However, the relationship between literature and history is not limited to this. Literature usually describes and interprets history in a more artistic and aesthetic way, which makes the dusty past that has sunk in the long river of time shine more brightly in the literary field.
The world-recognized method of recording history is to write it into history books, record people with biographies, write etiquette and music regulations with books, and write astronomy and geography. This style began in Taishigong of the Western Han Dynasty, and Historical Records was handed down, as was Twenty-four History. Although this method can comprehensively and rigorously record the events of one or several dynasties, and there are many excellent works in the history books of past dynasties, it is rigid after all.
Historical literary records are different. In addition to historical biography, it also presents history to the world in a more vivid way.
Before that, there were Yuan Zhen and Bai Juyi in the middle Tang Dynasty, who wrote the ups and downs of Li Tang generation with seven-character poems. The Song of Eternal Sorrow describes the love tragedy between Li and Yang, and The Poem of Lianchang Palace describes what Lianchang's old man has seen and heard in the past 50 years, all of which lament the sorrow of the prosperous Tang Dynasty after the Anshi Rebellion. Later, there was Wei Zhuang's poem "Ode to Fu Qin" at the end of the Tang Dynasty, which started with the tragic life experiences of small and medium-sized women in the Qin Dynasty and praised the sufferings of the people all over the world under the background of Huang Chao Uprising. They all adopt a unique narrative perspective, or go deep into the bottom of society, or explore the shadow behind prosperity; In their poems, there are many historical secrets that the authors of official history cannot see.
The above examples fully illustrate the importance of related literary works in describing history. The literary record of history fills the gaps and gaps in the official history, and even makes the official history more real and sensible. Still using the above example, Bai Letian's "Song of Eternal Sorrow" let future generations know the palace secrets kept secret by historians of past dynasties; Wei Duanji's amazing words, "Neiku burned to splendid ashes, and Tianjie stepped on the bones of public officials", unveiled the last layer of fig leaf that historians covered for the Huang Chao Rebellion in the late Tang Dynasty.
Sometimes, historical records may not be fair and objective. It is precisely the heroic words of poets and writers that let us see the true face of history clearly.
Literary records with artistic characteristics, apart from writing straight books, are not kept by the government, and can complement each other with rigorous history books, making history books difficult to be simple for popular literature, and opening up a new way for the world to touch history, such as the simple singing language, vivid image and true plot of Yuan and Bai.
To sum up, if we use one word to sum up their relationship, I think it should be "surprisingly honest". History books record the framework and context of history in detail with rigorous style and paradigm, and present history calmly and objectively, which is called "positive"; Literary works, with artistic language and flexible narrative style, create an aesthetic realm that originates from history but is higher than history, and integrate emotion and temperature into the interpretation of history, which is called "defamiliarization". This kind of right is surprising, which makes history no longer shelved, and also lets us know a more comprehensive, complete and temperature-sensitive history.
If we want to use literature to record history, Du Fu's poems must occupy the first place in this respect. Although Yuan Zhen and Bai Juyi mentioned above are as good as everlasting regret and Lian Chang, they are wise after the event and lack the pain of personal separation. Du Fu, on the other hand, was born in the melting pot of political storm and social crisis after numerous polishing, tempering, forging and burning. His poetry is the juice flowing from the big millstone of politics and society, which condenses the essence of social history and his personal thoughts. "The unfortunate poets of the country are lucky, and vicissitudes are for them." This is the universal law of the development of poetry, and he is the most appropriate footnote of this law. The turbulent times made his poems famous, and he also used the best poems to make future generations remember the turbulent times forever.
Du Fu's History of Poetry has a long history, and it was already said in his time. Poets in the Tang Dynasty commented on Du Fu in "The Art of Poetry": "Du Fu (Fu) met the difficulties of Lushan Mountain, moved to Long and Shu, and almost never saw his poems, so it was named" History of Poetry "at that time." This highly summarizes the artistic achievements and historical value of Du Fu's poems.
The most important historical value of Du Fu's History of Poetry is to show the social situation under the Anshi Rebellion to later generations. The Anshi Rebellion was a major turning point in the Li and Tang Dynasties from prosperity to decline. Under the background of official history, perhaps historians are more concerned about the rebellion launched by An Lushan and Shi Siming, and the process of recovering lost territory by ZTE generals such as Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi. As a degenerate poet swept away by the war, Du Fu chose to pay attention to the sufferings of the masses in chaos with a broader vision and integrate it into his poetry creation. It truly depicts the history full of hardships and sadness with huge sums of money. The profound suffering brought by social unrest to the general public should be recorded in history books and taken as a warning by future generations, but it is usually ignored by many historians. Du Fu's poems came into being at the right time, showing the broad social picture under the An Shi Rebellion in a panoramic way, which makes people feel immersive.
