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 use stories of ancient characters as themes, and Chen Shou's The History of the Three Kingdoms is the best material for telling 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.
First, the ideological tendency of Romance of the Three Kingdoms: supporting Liu against Cao.
1, the expression of Liu's anti-Cao thought in his works;
2. The formation of the thought of supporting Liu and opposing Cao Cao: 4. It was formed in the process of long-term circulation, which was inherited and cast by Luo Guanzhong and strengthened by Mao Zonggang when he revised it;
3. The connotation of supporting Liu and opposing Cao: it reflects people's ideal of ruling by virtue, benevolent government and their willingness to oppose tyranny; It is the reflection of national thought; Is a reflection of orthodox thought.
Second, the images of Liu Bei and Cao Cao.
1, Cao Cao: treacherous, cruel and hypocritical; Great talent and vision; -This is a complicated image. Luo Guanzhong wrote both his short and his long, which did not affect his tendency.
2. Liu Bei: An idealized monarch image is also a hypocritical side unique to the representatives of the ruling class.
Third, the description of the war.
Three major battles: the battle of Guandu, the battle of Battle of Red Cliffs and the battle of Yiling.
Similarities: all are weak against strong, all are firepower, and the outcome is that the weak win.
Different characteristics: the two sides of the struggle have different characteristics and face different situations, so they will never be the same.
Learning content
First, the origin of historical literature
The speaking skills in Song Dynasty were very developed. The performance venue for speaking is not limited to Goulanwa Temple, but also in rural temples. According to "Tokyo Dream", Huo Sijian, a famous artist in Bianjing, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, is famous for "telling three points", that is, telling the story of the Three Kingdoms, while Yin often tells the history of the Five Dynasties as a selling point. They are both excellent historians.
Whether the speaker is an expert or not, he needs to give a speech. At that time, there was a "reading club" dedicated to writing speeches. People in the book club must have profound literary accomplishment and extensive historical knowledge if they want to write stories. After constant polishing, addition and deletion, the speaker's manuscript may evolve into an increasingly long novel.
In the Song Dynasty, Naideon recorded four stories in the "Chicken Born Wa Snake Species";
There are four schools of speech: one is novels called silver characters, such as smoke powder, ghosts and legends. When it comes to solving crimes, they are all flying knives and sticks, making a lot of money. When we talk about fighters, we mean horses and golden drums. To say scripture is to say Buddhist scripture. When we say "participation", we mean "participation in Zen and enlightenment". Talk about history books, talk about the history of the previous generation, and the battle of Tan Xing's abolition. People who are most afraid of novels, people who cover novels, can tell stories from generation to generation in an instant.
The fourth one is "talk about history books, talk about the history of the previous generation, and talk about the rise and fall of the war." Stories about the Three Kingdoms should fall into this category.
The novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms can be said to have directly or indirectly collected the stories of the Three Kingdoms circulated in the Tang and Song Dynasties, especially the lecture materials handed down from generation to generation by novelists. This is a work that has been revised many times. The Three Kingdoms of Omni-directional Pinghua, which is described below, is a product of the Yuan Dynasty, but its ancestor may have originated from the speaker's manuscript in the Song Dynasty.
