The romance of the Three Kingdoms (English name: The Romance of the Three Kingdoms) is the first chapter novel in ancient China, and it is a classic of historical romance novels. This novel describes the contradictions and struggles between the political and military groups of Wei, Shu and Wu Sanda, headed by Cao Cao, Liu Bei and Sun Quan in the 3rd century. On the broad social and historical background, it showed the sharp, complex and distinctive political and military conflicts of that era, which had a far-reaching impact on future generations in political and military strategy.
Before The Romance of Three Kingdoms appeared, China's novels were generally short and pithy, and some even had only a few dozen words. Romance of the Three Kingdoms is China's first novel. We should pay attention to how China's novels developed from short stories to long stories. It turned out that storytelling was popular in the Song Dynasty, and storytelling became a profession. Storytellers like to take the stories of ancient characters as the theme, and Chen Shou's The History of the Three Kingdoms is the best material for writing stories. Some scattered stories of the Three Kingdoms have also been circulated among the people. In addition, the storyteller takes a long time to draw materials, the content is getting richer and richer, and the characters are getting fuller and fuller. Finally, many independent stories gradually combined and grew into a masterpiece. These isolated stories have been passed down from mouth to mouth in the society for a long time, and finally they were processed into a book, which became China's first novel. This is a great collective creation. It is different from the novel written by a single author in form, which deserves our attention. This novel originated from outstanding talents, followed by The Journey to the West, a ghost story novel, and Water Margin, another historical novel. Romance of the Three Kingdoms has a certain enlightening effect on later novels. The origin of historical literature, the literary value of this masterpiece itself and its influence on later generations are all worthy of our in-depth discussion.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms was very popular in ancient China. Song and Yuan dynasties came to the stage, and Jin and Yuan dynasties performed more than 30 kinds of Three Kingdoms operas. From Yuan Dynasty to Zhinian, the Pinghua of the Three Kingdoms published by Yu's family in Xin 'an came out. At the end of Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of Ming Dynasty, Luo Guanzhong synthesized folklore, drama and scripts, combined with historical materials such as the History of the Three Kingdoms by Chen Shou and Pei Songzhi's notes, and based on his personal understanding of social life, he created the well-known Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The earliest existing edition was published in Jiajing period of Ming Dynasty, commonly known as "Jiajing Edition", with a total of 24 volumes. During the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, Mao Zonggang, the father and son of Maureen, collated historical events, added or deleted words, and revised them into "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" 120, which has been passed down to this day.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms describes the history of nearly a hundred years from the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty to the beginning of the Western Jin Dynasty. The book reflects the political and military struggle, the infiltration and transformation of various social contradictions in the Three Kingdoms period, summarizes the historical changes of this era and shapes a group of heroes. In grasping the history of the Three Kingdoms, the author showed an obvious tendency to support Liu and oppose Cao, focusing on the description of Liu Bei Group, praising the main figures of Liu Bei Group and trying to expose and lash Cao Cao. Today, we should dialectically understand the author's tendency to support Liu and oppose Cao. Respecting Liu and opposing Cao is the main tendency of folklore in Luo Guanzhong era, which implies people's hope for the rejuvenation of the Han nationality.
The Romance of the Three Kingdoms has created nearly 200 characters, among which Zhuge Liang, Cao Cao, Guan Yu, Liu Bei and others are the most successful. Zhuge Liang is the incarnation of the "saint" in the author's mind. He has the lofty spirit of "devoting all his efforts to death" and the ambition of helping people rebuild a peaceful and prosperous world in modern times. In addition, the author endowed him with the peculiar ability of giving orders and calculating skillfully. Cao Cao is a treacherous man. His life creed is "I would rather teach the world to fail me". He is a political careerist and schemer, so don't confuse him with the real Cao Cao in history. Guan Yu is "brave and resolute" and "righteous as a mountain". But his loyalty is based on personal grudges, not the national justice. Liu Bei was portrayed by the author as a kind-hearted person, a corporal with noble character and a kind-hearted person.
