husband's way is the norm of saints, and love is the norm of all ... People are near, and love is far away. Ignorant people are free, which is called the light way [3] (P366-368).
Influenced by Confucianism and Taoism, the Song Dynasty gave lectures in a philosophical way, which was based on "mind unifying temperament" (Zhang Zaiyu), that is, the so-called "husband is rational, and sex is the universe; Love and sex are also blocked. However, both reason and emotion belong to the heart, so the heart is temperament. " [3](P2) He believes that reason and emotion are two active states of the mind: reason is the conscious state of the mind, and emotion is the obsessive state of the mind. Sense is reason, and obsession is emotion. So reason and emotion are mutually transformed. "Sex" refers to the original mind, that is, the original state of the mind. "Reason" is "awareness", that is, "sexual communication"; "Love" is a mystery, which is also a "sex jam". A philosophical view persuades Tang Xianzu to leave infatuation and return to understanding ("abnormal harmony"), and holds that Tang Xianzu's emotional persistence is an act of "ignorance and arbitrariness" and "ignoring Taoism".
But Tang Xianzu didn't accept a philosophy teacher's persuasion, just as he answered Zhang Xinjian's exhortation, calling it "the teacher talks about sex, the expression of the ancestors", so he also rejected the philosophy lesson, he said:
People with feelings have no reason, and people with feelings have no reason. What a clean break-up. Since I was taught, I have always been proud of the king. I've seen it for a long time. There's no reason. The world is a device. What is it? If you are open-minded, you are suspected of being an idiot, and the malaria ghost is trapped. The situation is only a small area, and there is no other big or small interest. When I miss my master, I saw him in my dream and suddenly came with a bamboo stick. The child suddenly arrived and realized that he was in Yunyang. East, west, north and south, why do you need to study in Yunyang? Recently, master should have pity on me. Dr. Bai and Mr. Su Changgong always have sex [1](P 135 1).
"There is no reason for people who have feelings, and there is no reason for people who have feelings." This is a very brief summary of Tang Xianzu's belief. Tang Xianzu quoted Bai Juyi (a teacher) and Su Dongpo (a long-term worker) as lovers of literary creation all their lives, instead of advocating Taoism ("always listening to feelings"), which not only flaunted the ancients, but also euphemistically showed their interest in "inexhaustible". Doing drama means not doing Tao, which is the essence of Tang Xianzu's literary thought.
Second, "all the articles in the world are so angry that they are all in strange stones."
Tang Xianzu's thesis focuses on "emotion" and "strangeness"-emotion and strangeness are two sides of Tang Xianzu's literary theory. Yao Kang of A Qing Dynasty said, "A sad husband died of crying and affection. Gu is the only beloved son. Therefore, all differences are born of love. " [4](P67) "All differences are born of feelings", which is from the aspect of "differences" and from the aspect of "feelings", that is, "all feelings are seen in differences". In the preface of Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio, Tang Xianzu concentrated on expressing his "literary wonders":
In the world, you can't talk to the old Confucianism. The ears can't hear much, and the eyes can't see much. Out of contempt for the knowledge of the Committee, the world article. Does Nymph have any articles? To say that the beauty of an article is not between step and form. The natural gas field comes from trance and comes without thinking. Strange, beyond description. Especially can be combined. Su Zizhan's dead bamboo and stone paintings are absolutely different from those of ancient and modern times. The more paintings, the better. If you draw a picture, it is almost unqualified. Mijia landscape map, not much effort, a few strokes, even deliberate, is not good. Therefore, the husband's pen and ink skills can be fascinated and proved to be holy. You don't know anyone. Who can solve this? In my hometown, Qiu Maobo chose more than 100 strange articles in the sea, all of which are strange, or a piece of paper is very short and full of people; Still a long river wave, threatening to collapse the house; Still a lonely village with flowing water, ancient trees in Western jackdaw in the west; Or cloudy tobacco trees, pale white dogs; Or Ding Yi, Shang and Zhou Dynasties, Qiu Suo and Tomb Code. All the strangeness, height, strangeness and antiquity between heaven and earth are still changing. God is gone. The husband's pen and ink are ineffective, and the sage's color is diminished, all of which are ups and downs. Scholars who are interested in the future would rather be crazy than homesick. Try to edit Mao Bo [1](P 1 138).