How can oral materials become scripted novels? Probably the speaker started with word of mouth, not words, but word of mouth is easy to forget. The more embellished the story, the more complicated the content, and the harder it is to remember. It can only be recorded in words to avoid omission when speaking. With the continuous arrangement of written records, the space is getting bigger and bigger. There are two small problems worth considering here: first, the manuscript may be simple and rough, and the later revised version may be more complicated, while the abridged version is the opposite; Second, once the first draft is circulated, many different versions of the same story may appear later, because different artists or literati have polished and interpreted it. Here are one or two examples to illustrate. The New Publication of Zhi Zhi, The Three Kingdoms of Quanping Dialect, consists of three volumes, which was published by Yu's family in Jian 'an (now northern Fujian) during the period from Yingzong to (1321-kloc-0/323) in Yuan Dynasty. Each volume is engraved with the full version of Zhi Xin's new publication "Three Kingdoms Pinghua", commonly known as "Three Kingdoms Pinghua". This book is now in the Cabinet Library in Tokyo, Japan. It has 138 pages, and each page has two columns. The left and right pages are merged, with pictures on the top and text on the bottom. With this notebook, the speaker can read pictures, foam at the mouth and perfunctory at will. This is not necessarily the first draft of the speaker, but it is an earlier version, which shows that it is relatively simple and rough. Another example is A Brief History of the Three Kingdoms, which is also the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. It consists of three volumes, not written by the author, but also by Jian 'an Bookstore. Although the first line of the first volume of the Middle School is engraved with the words "All Three Outlines of Zhiyuan New Publication" and "All Three Outlines of Zhiyuan New Publication", and the cover is engraved with the words "Wu Jia New Engraving", most academic circles think that it is not an engraving of Wu Jia (1294) in the 31st year of Zhiyuan, Yuan Shizu. It's a book dealer's mystifying, but it's actually the product of fourteen years from Yuan to Zheng Zheng or the change of Yuan and Ming Dynasties. Because in the first volume, the middle volume and the second volume, two or three pages of stories are deliberately omitted before the last page or two of each volume, but the page numbers are coherent and uninterrupted. Obviously, booksellers cut corners and cheat customers. In order to reduce costs, abridged editions are usually printed.
Lu Xun said that many speakers in the Song Dynasty were experts, but he didn't know anything about his works. Most of the existing storytelling stories are works of Yuan people (1982, 127 pages). Among them, Zhi Zhi's new publication "Quanpinghua Three Kingdoms" and Zhiyuan's new publication "Quansanguozhi" both have the main plot of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which is the embryonic form of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
To sum up the contents of this section: China's storytelling originated very early, and storytellers in the Song Dynasty especially liked to talk about history. In the Northern Song Dynasty, Huo Sanxue was famous for saying "three points". However, the scattered fragments of the story of the Three Kingdoms spread very early and were recorded in the Tang Dynasty. Song people devoted themselves to embellishment and extravagance, making the content richer and the plot more exciting. The existing full-length History of Three Kingdoms Pinghua is the work of Yuan people and should be the embryonic form of The Romance of Three Kingdoms.
Second, the author, year and edition of The Romance of The Three Kingdoms.
There are many controversial issues in the information provided in this section "Author, Version and Year of Writing". I suggest you don't memorize the materials, just know the outline.
author
During the long period of emperor's autocratic rule, it is strange that China's novels and plays have been ignored and discriminated by orthodox literati, so that most of these works are secretive and furtive. Unfortunately, its author always knows his life clearly with an alias or without a name. The authors of several famous books selected in this course have similar situations.
The author of The Romance of The Three Kingdoms is generally said to be Luo Guanzhong. The records of his native place and life story are very different, and the materials are also very brief.
There are four main opinions about Luo Guanzhong's native place: Taiyuan, Hangzhou, Dongyuan (Dongping, Shandong) and Luling. For decades, there have been many statements about the first two, but so far there is no conclusion. Today, Liu Zhixian, Wang Qili, Shen Bojun and Zhou Lengga all hold the theory of Dongyuan. Judging from the available data, Dong Yuan's theory is more credible.
-Taiyuan said
Ming anonymous "ghost book continued" cloud: "Luo Guanzhong, Taiyuan people, No. Widowed. Yuefu and argot are extremely fresh. "
Second, Hangzhou said
There are twenty-three clouds in Ming Langying's "Seven Amendments to the Contract": "The Three Kingdoms and Sung River, Hangzhou people Robben view. There must be a book in the old meaning, so I compiled it. "
Tian Ming Rucheng's Travel Notes on the West Lake (Volume 25) said: "Luo Guanzhong, a native of Qiantang and Southern Song Dynasty, wrote dozens of novels."
