Both books discuss the development and changes of literary thoughts from three dimensions: literary creation, literary criticism and literary theory. In the process of reading, I further realized that China's classical literature was deeply influenced by politics. In the process of reading, I was deeply impressed by several ideas.
First, the mutual confirmation of literati's mentality and literary thought.
The development and change of the history of literary thought in the Tang Dynasty is related to the political situation, but its relationship with the political situation is mainly manifested through the psychological state of scholars. The political situation affects the psychological state of scholars and directly affects the development and changes of literary thoughts. (page 430). Man is the subject of thought, and the introduction of literati mentality into ancient literature is also the characteristic of Mr. Luo Zongqiang's exposition on the development of literary thought. Taking the mentality of literati as the medium, we can explore deeper and more subtle changes in literary thought, and the mentality of literati and literary thought can confirm each other. We can not only see the influence of the change of scholars' mentality caused by the change of social background and political situation on literary thought and creation, but also show the change of scholars' mentality through the creation of poems and the ideas contained in them, thus showing their social background.
For example, Liu Yuxi's "Ode to History", "The Old Story of the West Fort in the Fourth Year of Changqing" and "Bao Li's Second Year of Jinling Nostalgia" and so on. In just two or three years, he wrote many nostalgic poems, revealing the sigh that times have changed, people have changed, prosperity has passed, and the scenery is still there. From the poet's poems, we can feel the fading of various reform enthusiasm at the time of Zhenyuan and Yuanhe. The poet feels hopeless in the political situation, so neither fable nor Ming Dow has practical significance, but he is still useful and loyal to the court, so he will express his feelings through the ancient times. "It can be seen that chanting poems about things is a phenomenon that literati turn inward from the perspective of reform, express their personal feelings and write trivial things around them in the process of paying attention to people's livelihood." (420-42 1 page)
Second, the dialectical alternate development of literary thought
From Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties to Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties, the development history of literary thought is a process of constant alternation between utilitarianism and non-utilitarianism, literary characteristics and lyric literary thought.
During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the development of literature developed along the characteristics of emphasizing literature and art, which was a process of constantly distinguishing literature from non-literature and making literature move towards itself.
This period inherited the literary theory of the Han Dynasty. From the main satirical hints at the beginning of the Han Dynasty, the worship of records and the admiration of elegance and integrity, to the end of the Han Dynasty, there was a strong lyric tendency. Literature in Jian 'an period became an important part of emotional life, with a strong sense of life, emphasizing personality, feelings and desires. Philosophy introduced literature in the initial stage, but in the Jin Dynasty, literature was beautiful and elegant, lacking passion but gorgeous. After Yongjia crossed the south, the development of literature was divided into two branches: the development of the north was slow and literature tended to return. During the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the blending of literature with metaphysics and Buddhism produced a philosophical tendency. Liu Song period changed from metaphysics to lyricism, and Yongming period gradually developed from lyricism to decorative entertainment.
The literature of this period is also comprehensive and diversified, emphasizing utility and entertainment, but it also has the healthiest direction, that is, the poetic thought of respecting nature and dominating the wind. On this basis, the literary thoughts of Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties were critically inherited and developed.
The mainstream of the literary trend of thought in Sui Dynasty is still the literary style of Qi and Liang Dynasties, and the literary trend of thought in the Northern and Southern Dynasties gradually merged, but the transformation of the literary trend of thought began with the establishment of the Tang Dynasty. It took 90 years in the early Tang Dynasty to lay the foundation for the arrival of literature in the prosperous Tang Dynasty. From Tang Taizong and his important officials to the four outstanding writers, the ideal literature pursued for decades has been clearly expressed in theory as "vigorous, frustrated, bright, talented and Jin". This is a process of gradually getting rid of the influence of colorful style, gradually enriching content and growing emotional tone.
It can be seen that the development of literature has experienced a spiral development process, such as from twists and turns to the style of attaching importance to feelings and life in Jian' an period, but it has also experienced constant tolerance and new development.