Tang Xianzu put forward several points about "Wen Qi" here: First, the beauty of the article lies in breaking the standard style, so it cannot be identified by conventional standards. Secondly, the beauty of the article can not be learned by imitation, but the product of the author's inspiration. Third, not only the beauty of the article, but all the beauty of art is based on the extraordinary, which is unintentional, and it is not good to do it intentionally. Fourthly, "defamiliarization" is a creative realm that breaks the conventional habits and transcends freely, and realizes a high degree of communication and integration between the self and the creative object (even the world)-"defamiliarization is everything". Therefore, "defamiliarization" is a deeper and truer combination of the inner self and the world, but the former is more fundamental, so "defamiliarization" is the artistic embodiment of the personality of "I would rather be crazy than homesick".
In his later Preface to Yan Yi, Tang Xianzu proved the rationality of "strangeness" from the vastness and richness of the universe-"strangeness" is the richness of all things in the world beyond pedantic views. He said, "Why not smell the universe?" ? Xu Anni is no stranger, and there is nothing strange about it. This is a dirty old Confucian who didn't read the unholy book. Why sit and look at the sky? Mud pill seals the present age. Without looking at the years in the sky, the flowers and birds on the ground, and the songs and dances of people, it can't be three things? On this premise, he brought all the "strange" literature and art rejected by the "orthodoxy" of preaching and discussion into the big scene of the vitality and creativity of the universe. He said:
I have tasted all the ups and downs of stereotyped writing, and none of them are interesting. Moonlight, morning flowers, poetry, mountain climbing and water, learning from unofficial history, playing, all kinds of fairies and monsters, celebrities of the country, charming, bold and changeable, enough to send them to break the silence ... This is a collection, a strange method, a positive method and a beautiful method. It's all kinds of things, and its behavior has moved many times. I'm also a gossip, so I'll go there. I can turn to Fahua, not for Fahua. If you get what you say, you will be happy but not obscene, sad but not hurt, smooth but not evil, arrogant and not divorced from righteousness. Otherwise, you will be confused at first, drown at last, and sway at last [1](P 1503).
Here, Tang Xianzu clearly compares the stereotyped writing literature with all the strange literature he appreciates. The former's "meaningless" contrasts with the latter's "romantic pride and generosity". He praised the strange writing as "strange and elegant, just and beautiful", and applied the phrase "happy without lewdness, sad without injury", which seemed to have the meaning of rectifying the strange writing and returning to Confucian orthodoxy. But his main idea is to admire the freedom of mind and the richness and vividness of literary scenery presented by "strange pen" In other words, he thinks that "strange pen" must have profound spiritual connotation and reflect the author's distinct consciousness of the universe and life, otherwise "strange pen" will fall into lewdness because of being confused by appearances-this is obviously not the "strange pen" affirmed by Tang Xianzu.
Tang Xianzu believes that just as the wonders of nature are harmless to the beauty of mountains and rivers, rare birds and animals are harmless to the beauty of rare birds and flowers, official novels are harmless to the inheritance of children's history, and pen and ink games are harmless to the cultivation of temperament. Oriental Man Qian, a famous minister in the Han Dynasty, was famous for his clever and humorous words, and he was also humorous when he remonstrated in the court. Ma Ji, a Confucian scholar at the end of Han Dynasty, grew up as a Confucian, taught students before and taught women after; As a courtier, the history of scholars in Song Dynasty became the object of imitation of jujube and pear by witch doctors along the street. Yan Zhitui in the Southern Dynasties criticized the first two, saying that "Oriental Manqian is ridiculous" and "Ma Ji is flattered" [5](P 19). Liu Xie also said: "In those days, Wei Qi's argot in Chuzhuang was good, and it was useless to use clever words to describe it before he went to Manchuria." [6] (P 14- 15) But Tang Xianzu rehabilitated these three people. He thought: "Sanzi, trying to tease and destroy integrity, extravagance and Confucianism, and let birthdays interfere with virtue?" [ 1](P 1252)
In Tang Xianzu's view, strange writing is not only harmless to classics and history, but also a necessary resource to regulate temperament and obtain "true interest". Li Bai said "don't read evil books", while Li Mengyang advised people not to read books after the Tang Dynasty. Tang Xianzu criticized: "The language is not high, but it is not enough to attract people with open views." He said:
It's too white, so it's self-effacing, and it's a gift, without fake manpower; If you provide Ji (Li Mengyang), you are sincere! In the book Yuchu, there are hundreds of biographies of people in the Tang Dynasty, of which Yue slightly quoted more than ten, which is bizarre and absurd. If it is destroyed, it will be gratifying, and reading it will make people feel relaxed and excited. Although the hero's height is not as high as Shi Han's, and the simplicity is not as good as Shi Shuo's, the graceful flow is beautiful, which is also the novelist's pearl boat. His description of the flying thief makes Man Qian laugh. Knowing that armor is graceful and restrained, the yarn season will be crimson; All flowers and monsters are fascinating, and ghosts and monsters are Man Qing's wild drinks. The sinner who shook his heart entrusted his words to him. He apologized for the romantic nature of the law and left without hesitation. I saw the ancient times and didn't know the taste. Hang up clothes today, and Chen Bao will make a list. Three pavilions are always puppet ears. What's so funny [1](P 1252)!