The Romance of the Three Kingdoms describes wars, big and small, with grand ideas and various techniques, which let us clearly see the bloody war scenes. Among them, the description of the battle of Guandu and Battle of Red Cliffs is ups and downs, ups and downs, and it is thrilling to read.
The book is not vulgar, concise and lively, full of momentum and lively.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms has set off an upsurge in the creation of historical novels in China, and its series of characters are well-known in China, including women and children.
[Edit this paragraph] Author introduction
Luo Guanzhong
(about 1330- about 1400)
Han nationality, famous book, word penetration,no. Lake and sea scattered people. A famous novelist and dramatist at the end of Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of Ming Dynasty, China was the originator of Zhang Hui's novels. He wrote many works in his life, including: the script Zhao Taizu's Dragon and Tiger Club, the serial exhortation of the son of loyalty and filial piety, and the three chapters of crying and crying; The novels include The Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties, The Romance of the Five Dynasties, The Legend of Three Demons in Suiping, Fenfang, The Water Margin and The Romance of Three Kingdoms, which are co-authored with Shi Naian.
Luo Guanzhong was born in the feudal dynasty in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty. As a drama critic associated with "advocating Excellence" and "prostitute art", he was regarded as an inferior person in Goulan Washe at that time, and it was impossible for the official history to write classics for him. The only thing I can see is a booklet "Ghost Book Continuation" compiled by an anonymous person in the Ming Dynasty, which reads: "Luo Guanzhong, a native of Taiyuan, is scattered in the lake and sea. Loneliness with others, Yuefu argot, extremely fresh. I forgot to be friends with Yu, and I suffered many losses, and I lived far apart. This is just the beginning of the resumed meeting. I haven't come for more than 60 years, but I don't know where it will end. "
[Edit this paragraph] synopsis of the story
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was chaos in the world, and there were disputes among heroes. Wei, Shu and Wu were stubborn one after another and staged a long historical drama that must be combined for a long time. This book is a historical novel based on this historical background.
The Yellow Scarf Uprising broke out at the end of the Han Dynasty. In the process of suppressing the uprising, a number of powerful factions emerged who were independent of each other and supported their troops with self-respect. They fought again for their own benefit. After the death of Emperor Ling of Han Dynasty, the young emperor Liu Jian succeeded to the throne, the imperial concubine He Jin took power, and the eunuch killed He Jin. Yuan Shao got up to kill eunuchs, and was defeated by Dong Zhuo, who abolished Liu Bian and set up Xian Di and Liu Xie. Stuart Wang Yun cleverly used a series of tricks to alienate Dong Zhuo and Lu Bu's father and son with the story of Diusim, and then joined forces with various strongmen to kill Dong Zhuo. Wang Yun was killed by Dong Zhuo's Ministry-Li Jue and Guo Si. Then, in the town of 17, he scuffled with other princes. In the end, three powerful forces were formed: Cao Cao in the north "held the emperor to make the princes", successively annihilated Yuan, Yuan Shu and other forces, unified the Yellow River basin and occupied the Central Plains; Liu Bei's initial migration was uncertain until he visited the cottage. With the help of Zhuge Liang, he formulated a correct and effective strategic policy, that is, under the banner of "Imperial Palace" and "Recovering the Han Palace", and taking "uniting with Wu to resist Cao" as the basic policy. Finally, after Battle of Red Cliffs, Cao Cao was forced to return to the north and occupied Yizhou and Jingzhou. Gradually develop and grow; Since Sun Jian, Jiangdong Sun Shi has gained a foothold in 8 1 county, the sixth county in Jiangdong, and its strength has been increasing day by day until Sun Quan.
