Cao Pi (187-226), courtesy name Zihuan, was the second son of Cao Cao. In literature, his greatest achievement was to learn Yuefu folk songs and express emotions vividly in simple language. His representative work is "Yan Ge Xing". His prose "A Letter to Wu Zhi" is quite moving with neat words and fresh and smooth style. Cao Pi's unique position in the history of Chinese literary criticism comes from his "Essentials and Essays", which is my country's earliest literary criticism monograph that studies literary theory issues at a macro level. The view that purity and turbidity have their own substance cannot be caused by force."
The Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties were a period of literary self-consciousness. The emergence of Cao Pi's "Essays" marked the beginning of pure literary theory works in the history of Chinese literary criticism. "Classics and Essays" covers the value of literature, the writer's personality and the style of his works, stylistic issues, and the critical attitude towards literature. It summarized the new characteristics and new experiences of Jian'an literature, clearly put forward its own literary ideas, and pioneered the literary criticism of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties that was very popular.
Before the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, ancient Chinese literary theory was generally in an unconscious stage of development. Most of the literary theories of the pre-Qin scholars were only fragments, and their literary concepts were not yet independent. Literary theory of the Han Dynasty was not completely separated from scholarship. Even some of the more influential prefaces, such as "Preface to Mao's Poems" and "Preface to Chapters and Sentences of Chu Ci", mostly explain a specific work, such as "The Book of Songs" and "Li Sao". "Classics and Essays" studies literature as an independent phenomenon, and its research horizon involves many basic principles of literary criticism. This is a new phenomenon in the study of Wei and Jin literary theory. It is a very convincing sign that Wei and Jin literary theory has entered the "era of literary self-consciousness".
Of course, to explain the status of Cao Pi's "Thesis" in the history of Chinese literary criticism, we must mention the content of "Thesis" and the literary issues it studies. First, about the value of literature. The so-called value of literature, in Cao Pi's view, is the actual function of the article. In "Thesis", Cao Pi consciously raised the status of literature from the standpoint of the ruling class. He said: "Building articles is a great cause of running a country and an immortal event." Unlike the emperors of the Han Dynasty who regarded writers as "promoting excellence" and compared poetry and poetry to "games", he regarded articles as "a great cause of the country and an immortal event", and encouraged literati to create more actively, hoping that they would It is very far-sighted not to "carry out the current tasks and leave behind the achievements of a thousand years." His argument concentrated and distinctly demonstrated the creative consciousness of writers in the Jian'an era, and also played a certain role in promoting the development of literature.
Secondly, regarding the issue of literary style. The "qi" mentioned by Cao Pi has two meanings. One refers to the style of literary works, and the other refers to the temperament of a writer. As for the author, "qi" refers to his temperament and talent; when expressed in his works, it is his literary style. Cao Pi said: "Essays are mainly based on Qi. The purity and turbidity of Qi have a body and cannot be caused by strong force. For example, all music, although the melodies are even, the rhythm is the same. As for drawing Qi without flowing, it is skillful and skillful, even if it is done by father and brother. You can't move your children. "The literary spirit mentioned here is an inaccurate word from the ancients, and it is difficult to give an accurate definition. However, judging from his use of clear and turbidity as a description and the clumsiness of music as a metaphor, "qi" roughly refers to the reflection of the writer's talent in the article. In the Eastern Han and Qing Dynasties, people's character was divided into clear and dirty, so the essays were "clear and dirty with substance". Their talents are clumsy and their natures are pure and turbid. The so-called "Kong Rong's body and spirit are sublime" and "there is an air of elegance when he is in public office" ("Yu Wu Zhishu") means that their articles express noble and elegant talents. His emphasis on nobility, elegance and elegance in literature and art is consistent with the concept of "Jian'an style" as described by later generations of critics. Although the concept of Qi is not precise, the issues he explores are close to what we call issues of the writer's personality and style. The proposal of the viewpoint of literary style reflects the trend of personalized development of Jian'an literature.
The third is the division of literary genres. Cao Pi said: "My texts are the same but not different at all. The memorials should be elegant, the essays should be rational, the inscriptions should be practical, and the poems should be beautiful. These four subjects are different, so those who can master them are partial. Only by understanding can one prepare his body. ." Here Cao Pi put forward the idea of ??"the original is the same but the last is the different." The original means the sameness of all articles. End: refers to the particularities of different styles. Cao Pi also divided the popular literary styles at that time into "four subjects and eight categories", and proposed "elegance", "reason", "practicality" and "beauty" as the most prominent characteristics of each, which provided a basis for the creation and criticism of various genres of articles. established a preliminary objective standard. The proposal of "poetry is about beauty" is particularly important. "Beauty" is an aesthetic concept. Cao Pi has realized that literature in a pure sense must be beautiful. This is an extremely important change from the traditional Confucian view of poetry as a tool for ethical and moral education. It also shows the new trend of Jian'an literature gradually developing towards gorgeous vocabulary.
In the history of Chinese literary criticism, Cao Pi first put forward the idea of ??combining the primary and secondary studies. It paid special attention to the characteristics of different styles and promoted the development of stylistic research. The deepening of stylistic research shows that literary creation activities have entered a conscious and purely literary state.
The fourth is about the attitude of literary critics. Cao Pi believed that there were two typical erroneous attitudes in the literary world at that time: one is: "Literaturemen despise each other, which has been the case since ancient times" and "each has its own strengths and despises each other's shortcomings". Only seeing one's own strengths, "it is said that one has become a virtuous person"; the second is: "The noble is far away but the near is humble, and the truth is true when he speaks."
This is a wrong tendency to advocate false reputation and blindly respect the past.
Cao Pi opposed the ancient habit of "literati looking down on each other". He also pointed out the strengths and weaknesses of the seven Jian'an sons in writing articles of various genres with the attitude of "examination of oneself to judge others". Why do these writers have different strengths and weaknesses? Cao Pi also made further exploration. He believed that on the one hand, it was because each style had its own characteristics, and on the other hand, the writers' talents were uneven.
Cao Pi's "Essentials" marks the entry into a new period of literary criticism in ancient my country. He does not simply comment on articles based on his personal subjective likes and dislikes, but consciously explores and attempts to solve some common problems in the development of literature. Although his answers to these questions are relatively simple, his pioneering contribution in inspiring later writers and critics to continue to explore and answer these questions should be affirmed. Later, Lu Ji, Liu Xie, and Zhong Rong continued to move forward along the path he pioneered.