In the Ming Dynasty, Wang Qi's General Examination of Continuing Literature 177 Textual Research and Biography said: "The Water Margin was written by Luo Guan. In the word book, Hangzhou people. "
Third, Dong Yuan (Dongping) said
Ming Yong Yu Zi (Jiang Daqi)' s Preface to the Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms' said:' If Luo Guanzhong was originally from the East, he would spread the biography of Chen Shou in Pingyang and study the history of various countries, from the first year of Emperor Zhong Ping of the Han Dynasty to the first year of Jin Taikang. Pay attention to gains and losses. The purpose of the book is the popular romance of the Three Kingdoms, which is not very profound and vulgar. In fact, this is almost historic.
Qi Wang's Romance of Luo Guanzhong and the Three Kingdoms (1983, pages 240-265) found Robben and Gao Kerou among the thirty-one people listed in the book A Master Sacrificed Mr. Bao Feng attached to Zhao Xie's Collection of Mr. Zhao Baofeng in Yuan Dynasty, and thought that Robben was Luo Guanzhong. This involves the author of the Water Margin. The only good official in the water margin is Dongping Taishou Chen. Why? It turned out that Cixi County ordered Chen to find a job for Zhao Baofeng, a citizen of this city, and wanted to be an apprentice. Baofeng informed the civil affairs department. Therefore, Chen was also listed as Mr. Baofeng's protege in the Song and Yuan Dynasties, which is not difficult to explain the mystery that the only good official in Water Margin is Chen. The Water Margin was written by Shi Naian and edited by Luo Guanzhong. Luo Guanzhong is obviously Robben and Dongping is his parents' country. Describing this good official as a magistrate in Dongping, Wang Qili thought it was "carefully arranged by Luo Guanzhong".
Zhou Lengga's "New Historical Materials about Luo Guanzhong's Life" (edited by Tan Luofei, 1992,19-130) also looks for information from Mr. Zhao Baofeng's library and the Song and Yuan Dynasties, and thinks that Luo Guanzhong was originally a famous book with a straight word and a native of Dongping. After the death of the Yuan Dynasty, he went to his brother Wei Yan, the son of Luo, who lived in Cixi, Zhejiang. Duke Luo was a proté gé of Zhao Baofeng, a descendant of the Song imperial clan, so Robben also studied under Zhao Baofeng. Fear of infiltration is another name.
About Luo Guanzhong's life, some people think that he is from the Southern Song Dynasty. Some people think that it makes sense to be in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty, because the turbulent experience in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty and the writer's political ambition had a substantial impact on the creation of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Zhou Yi, Zhang, Zhou Lengga and others are quoted as follows:
-Southern Song Dynasty (Zhouyi)
Wang Shifu's The West Chamber (1985, pages 76-82), which is found in Zhouyi's articles Luo Guanzhong's Outlaws of the Marshes and The Scholars, thinks that "Luo Guanzhong may be from the Southern Song Dynasty or between the Song and Yuan Dynasties." You can refer to the views of Zhouyi in the origin of historical literature in the previous section.
2. Born around 1295 (,Zhang,).
Feng Qiyong's Luo Guanzhong Times Theory (199 1, page 80-93) holds that since Luo Guanzhong and Ge Kejiu can be mentioned together, Ge is a Yuan man, and Luo is certainly a Yuan man. According to the records in Ghost Book, Luo Guanzhong was born around Zhenyuan Year (1295) and died around Hongwu Year (1379) in Ming Dynasty, and lived for about 85 years.
Zhang's Textual Research on the Year of Birth and Death in Luo Guanzhong (1982, No.3, p. 120- 126) insists on researching the book's completion date based on the existing place names in the book, so as to trace the author's birth time. He believes that The Romance of the Three Kingdoms was written around 1329 and was written by Luo Guanzhong.
Three. Born in 1330 (Lu Xun and Zhou Lin Jia)
Lu Xun's A Brief History (page 129) is considered as a "man in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties" (about 1330- 1400).
Zhou Lengga's novel notes (198 1, No.4, pp. 76-82) agree with Lu Xun's statement that Luo Guanzhong was "from Yuan Dynasty to Ming Dynasty", probably a Cixi.