Since then, the Three Kingdoms War has been launched at different levels. First, when Guan Yu and Cao Bing were fighting, Sun Quan sent troops to attack Jingzhou. Guan Yu defeated Maicheng and died at the hands of Sun Quan. Soon, Cao Cao died of illness, and his son Cao Pi abandoned Han and became "Wei". Liu Bei followed the Han Dynasty and established Shu Han. In order to avenge Guan Yu, Liu Bei personally went to Jiangdong. As a result, he went deep alone and was defeated by Lu Xun. Liu Bei died in Baidicheng, leaving Zhuge Liang alone. Later, Sun Quan established the State of Wu.
After Liu Bei's death, Zhuge Liang assisted Liu Chan, the young master, to support the crisis alone. In the meantime, Zhuge Liang insisted on the basic strategy of uniting Wu against Cao, and stabilized the rear after capturing Meng Huo seven times. Six consecutive attacks on Wei ended in failure. Zhuge Liang also died from overwork in the army. After his death, Jiang Wei succeeded to the throne and cut the Central Plains nine times, which also failed. The late ruler Liu Chan lost his job and became corrupt, and the national strength of Shu Han became weaker and weaker.
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[Edit this paragraph] Artistic achievements
Romance of the Three Kingdoms is not only an earlier historical novel, but also represents the highest achievement of ancient historical novels. The novel adopts simple classical Chinese, which is vivid and fluent, and appeals to both refined and popular tastes; Brush strokes are full of changes, contrasts, redundancies, twists and turns, and swaying. The structure is magnificent, and the events of about a hundred years and many characters with complicated clues are organized completely and closely, and the narrative is orderly, echoing, interrelated, interlocking and advancing layer by layer.
The artistic achievement of The Romance of Three Kingdoms is more important in the description of war and characterization. Novels are best at describing wars and can write the characteristics of each war. Pay attention to describing the application of different strategies and tactics under specific conditions, and guide the subjective initiative of combat, instead of spending the main pen and ink on the simple strength and martial arts contest. For example, the Battle of Guandu, the Battle of Battle of Red Cliffs and the Battle of Yiling. The writing of each war also changes with the characteristics of the war. While writing about the war, other activities are also written as the prelude, aftermath or auxiliary means of the war, which makes the exciting and thrilling war seem relaxed and slow. Such as the cooperation between Battle of Red Cliffs's former grandson and Liu, the contradiction between Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu, the temptation of Cao Cao, and the in-depth preparation of Sun Liu's allied forces to lure the enemy. In the aspect of characterization, the novel pays special attention to putting the characters in the sharp contradiction of real struggle and expressing their ideological character through their words and deeds or the surrounding environment. Such as Cao Cao's treachery, every move seems to hide intrigue; Zhang Fei has nothing but innocence and recklessness. Zhuge Liang has a well-thought-out plan, and he is always comfortable and leisurely in the face of things. The famous Guan Yu's "warm wine kills Hua Xiong", "killing six generals after five passes", Zhang Fei's "sublime Changban Bridge", "Zhao Yun riding alone to save the young master" and Zhuge Liang's "seven captures Meng Huo" are even more widely circulated chapters.