Du Fu's poems present the history of Xuanzong in an all-round, deep-seated and multi-perspective way. The song "Chedian", "You don't see weeds in ten thousand villages, and the Han family in Shandong in 200 States", tells the story of Xuanzong's large-scale frontier expedition and shows the potential crisis of the Li and Tang Dynasties before the Anshi Rebellion. "The wine in Zhumen stinks and the road freezes to death." From Beijing to Fengxian, Singing 500 Words reveals that under the prosperous appearance of singing and dancing in Tianbao period of Xuanzong, the extremely sharp social contradictions and the wide gap between the rich and the poor are full of anxiety and crisis. In the Anshi Rebellion, there appeared some new poems, such as Sad for Chen Tao, Sad for the Qing Dynasty, Sad for the Head of the River, and Mourning for the King Sun, which directly reflected the war situation and the current situation and expressed extreme worries about the future and destiny of the country. Such a thorough analysis of the current situation and profound criticism of the shortcomings of the times, "not in a thousand years, nor have I seen it."
Moreover, the description and portrayal of many ordinary people in the turmoil in his poems confirms the characteristics of his poetry as a "history of poetry". Such as "Three Officials" and "Three Farewells", as the first monument of narrative poems in the Tang Dynasty, have long been regarded as the standard by later scholars, while "Song of Eternal Sorrow" and "Ode to Fu Qin" are all from the rest. This group of poems selects typical characters in typical environment as an opportunity to show people's livelihood in chaos. Whether it's a middle-aged man who was forcibly recruited to guard the city in Xin 'anli, an old woman who is in urgent need of Heyang service under the arrogance of officials, a newlywed soldier who left for Heyang in the morning and evening of the wedding day, or a farewell to the old and a welcome to the new in "All descendants died in battle" and "Throwing a stick out".
Marx said that people are always the main body of social history. Although Du Fu didn't understand this truth more than 1000 years ago, he knew that it was much more useful to completely and truly record the history of this suffering and describe ordinary people who represented the vast majority of people than to simply depict a few "traitors and thieves" or "Zhongxing heroes" who stirred up the clouds in the political whirlpool.
In Du Fu's poems, the Anshi Rebellion has not been recorded in the history books of past dynasties. The thrilling game between the ruling and opposition forces is no longer an intrigue and battlefield struggle between Jin Ge and Ma Tie, but more an unprecedented disaster brought by careerists to the general public, regardless of winning or losing, right or wrong.
In this regard, Zhang, a poet of the Yuan Dynasty, faced the natural hazards of Tongguan and the mountains and rivers outside, which made Lao Du suffer for a period of several hundred years, and sighed: "Xing, the people suffer; When you die, the people suffer. "
Yes, the era of creating so-called "heroes" is often set against the background of war turmoil and blood shed. For thousands of years, in the ever-changing political arena, you sang and I appeared. Only the Lebanese people will never be the leading role, but they will have to face the wild millet and ruins and feel dejected in the shadow of the historical spotlight.
In the official history that has been handed down to this day, perhaps only the famous soldiers Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi, the traitors An Lushan and Shi Siming; However, in Du Fu's History of Poetry, there are only nameless white-headed guards, lonely veterans returning home, and rural widows crying and punishing. This is also the difference between writers and historians in recording history: historians always focus on the overall situation when compiling history, whether it is history, family or biography, and the people who record it are nothing more than bureaucrats who are emperors and princes, noble and noble, and have made great contributions to the world; The book is very short, always describing rituals, astronomy and geography, and crossing the world. But they often ignore the joys and sorrows, folk customs and feelings of ordinary people. Writers, on the other hand, are good at drawing materials from nuances, going deep into the vast soil that the pen of history can't touch, depicting unknown ordinary people and showing the most real social outlook. People who read history in later generations may not fully understand the political intrigue described by historians, but they can feel the joys, sorrows, joys and sorrows of ordinary people described by poets. This is why it needs literary records outside the official history to supplement and polish it.
History is the history of politicians and the general public, but in the final analysis, it is the history of the general public and the history of progress and development because of the general public; History is deep and cold, divided for a long time, divided for a long time, from governance to chaos to governance. I don't know how many swords and shadows, tactical struggles, and the bitterness and blood and tears of ordinary people have infiltrated in the middle; However, because of the description of literati and the chanting of poets, these ordinary people's rich emotions, bumpy life experiences and difficult fate have been able to transcend the Millennium time and space and reach the soul with us. Since then, this history of carving with a sword and smearing with blood and tears has a temperature.