Combined with various statements, it is roughly like this: Luo Guanzhong Dongping people, formerly known as Robben, word, alias Guan Zhong, also known as Hu Hai. He was born in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty. He once entered the Zhang Shicheng shogunate, and then retired to Cixi, Zhejiang Province to write, and died in the early Ming Dynasty. There are three kinds of zaju, including "Song Taizu Dragon and Tiger Club". He also wrote six novels: The Romance of Three Kingdoms, The Thorn of the King of Qin, The Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties, The Romance of Tang and Five Dynasties, The Biography of Sansui Pingyao and The Pink House. It is generally believed that the novel Water Margin also contains Luo Guanzhong's painstaking efforts.
Year of writing
There are four main opinions about the date of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms: first, before the Song Dynasty; Second, the mid-Yuan Dynasty; Third, the early Ming Dynasty; Fourth, the mid-Ming Dynasty. In any case, because Luo Guanzhong's status as an editor of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms cannot be denied, the writing time cannot jump out of the era of Luo Guanzhong's life, and the writing time must be combined with Luo Guanzhong's birth and death years.
First, Song often said
The Book of Changes advocates that The Romance of the Three Kingdoms was written before the Song Dynasty or the Northern Song Dynasty, which we have quoted before (see this unit, page 3).
Second, the theory of the mid-Yuan Dynasty
Shi Shuo's The Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms in the Ming Dynasty was printed by Luo Guanzhong in the Yuan Dynasty (199 1 94- 108 pages). It is considered that the book used more than 330 poems to evaluate characters, and the plot is very similar to that of Pinghua in the Song and Yuan Dynasties. Moreover, when it was quoted, it was Tang Xian or Song Xian, not Yuan Xian, but really Ren Yuan's accent; Except for a few clerical errors, today's place names mentioned in the small print notes in the book are almost consistent with the names of administrative regions in the Yuan Dynasty. Because Jiangling, Jiankang and Tanzhou were all old place names before the second year of Yuan Dynasty (1329), the time for annotation was broken in this year, and then it was extended for more than ten years. Basically, it can be determined that the book was written in the middle of Yuan Dynasty, about11920s-40s. He also thinks that Luo Guanzhong's date of birth and death is about 1300 to 1370, and Jiajing can be regarded as Luo Guanzhong's original work.
Third, the theory of the early Ming Dynasty
Ouyang Jian's essay "On the Time of Writing the Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms" (Institute of Literature, Sichuan Academy of Social Sciences, 1983, page 280-295) holds that the Romance of the Three Kingdoms was written in the early Ming Dynasty. He disagreed with Yuan's conclusion that the footnote date in the book was two years ago (1329), and thought that the situation of place names was more complicated. He thinks that Luo Guanzhong began in the early Ming Dynasty, and the twelve volumes were written not earlier than the third year of Hongwu (1370), and the first draft of the whole book was completed after 137 1 year. He also believes that according to the Master's Salute to Mr. Baofeng, Robben is ranked between the eighth Usdao (born in 13 14) and the thirteenth Wang Huan (born in 13 14), and his birth year is about/kloc-0. Robben Guanzhong was about fifty years old when he started writing.
Fourth, the theory in the middle of Ming Dynasty.
Zhang Guoguang's Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms was written in the middle of Ming Dynasty (1983, pages 266-279). It is believed that the popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms was written on the basis of Pinghua of the Three Kingdoms, and Pinghua of the Three Kingdoms published in Yuan Dynasty was written in Xin 'an period (132654). Zhang Guoguang therefore believes that "the writing of this book will not be the Yuan Dynasty, nor the early years of the Ming Dynasty, but the middle of the Ming Dynasty. Jiang Daqi, the silly son who wrote the preface for this, is probably its author. " He estimated that it was because Jiang Daqi had no money to engrave the book after writing the preface, and it took twenty years before it was published by Xiuzuzi.