"Seeking truth and interest" is the gist of Tang Xianzu's contempt for stereotyped writing and his admiration for strange books. Behind the "interest in seeking truth" is to be a real person and show his true nature, which is what he calls a "strange man":
All the articles in the world are alive, all in Kishimoto. Curiosity is the soul and the soul can fly. If it can fly, it can go up and down, come and go, it can bend and stretch, it can live and die, it can be better. People who say the meaning of heaven and earth in ancient and modern times can't do it, and people who can't do it freely. If you don't get what you want, you will be delayed, and so will ordinary people. Moth, v also. If you fly in the air, you can do anything. I don't know how far it can go when it crawls. Therefore, a good painter watches the sword dance of the samurai, a good scholar watches the husband fight for the Tao, and a good piano player listens to the rain and collapses the mountain. He sincerely wants to get rid of anger, make a violent connection and do his best to develop the present. It's strange to look at all directions and listen to all directions [1](P 1252).
"Odd" refers to people who are unconventional and have outrageous trips, such as Oriental Manqian, Ma Ji and Shi. "Heart" refers to spiritual freedom, and the imagination is infinitely vivid and active. Tang Xianzu believes that only by liberating self-behavior can we liberate our self-mind-"the strange is the soul", and self-mind liberation can realize the perception and expression of the ubiquitous meaning of heaven and earth. The difference between chivalrous men and ordinary people is that chivalrous men "do whatever they want", while ordinary people can't-"delay their intentions". It is worth noting that Tang Xianzu does not think that the difference between "strange people" and "ordinary people" is innate and there is an insurmountable gap. When a moth is a bug, it not only can't fly, but also doesn't know what it can do. But when it is mature, it can fly at will. By extension, it is said that people are human beings, so people's minds may be free to transcend, but ordinary people stand still, while strange people "break off in anger" and "do their best and do whatever they want."
Tang Xianzu's admiration for strange writers is in the same strain as Wang Yangming's spiritual intention of reopening Confucius' debate on homesickness. Starting from Wang Yangming, later scholars such as Xu Wei and Li Zhi established their lives with the integrity of "Ning is crazy, not for home". Being supercilious, disobedient to Confucianism, and willful, people criticize without regret. This is the crazy fashion of scholars in the late Ming Dynasty. Compared with Li Zhi and Xu Wei, Tang Xianzu is naturally introverted in behavior, but he is in tune with the latter two in spirit and verve. In his letter "Answering Yue", he said: "My brother's letter means that he doesn't know why he doubts the world. Doubt is a good thing. If everyone has it, it's interesting. He Yun? It seems that my brother's habit is harsh, so jealous people should forget what to say, that is, the world likes the reputation of good deeds, and my brother respects it very much, and he can't attach it to it, which often leads to doubts. If the world doubts what it hurts, you should not doubt the existence of monkeys. " [1] (p1333) Tang Xianzu's so-called "it's good to have doubts" here is the same as Li Zhi's "we are out of line husbands now, but it's not confusing to let the world know that I believe in me" [7](P57), which expresses the same self-confidence and conceited integrity. In Preface to Yan Yi, Tang Xianzu even boasted that "I am incompatible with the world". He said, "I am as lazy as Kang, as slow as Changqing and as pedantic as Yuan Zhen. I can't live forever, nor can I live forever. " Mix is a gentleman, and he has no confidant. "[1](P 1203) It is incompatible, that is, it is incompatible. Tang Xianzu's chivalrous spirit is exclusive to the world. This crazy spirit is manifested in his literary concept, that is, his admiration for the strange writing of "lofty and broad but Ming Xiu, sparse and boundless". He said:
In a word, I think if I don't get it, I will go crazy. Words are to the text, and those who are good at words are good at honesty. Catch lead in a catty, without losing rope ink. Literati and elegant scholar. However, if you are happy, you will be more enterprising. Its literary genre is extensive and Ming Xiu, and it is sparse and profound. At the Saint Gate, the sky in Ceng Dian is empty, and Zhang Zhihui is shining. On the occasion of heaven and man, it is nothing but a glimpse of life. Because of cutting its madness, it is awkward, wide and envious, and awkward. The evidence is in the party and it is unknown. It's not that far to be a person who wants to be independent after doing the same thing first. Every minister, official, official, virtuous and good at repairing, sometimes doing the best in the world, must have something to do with it. Alas, what these gentlemen have done and what they have gained in the world [1](P 1337).