Although The Romance of the Three Kingdoms takes history as its theme, it is not a history book after all, but a literary work. Because of artistic processing, there are many fictions. The artistic achievements of The Romance of The Three Kingdoms are various. 1. It successfully created many characters. There are more than 400 people in the book, among which the main characters are typical artists with distinctive personalities and vivid images. All kinds of characters have their own commonalities; People of the same kind have their own personalities. When describing the characters, the author is good at grasping the basic characteristics, highlighting one aspect, exaggerating, and using the methods of comparison and contrast to make the characters vivid and vivid. This is a basic principle of the author's characterization. The best explanation for applying this principle in novels is what people have always called "three unique skills", that is, Cao Cao's "technique of treacherous men"-treacherous men; Guan Yu's "absolute righteousness"-"righteousness is as heavy as a mountain"; Kong Ming's "unique wisdom"-extraordinary wit. The methods of portraying characters in novels mainly include: putting characters in thrilling military and political struggles and shaping them in sharp and complicated contradictions and conflicts. For the main characters, their complex personalities are often expressed through a series of storylines and characters' language. 2. It is good at describing war. This book has written more than forty wars, showing thrilling war scenes. Among them, the Battle of Guandu, the Battle of Battle of Red Cliffs and the Battle of Yiling are the most prominent. For several key battles that determine the rise and fall of the Three Kingdoms, the author always focuses on describing and writing all aspects of the war, such as the strategies and tactics of both sides, the comparison of forces, and the transformation of status. , colorful, ever-changing, unique, fully embodies the complexity and diversity of war; It not only writes about the fierceness, tension and adventure of the war, but also does not seem miserable. Generally, they are in a high-spirited style, and some of them are calm, quiet and relaxed. Its structure is magnificent and exquisite. The time is as long as a hundred years, with hundreds of characters, complicated events and complicated clues. Description should not only conform to the basic facts, but also pay attention to the coherence of artistic plots. So it is very difficult to arrange the structure. However, the author can write methodically and clearly, and each chapter can be independent, and the book is a complete artistic whole. This is mainly due to the author's grand and rigorous conception. He organized the story of the whole book with Shu Han as the center and the contradiction and struggle of the three countries as the main line, which was both tortuous and coherent. There is a master and a slave, and the master and the slave work closely together. 4. The language is concise and fluent. This language seems to be semi-written today, but it was close to the vernacular at that time; Writing novels in this language is a pioneering work, which is an obvious progress compared with the rough and mixed language of some novels in the past. The biggest shortcoming of Romance of the Three Kingdoms in art is its fixed characters and lack of development and change. This may be influenced by the stereotyped characters in folklore and the limitations of historical materials. Second, imagination and exaggeration are sometimes unreasonable. Mr. Lu Xun said: "I want to show Liu Bei's long and thick, but he looks like a fake. He looks like a demon." This criticism is to the point.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms is the most accomplished and influential work in ancient historical novels. It is widely circulated, with infinite charm, and has immeasurable far-reaching influence in the history of China literature and people's life.
There is also a big gap between the characters in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the real characters in the History of the Three Kingdoms. Here are a few characters to illustrate. Zhuge Liang: Zhuge Liang's ability to govern the country and the army, his character of helping the world and loving the people, and his modesty and prudence set an example for various outstanding historical figures in later generations. The monarch, intellectuals and people all praised him, praised him and loved him from different angles. It can be said that Zhuge Liang's great influence in history has surpassed his political and military practice in the history of the Three Kingdoms. Although The Romance of the Three Kingdoms highlights the positive aspects of Zhuge Liang's life, such as personality, morality and achievements, it is infinitely exaggerated, describing him as the embodiment of wisdom and the representative of loyalty, and deifying him into a superman image that is half man and half god. Lu Xun commented: "Zhuge Liang's wisdom is close to the devil." Therefore, Zhuge Liang in Romance of the Three Kingdoms is not a real historical figure, but a historical novel figure. Liu Bei: Chen Shou's evaluation of Liu Bei is: "Hongyi is generous, knows people and treats scholars, and is a hero in the style of Gao Zu." And entrusted the whole country to Zhuge Liang, but with the same mind, sincere monarch and minister serve the public and prosper in ancient and modern times. If you have no right to do something, you can't catch Wei Wu. Because the cardinality is too narrow. However, he "persisted, and he would never do it." "In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the author described Liu Bei as a representative of the benevolent, who was the orthodox successor of the imperial power in the Han Dynasty. Therefore, it is extremely exaggerated to describe Liu Bei's kind, generous and kind-hearted personality, but while highlighting his kindness, he fell into an incompetent side, giving people the feeling of incompetence and hypocrisy. Liu Bei in TV plays is often Lacrimosa. Although crying and tears show Liu Bei's benevolence and righteousness, they give people the impression that Liu Bei's world is crying, distorting Liu Bei's true image as a "lean" and "outstanding person". Guan Yu: In history, Guan Yu was the tiger general of "ten thousand enemies". He is proud and has no regrets, and his grievances are clear. He is famous for his loyalty, but he is "righteous and proud" and has more courage and less wisdom.