It is worth noting that Zhang Guoguang is the author of The Romance of The Three Kingdoms despite Luo Guanzhong, so there is no need to worry about whether the writing date of the book coincides with Luo Guanzhong's date of birth and death. If combined with Luo Guanzhong's life, the second and third statements are closer to the truth. If the fourth statement is reasonable, the mid-Ming dynasty is the time to start spreading.
version
-Jia Jingben
There is a copy of Ming Jiajing Renwu (1522). Twenty-four volumes, 240 articles, each with only seven words. The book was signed as "Biography of Hou in Pingyang, Jin, and later edited by Robben Guanzhong". It should be noted that many scholars think that it is the closest version to Luo Guanzhong's original works, even to Luo's original works, but now there are many skeptics.
Second, local chronicles
There were several editions published in Wanli period of Ming Dynasty (1573- 1620), which were referred to as "Wanli Book" for short. Liu Longtian Qiaoshantang and Yu Shuangfeng Hall are earlier. It is worth noting that the content is somewhat different from the Jiajing version, and the text is relatively simple. Many scholars believe that the ancestor of Biography predates Jiajing.
Third, Li Pingben
Mr. Wang's Comments on the Records of the Three Kingdoms is a false comment on the leaf paintings of Wuxi people in the name of Wanli and the apocalypse, so it is also called "Li's false comment". Every two books of Jiajing are combined into one hundred and twenty, and there are no volumes. There are several existing publications of Wu Guanming in Jianyang, Ming Dynasty. Mao Zonggang abridged and revised Mao Zhu in Qing Dynasty.
Four, Mao Ben (Mao Ping Ben)
Mao Zonggang's Comments on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, published in Kangxi period of Qing Dynasty, has 60 volumes and 120 chapters. In the name of Jin Shengtan, Mao Lun and Mao Zonggang and his son revised "Comments on Pseudo-Li" and made a comprehensive revision. Lu Xun said that Shi Mao and his son mainly carried out three tasks, one was to change, the other was to increase and the third was to decrease. The rest of the sections are "first, correct words, third, delete praises, fourth, add and delete trifles, and fifth, change poems". It is worth noting that Li thinks that this book strengthens the feudal orthodoxy more than the previous generation, but it greatly surpasses the previous generation in artistic treatment.
In short, there are only three versions of these four editions: one is the popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms published by Jiajing, the other is the biography of the Three Kingdoms, and the third is the system of Mao Pingben. Branch and Li Pingben have been compiled into Mao Pingben after being revised by Mao Zonggang, which should belong to the same system. At present, most of the books printed in bookstores are Mao's evaluation system, but when collating, they usually refer to different versions of Jiajing edition to make some changes.
Third, the formation of the story of the Three Kingdoms.
Chen Shou compiled The History of the Three Kingdoms in Jin Dynasty, and Pei Songzhi cited more than 400 kinds of books in Liu and Song Dynasties as notes. As we know, during the Wei, Jin and Six Dynasties, it was popular to judge people by their appearances, and people were always judged according to specific deeds. Later, Shi Shuo Xin Yu collected many wonderful stories of various figures in Wei and Jin Dynasties. The atmosphere of judging characters has been circulating for some time, and many people are very familiar with the words and deeds of the characters at that time. In the process of speaking, on the one hand, it is interesting, and the speaker's subjective opinions and personal colors are added between word of mouth, so the description of people and things has become more and more exciting.
For example, there are more than 30 kinds of documents that describe, describe and praise the stories and characters of the Three Kingdoms in the Jin Dynasty, the Southern and Northern Dynasties. This is the existing literature, and the actual number is definitely more than this.
There were more than 140 poems about the Three Kingdoms in the Tang Dynasty, and about 80 poems in the Song Dynasty. These also mean that there must have been more materials known today.