"The eyes of the world", that is, the eyes of ordinary people, can only be limited to knowledge because of the conventional rules and regulations, and naturally they can't see those brilliant and beautiful "wonderful books". You must be a wonder about writing and a madman about reading.
Third, "the world will always be love, love poetry, and walk in God."
In Tang Xianzu's paper, besides singularity, spirituality is also mentioned. The article of the strange man is a wishful work, and it must be a spiritual work. He said in The Scholars: "How can a scholar show his talent? What the performance spirit did. Therefore, people are born with spirituality. " [1] (p1228) Obviously, he regards "spirituality" as an excellent feature of human beings, which is the premise of his thesis.
In the article Preface to Zhang Yuanchang's Quiet Yun Xuan, Tang Xianzu said when talking about the relationship between spirituality and habit in composition:
The world is roughly like this, and three or four out of ten people are spiritual. He can write skillfully for a geisha, but Bo Shi people even thousands of people don't know it. Is it the man with less spirit? The teacher said that sex is close and learning is far away. Today, those scholars are used to trying ink, but after a long time, it will not be ink. Those who are still poets are used to trying, and for a long time, they are not trying. It's better to take words as an example, so it's hard to be a poem of China's ancient poems, and it's not about ink. Then the man of practice has no spirituality and harmony, so why not leave words? If a husband cannot learn from his nature, he will have everything else. I'm not fresh, so I'm not as good as Kerwin Chen. Judas will have some shortcomings, and those who are insufficient will not be able to take advantage of them. It has been built for more than ten years, and the world is full of literary talents at the beginning. However, for the world, this is doubtful. Yue and Wu are used to break, and the text has style. Well, who says words have no form? People who see things are very small and have bodies. The size of the characters is a self-proclaimed dragon ear with unique spirituality [1](P 1 139).
Tang Xianzu asked why there are fewer literate people than spiritual people. He believes that this phenomenon is not caused by differences in personal endowments ("gender"), but by mechanical training activities. "Try Ink" is a scientific research article, and "Try Process" is an official essay. Before the imperial examination, I was used to taking exams, and after the senior high school entrance examination, I was used to taking exams. As a result, most people lost their spirituality, and the scale was step by step, so they could not become spiritual articles. Tang Xianzu admits the necessity of learning, but it can't be based on giving up self-spirituality, let alone being subject to the standard style. Everything has a body, but the dragon's body is beyond itself-"People with unique spirituality are the ears of the dragon." In this article, he especially praised Bird, saying that his article was "unique and salty to nature". The reason is that Zhang Yuanchang "learned from law and wisdom". More than ten years have passed, and the habits have been exhausted. "With the spiritual Xi, we can go beyond our habits and return to spirituality"-Dragon and Xi Zai [1] (p1139-1140). Tang Xianzu believes that the internal motivation of literary creation is the expression of emotions in a state of high self-accumulation. He said:
When everything is strong, it is very strange and embarrassing. If it is not urgent and not timely, it will collapse and run away. Stand in order to finish it quickly. It's too late, too long for Xu Yiping. Its potential is also natural. Therefore, there is a strong wind when punching holes, and there is a river when breaking customs. It's already ringing, and it's flowing. The gas spins away, and only when it is far away can it be safe. It is also roughly human. Love is extreme, you can do things and forget words. The last unforgettable thing is between Preface to Poetry and Debate on Ci. Because sages can't fall behind, heroes can't fall behind [1] (p1098-1099).
