before the Han dynasty, the so-called prose was not purely literary prose, but more practical articles to remember and reason.
Pre-Qin prose is a beautiful movement of Duan Hua in the history of Chinese literature, which makes it an important part of Chinese prose. Although it is the opening work in the history of great literature, it is still a little insufficient, but no one denies that the prose before Qin Dynasty is also a decisive milestone in the history of Chinese literature.
Many pre-Qin proses are products that closely serve the reality, and the purpose of many works is very clear. There is no article written solely for art. Generally speaking, pre-Qin prose can be divided into pre-Qin narrative prose and pre-Qin philosophers' prose. The writing of pre-Qin prose is more about recording and summarizing the experience and lessons of the ruling class in history, so as to use it as a mirror to guide the political struggle at that time
generally speaking, the aesthetic values of prose in this period have not been paid special attention by writers, and prose with pure literature as its creation purpose has not appeared. Although the pre-Qin prose does not distinguish between literature, history and philosophy, and combines historicity with literariness, many literary works are both historical and literary, but overall, they still focus on taking notes.
Zuo Zhuan, which is famous for its wonderful narrative, is called the "best narrative" in pre-Qin prose, which indicates the maturity of narrative prose in China.
Zuo Zhuan, with Spring and Autumn Annals as the key link, added a lot of historical facts and legends and described a large number of characters. As far as its basic nature is concerned, it is a historical work. On the basis of recording historical facts, the author carries out artistic processing to a certain extent, which has considerable literary value. This kind of artistic processing can not be regarded as the author's conscious literary creation.
When describing historical events, Zuo Zhuan always shows its development process in detail. By means of foreshadowing, care, tracing back and narration, the author skillfully arranges the relevant facts together and depicts fascinating plots, vivid details and scenes.
The history of Zuo Zhuan not only describes the war scenes in detail, but also reveals the causes, brewing process and consequences of the war. For example, "Twenty-eight years of Xi Gong" describes the battle of Chengpu, and constantly shows the reasons for Jin Sheng's defeat in the writing: Jin Wengong's hatred for good, put in order's military discipline, keeping his promise, listening to the opinions of his lieutenants, and Qi Xin's cooperation; while Chu's side is divided between the monarch and his subjects, and the coach Zi Yu relies on his soldiers and is arrogant, bent on his own way and blindly advanced on Jin Shi. The result of the battle of Chengpu is also very comprehensive. It not only describes the victory of Jinshi and the establishment of Jin Wengong's hegemony, but also describes the aftermath of the war: Chu Ziyu committed suicide in shame after the defeat, Jin Wengong was overjoyed, rewarded merits and punished crimes after returning to China, summarized the battle, and finally praised Jin Wengong's hegemony with the words of a gentleman.
as a historical work, fascinating reappearance of history is the ultimate aim! And Zuo Zhuan can do this completely. Therefore, compared with literary creation, Zuo Zhuan is more of a historiography.
In Zuo Zhuan, you can see a number of characters with certain personalities, but Zuo Zhuan does not describe a character's life story in a special chapter, but integrates the characters into events, shows the characters in the chronicle, and reveals all aspects of the character's personality in different ways with many different events that happened in different times. Only by combining the deeds of the same character in different periods can we get a complete image.
In Warring States Policy, which is famous for its wonderful memory, the characters are described more carefully and their personalities are more distinct.
The book "Warring States Policy" has vivid descriptions of all kinds of people from all walks of life in the Warring States period, especially a series of images of scholars, which are even more vivid and radiant. Because of the author's admiration for these characters, he even does not hesitate to break away from historical facts and make literary descriptions with fiction and imagination. What is recorded in the Warring States Policy is not historical facts, but more out of fiction and reliance. For example, in Qi Ce Yi, Zou Ji satirized coachable, the king of Qi, and wrote that when Zou Ji saw Xu Gongshi, he "looked at it, thought he was inferior, looked at himself in the mirror, and was far away", which showed Zou Ji's psychological activities in detail. The process involving psychological activities, close to the psychological description of the characters, obviously depends on their own imagination.
The description of characters in Warring States Policy is not satisfied with straightforward description. It highlights characters with ups and downs, personalized words and deeds, vivid forms and details, and deliberately pursues the strangeness and surprise of writing. For example, in "Qin Ce Yi", Su Qin's stabbing and lamenting after he came down from the world, his feelings when he returned to his hometown, and his family's words and deeds all reflected the inner world and personality characteristics of the characters. And the description of Su Qin's appearance when he came back, which was "limping, burdened with books, haggard, dark and ashamed", was dense and meticulous, and extremely vivid.
The exaggeration and fiction of Warring States Policy does not meet the requirements of historical works, but it makes the narrative more vivid and complete, more conducive to shaping distinctive characters and more literary charm.
On the one hand, Warring States Policy inherits the method of arranging the story of the same character in Guoyu, on the other hand, it develops, and a character's deeds are organically concentrated in one article, which creates a precedent for the establishment of a biography centered on characters. For example, Meng Changjun, a guest from Feng Xuan, wrote about Feng Xuan's songs, burning coupons and building three caves. Feng Xuan's important deeds in his life are all in one article, which fully shows his character image and personality. This kind of works shows the transition from the chronological style of Zuo Zhuan to the biographical style of Historical Records.
The literary success of Warring States Policy is an unprecedented success in language art, which is another important aspect of its literary achievements. Wang Jue once wrote: "Debate is beautiful and eloquent, and it is also the most eloquent." It can be said that it is the main feature of the rhetoric of Warring States Policy.
Zuo Zhuan also recorded many brilliant words. During the Spring and Autumn Period, the social atmosphere of valuing ceremony and respecting culture prevailed. Doctors remonstrated and pedestrians responded, paying attention to the beauty of words. The similarities between these words are tactful and ingenious, elegant and calm.
two different styles of rhetoric show different splendors. Some scholars have pointed out: in the way of Chen's narration, Zuo Zhuan convinces people with reason, and Warring States Policy wins people with momentum; in the content of Chen's narration, Zuo Zhuan holds on to the truth, and the Warring States Policy makes up fables, which are mixed and vulgar; in the attitude of Chen, Zuo Zhuan's words are sincere and polite, and Warring States Policy is strong.
There is no doubt that the literary nature of Warring States Policy is a little deeper than that of Zuo Zhuan. Although some notes in Zuo Zhuan have some processing, Zuo Zhuan records historical facts with a historian's eyes and identity. Its purpose is to be as close to history as possible, reproduce history, and let readers understand historical events rather than know historical figures. However, The Warring States Policy focuses on portraying the characters, which shows that the historical facts described in the Warring States Policy are actually serving to highlight the characters. Among them, in order to highlight the personality characteristics of a certain character, the author does not hesitate to spread the story and fabricate historical fables to express the image of the character. Therefore, compared with Zuo Zhuan, The Warring States Policy has more literary value.
literature, as a spiritual sustenance, not only provides readers with materials, but also makes readers feel the reflection and emotion brought by history in the process of reading, and finds a kind of emotional sublimation in reading history. It is inevitable that the pre-Qin literature develops slowly from historiography to literature. Although pre-Qin prose is only the beginning of China's splendid culture, we can see that the literary charm from Zuozhuan to Guoyu to Warring States Policy is deepening. Although the pre-Qin narrative prose is not very pure literature, no one can doubt the irreplaceable historical position of the epic swan song in the history of Chinese literature, and no one can deny that reading the pre-Qin narrative prose brings us the initial touch and shock from culture and life!