In addition to poetry and prose, there were more than 60 Yuan zaju with the story of the Three Kingdoms as the theme. This is even more noteworthy. First, the individual fragments of the story of the Three Kingdoms developed well at that time before they could be compiled into a script. Second, drama is more widely spread and influential than poetry, and it is mutually causal with the development of novels. Trigonometry, which has been circulating since the Song Dynasty, became the basis of the novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a novel, but the original story is sporadic. How these scattered materials are finally organized into a masterpiece is an interesting process. This process can be said to be long. Because it is not the official history at all-if it is similar to the official history, then there is no need to compile the Romance of the Three Kingdoms after the Romance of the Three Kingdoms is written. Of course, the material of The Romance of The Three Kingdoms is not only directly taken from the History of the Three Kingdoms, but also indirectly taken from the notes of The History of the Three Kingdoms and other historical materials of the Six Dynasties, and more is the story material fully developed by later generations (so-called "adding materials"). In particular, Yuan Zaju's works infiltrated the story of the Three Kingdoms into a life of flesh and blood. The formation of the story of the Three Kingdoms can be divided into the following four stages:
The first stage is the records of Chen Shou's History of the Three Kingdoms before it was written, most of which are historical materials, including the records and legends of historical figures' origins, words and deeds. Chen Shou's "The History of the Three Kingdoms" recognizes some of them as materials for compiling official history, but more materials are left by literati or folk.
The second stage is the early period after the publication of The History of the Three Kingdoms, especially in the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Because the time to the Three Kingdoms is not far away, there are still a lot of literature and folklore popular, but the content of the story inevitably begins to increase or change.
The third stage is the singing of literati and the performance of storytellers in the Tang and Song Dynasties. The former can make stories and legends more interesting, while the latter can combine sporadic stories into longer units.
The fourth stage is Yuan Zaju works. Many playwrights in the Yuan Dynasty tried to write the story of the Three Kingdoms into wonderful plays. Take the story of Lu Bu and The Story Of Diu Sim as an example. The existing scripts include the unknown Secret Compilation of Jinyuntang, Zheng Guangzu's Three Wars of Hulao Pass and Lyu3 bu4, Wuhan Chen's Three Wars of Hulao Pass and Lyu3 bu4 (incomplete), and Yu's Cut Lyu3 bu4 in White. In addition, there is The Story of Diesim's Daughter in Yuannan Opera (incomplete). We can measure the contribution of the Yuan drama writers to the development of The Romance of The Three Kingdoms.
The fifth stage is Luo Guanzhong's book. The book Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms is true in terms of official history, selected novels, textual research and popularity. Especially all kinds of classics, including historical records, notes, legends, storytelling, scripts, poems and so on. , have been melted into a great work. This actually brings together the efforts of thousands of people in Qian Qian; Before Luo Guanzhong, the anonymous author who modified and processed the story text and plot also contributed. Luo Guanzhong can be said to be a master in his later period.
Fourth, the ideological content of The Romance of Three Kingdoms.
Mao's review of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms was preceded by a reading of the annals of the Three Kingdoms. This is an article that teaches people how to appreciate the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, including an analysis of its content and literary skills. Not every point of view is correct, but it is very enlightening and must be read.
theme
The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, based on the historical scope of Chen Shou's History of the Three Kingdoms, reproduces the evolution of the unification from the end of Han Dynasty to the Western Jin Dynasty from a literary perspective. Because historical events are inconvenient to edit at will, but the details can be brought into full play, the author can integrate personal subjective elements into his writing and become a literary work with obvious ideological content. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is orthodox, and respects Liu over Cao everywhere, which is different from Chen Shou's Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which takes Wei and Jin as orthodoxy. It has always been considered as its theme. Liu Yang and Cao Cao are the main themes of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, especially the popular Mao commentary. It should be correct to say that "emphasizing orthodoxy" is the theme of this book. The so-called concepts of long separation and long separation are also related to the author's background in the early Ming Dynasty.
Five, the artistic achievements of The Romance of The Three Kingdoms
First, describe the war; Second, shaping the characters; Third, structural art; Fourth, language features.
Describe the war
The first point is the diversification of war. The book describes hundreds of wars, which can be divided into land wars, water wars, or mixed land and water wars, such as flooding the Seventh Army; It can also be divided into offensive and defensive warfare; Or ambush or sneak attack; Or divided into positional warfare and guerrilla warfare; Or the Lord will compete, or the two armies will scuffle in various forms.