In the prosperous Tang Dynasty, there was a style of intangible origin, exquisite images and inexpressible words, and literary creation was also full of romanticism and idealism. But in the late Tianbao period, scholars began to return to reality from their ideals. The change of poetic style in Tang Dynasty also reflects the change of literature from attaching importance to ideal lyricism to utility, resulting in a cold and sad poetic style, and the double-peak confrontation between strangeness and simplicity in the middle Tang Dynasty. This is also a circuitous trend of thought. From the end of Zhenyuan to Yuanhe, there appeared the second prosperity of Tang literature. On the one hand, the utilitarian view of literature has been fully developed, on the other hand, the spirit of innovation is reflected in the writer's conscious pursuit of creative personality. After the change of "Ganlu", the tendency of attaching importance to utilitarianism faded, and literature began to turn to the pursuit of art, resulting in a profound and graceful poetic style of spiritual monologue in the late Tang Dynasty. This ethos further developed in the Five Dynasties and embarked on the road of attaching importance to entertainment.
The literary thoughts of Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties and the literary thoughts of Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties are like a roundabout. Start with opposing the colorful style of Qi Liang, and then return to the colorful style of writing. This turn is not a simple repetition, but the literary trend of thought is developing and spiraling.
The third is the change of some viewpoints in the dialectical development of literary thought.
Some mainstream views such as "love theory", "entertainment theory", "happiness theory" and "personality theory" are dialectically developed. Take the change of character concept from Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties to Sui and Tang Dynasties as an example.
"Character style" is used to judge the character of gods in Han and Wei Dynasties. From Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties to Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties, the concept of writing style experienced the development of Liu Xie, Zhong Rong, Chen Ziang and Yin Pan.
In Wen Xin Diao Long, Liu Xie regards it as a category of literary criticism and a main criterion for judging literary works, while "style" refers to "wind power" and "bone", and "Wen Xin Diao Long style": "Wei Bi Feng, stricter than this bone". "Wind power" refers to the emotional power embodied in the works, from the perceptual point of view. "Bone" refers to the theme and logical structure of thinking in works, and it is a rational point of view.
Zhong Rong talks about "character", that Cao Zhi's character is extremely high, that Serina Liu's "fighting spirit is curious" ... true bone cream ",and that Cao Cao's" very sad sentence ",and his" character "focuses on" qi ". Refers to the writer's temperament, similar to the meaning of "wind" in "On the Style of Character".
The Tang Dynasty pursues character, and many poets' works in Heroes Crossing the River have character. He also summarized the development process of Tang poetry as follows: "Since returning from Xiao family, I am especially pretentious;" Wu Dechu, the microwave is still there; In the last years of Zhenguan, the standard was getting higher and higher; In the clouds, quite far-reaching; In the fifteenth year of Kaiyuan, temperament began to be prepared. " He also regards character as an important criterion for choosing poems. However, the character connotation pursued by the Tang people has changed.
They flaunt Jian 'an. From the point of view of "strong emotion and strength", Tang people are connected with Jian 'an, and when talking about style, they talk about "strong thinking". The Tang people inherited the strong feelings of Jian 'an, emphasized its great momentum, abandoned the sad mood that constitutes an important feature of Jian 'an style, and replaced it with a high-spirited and clear tone. At the same time, this strong and growing feeling also has distinct characteristics of the Tang Dynasty.
At the same time, there are also theoretical differences between the styles pursued by Tang people and those in Liu Xie's Wen Xin Diao Long. Liu Xie believes that style, as the concept of literary criticism and aesthetic requirements, contains two parts, each with its own emphasis. Wind refers to strong emotional appeal and encouragement; Bone refers to the logic and persuasiveness of righteousness. The poets in the prosperous Tang Dynasty gave priority to poetry, attaching importance to emotion and neglecting reason. What they said refers to the wind, refers to the bones, and refers to qi. "Wind" and "Qi" are both emotional categories, which is the difference from Liu Xie.
The idea of poetry begins with anti-charm, and finally returns to charm to some extent. In this way, there is a circuitous trajectory, one is from anti-charm to character, and finally back to charm. This trajectory is based on fatalism, and it is only the change of life vision, writing theme, aesthetic taste and emotional style. The other is from anti-charm to poetry writing, to the fable theory of instrumentalism (literary utilitarianism), and finally to charm. These two provisions are intertwined.
In addition, from the development of prose to observe the development and change of literary thought, we can also see the imbalance between prose and poetry, which is also reflected in the novel.
To sum up, the research on the history of literary thoughts in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties and the Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties gradually clarified the development of literary thoughts, and found the basic theoretical knowledge of studying literary creation, which will be further understood and deepened in combination with works in the later period.