"gas whirl" means that "gas" can only reach a gentle and calm state under a comfortable flow state; "Living in peace with talents" means that individual talents (such as literary talents) have the requirement of self-display, but only full display can be stable. The essence of literary creation is the self-expression produced by the combination of "qi" and "talent" when the emotion reaches the extreme state. "What you can't forget in the end is between the order of poetry and the debate of words", that is to say, literary expression is because emotions have feelings that can't be expressed by literature.
However, Tang Xianzu did not attribute his literary creation to the naturalistic literary theory with expressive emotions-in this respect, he is different from Li Zhi and Xu Wei. When talking about "the cyclone is far away, it is safe", he also thinks: "The sound is not empty, like being born in God, naturally kissing, far away." [1] (p1099) "emptiness" denies simple noise, while "god" denies straightforward expression. The concepts of "emptiness" and "spirit" actually put forward higher and transcendental artistic requirements for the display of "qi" and "talent"-they cannot be regarded as naturalistic expressions. "Forcing not to kiss" and "going far away" are the mistakes of natural expressionism.
Throughout Tang Xianzu's literary thought, if "emotion" is the starting point of his literature and "talent" and "qi" are the expression carriers of "emotion", then "God" is the ideal realm of emotional expression he pursues. It is the emphasis on "God" that distinguishes Tang Xianzu from Li Zhi and Xu Wei. Let's compare the two sentences of Tang Xianzu and Xu Wei:
Tang Xianzu believes: "The world will always be love, love poetry, and walk in God. It is true that the voices and smiles in the world are big and small. Because I am indifferent to people's wishes, I dance happily, and I feel tragic and sad about ghosts, birds and animals, shaking plants and breaking stones. Passers-by of his poems, look closely, or get a glimpse; If you have nothing, pass it on, and the world will not allow it. " [ 1](p 1 1 10— 1 1 1 1).
Xu Wei pointed out: "Life landed for love. It is also a feeling to pick sand for the play and stop crying by picking leaves. I have been involved in love all my life, mixed with sadness and joy. I have written poems and essays, which are bright and moving, making people love to read, angry and split, sad and sour, as if I had been joking with others for thousands of years. Without him, the imitation of love is truly moving and relaxed, far from being passed down from generation to generation, especially the North-South drama. " [8](P 1296)
Both Tang Xianzu and Xu Wei pay attention to emotion in their poems, and they attribute emotion to human nature. Of course, here, their concerns are slightly different. Tang said that "the world is always emotional" is based on the whole life; Xu said that "life is love" is based on individual life. Tang Xianzu believes that "emotion gives birth to poetry, but acts in spirit", that is, the important element of poetry to express emotion is to achieve a high degree of artistry-"spirit", and "harmony without difference" is the ideal realm of poetry to express emotion; Xu Wei said that poetry is touching, only that "simulation is touching and easy, far from being handed down." The "truth" in Xu Wei is the true expression of "the more vulgar, the more homely". From the emotional point of view, Xu Wei belongs to "truth" and Tang Xianzu belongs to "god", and there is a conceptual conflict between vulgarity and elegance-precisely, the conflict between naturalization and artistry of emotional expression.
Tang Xianzu, who entered his twilight years, changed his mind. Therefore, his literary theory after the age of 60 gradually began to emphasize reason and learning. At the age of 62, Tang Xianzu clearly pointed out that only by combining "learning" with "talent" can "love" spread widely for a long time. He said: "After the death of my late king, the sound of bells and drums continued unabated. Since the Han Dynasty, people who won the country, won the championship and went down the alley are all things, either drums or blows, or laughter or sadness, long and short chapters, lonely and lonely, and people who can't be banned at the touch of a hair. In the past, people often acted because of their outstanding feelings, which was enough to spread. If you embellish it with talent and knowledge, it will be natural. " [1] (p112) "being a teacher" seems to be comprehensive from a general theoretical point of view, but under the ideological background of advocating the free expression of individual emotionalism in the late Ming Dynasty, it really shows the reversal of Tang Xianzu's thought-this is for himself and the whole literary world.