After Ma Chao surrendered to Liu Bei, he was named General of the Day. When Guan Yu was in charge of Jingzhou, he wrote a book with Zhuge Liang, "Ask who can compare with the super talent." Zhuge Liang wrote back that Ma Chao is a great man in the world, but he is not as good as Guan Yu's "peerless", and Guan Yu "keeps books to entertain himself as a guest." This is a typical brave and foolhardy military commander's character. However, in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, because he is a member of Liu Bei's camp and has the characteristics of loyalty, he is portrayed as the embodiment of benevolence and righteousness. He followed Liu Bei and did not avoid difficulties and obstacles. Xiapi was captured and surrendered to Cao Cao, but he was worried about Liu Bei. Just because Cao Cao was very kind to him, he killed Yan Liang, the general of Yuan Shao, for Cao Cao before he left Cao and returned to Liu, and lifted the siege of the white horse. However, it is written in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms that Guan Yu met three times when Pi surrendered, and Cao Cao had a small banquet on the third day and a big banquet on the fifth day, but it was false. In short, in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the author described Guan Yu as a "righteous man", so his image was seriously distorted. Cao Cao: In history, Cao Cao's character is very complicated. Chen Shou thinks that Cao Cao is "the first in the history of the Three Kingdoms". "The magic of application and transaction, Han Bai's unique strategy, and the official licensing materials have their own tools, and they are sentimental and don't forget the old evils." Cao Cao has been in charge of the army for more than 30 years, but he can't let go. He must be endowed when he climbs high. He is better at poetry, cursive script and Go. Live frugally and don't pay attention to clothes. Discuss with others, laughing and laughing. "Honor should be rewarded, generous daughter; Nothing can be done, nothing can be done. " He is a first-rate politician, strategist and writer in the history of China. In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, these good aspects of Cao Cao's character and morality are ignored, while his cruel and treacherous side is exaggerated. Therefore, Luo Guanzhong's Cao Cao is a typical treacherous, cruel, willful and suspicious villain. Zhou Yu: Zhou Yu in history was "generous", modest and obedient, and "open and ambitious". Liu Bei called him "the plan of civil and military affairs, the English of ten thousand people." Sun Quan praised him as "the capital of Wang Zuo". However, in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Zhou Yu became the bottom figure of Zhuge Liang. Zhou Yu was written to raise Zhuge Liang. Therefore, Zhou Yu in Romance of the Three Kingdoms is narrow-minded and always inferior to Zhuge Liang in wisdom. Unlike Zhou Yu praised by Su Shi, he is a "romantic figure through the ages". Lu Su: If the characters of Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang, Guan Yu and others in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms are distorted, but there is still some basis, then in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Lu Su is almost completely fabricated except for his name. Lu Su in history was "in the army, never leaving his book", "far-sighted" and "brilliant". When he first met Sun Quan, he put forward the founding policy: set foot in the east of the Yangtze River, reject Cao Cao in the north, wait for the destruction of Huang Zu, head for Liu Biao, who was accidentally discovered in the Yangtze River, and then build the so-called emperor for the world. This is similar to Zhuge Liang's longzhong pair. When Cao Cao's army went south to Jingzhou, Sun Quan's men all surrendered, but Lu Su advocated resisting Cao and advised Sun Quan to recall Zhou Yu to defend the business war. After Battle of Red Cliffs, he urged-Cao. In the history of Wu Dong, Lu Su was a real Zhuge Liang figure, and Sun Quan also admired him very much. The establishment and development of Wu was basically carried out in accordance with the political strategy and strategic policy put forward by Lu Su. However, in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Lu Su became a victim of the wits and wits of Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu, a typical example of being fooled and bullied.