The second point is the combination of military action and political strategy. For example, Cao Cao's southern expedition was not without purpose, but to complete the great cause of reunification. Liu Bei joined forces with Wu to resist Cao Cao, in order to gain a foothold and revitalize Liu's Han family. Zhuge Liang's expedition to the south was to solve the disputes with the southern minorities, stabilize the rear area and deal with the powerful Cao Wei with all his strength.
Third, the outcome of the war depends on ingenuity. The key lies in the cleverness of the planner, whether he can adopt the good strategies of his subordinates, whether he can correctly judge the enemy's situation, whether he can objectively distinguish loyalty from treachery, and whether he can handle things calmly. The victory or defeat of wars, big or small, is related to the use of wit. The Manuscript of Man gives many examples, so it is recommended to read the original.
Fourth, pay attention to people, not the war process. Absorbing the experience of Zuo Zhuan in describing the war, he wrote the strategy in detail and the battle process very briefly; Write in detail those who have the upper hand, and write slightly those who are at a disadvantage; Write winners in detail and losers briefly. Through several confrontations, the characters are gradually shaped.
Create a role image
Because Lu Xun criticized the Romance of the Three Kingdoms in A Brief History, "As for writing people, it is also quite lacking, so that Liu Bei's long and thick looks like a fake, and Zhuge's wisdom is close to a demon; Just for Guan Yu, he is very kind and brave, and he has always seen it. " In the past, many critics were influenced, afraid to overthrow their own theories and almost reached a conclusion. In fact, Lu Xun's view is biased. Romance of the Three Kingdoms may have a clear subjective intention of loyalty and treachery in characterization, but it is not black or white. Kong Ming expects everything to be like a god, but it is not foolproof. Cao Cao is a treacherous man, not without advantages. Guan Yu is loyal and brave, but he uses it for himself, regardless of the overall situation. For example: to compete with Ma Chao; Abuse Sun Quan and refuse to get married; Shame is juxtaposed with Huang Zhong, and is not affected by the seal of the five tigers; The fourth is to despise Lu Xun and lead to failure.
Structural art
The story of the Three Kingdoms takes the rise and fall of Wei, Shu and Wu as the vertical line, and the development of war and the activities of characters as the material. The rise and fall history of more than 90 years can be divided into three main stages: the first stage is from the Yellow Scarf Uprising to Battle of Red Cliffs; The third stage is from the Three Kingdoms to Zhuge Liang's death. In the meantime, with the complicated disputes between Wei Shuwu, various wars, large and small, and ingenious schemes of civil servants and military commanders, they were brought out one by one, and finally formed a complete big story. Because the structural wheels of traditional Zhang Hui's novels echo each other and develop along the main line, they are concentrated in dispersion and consistency from beginning to end, forming a unified novel system.
However, in dealing with 97-year-long historical events, from the beginning to Zhuge Liang's death, 104 was used in fifty-one years, and in the following forty-six years, the length of time was actually nearly half, but only 16 was used to summarize the historical evolution, and its composition arrangement was obviously unbalanced. What is the reason? Because the Romance of the Three Kingdoms takes Shu Han as its orthodoxy. In the first 50 years, it was from scratch, from weak to strong, and United with Wu to resist Cao. These brilliant deeds in the world are naturally worth writing about. But after Zhuge Liang's death, the situation took a turn for the worse, and Shu Han began to face collapse. Time was running out and the space was greatly reduced. It can be seen that in terms of structure, the factor of processing time is important.
In the description of Wei, Shu and Wu, there is a war between Shu and Wei, but it is more a war between Shu and Wu, and more a war between Wu and Wei. However, the focus of attention has always been on Shu and Wei, and the description of Wu has been somewhat ignored. Because of this, people who study the characters of the Three Kingdoms also lay particular stress on Shu and Wei Junchen intentionally or unintentionally. In other words, the author is also very thoughtful in determining priorities.
As The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a war novel describing the theme of war, we can also sort out a structural context from the special plot formed around war stories. Zheng Tiesheng's Art Appreciation of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms attempts to analyze its structure in this way, taking the three major battles of Guandu, Chibi and Yiling as the main line, interspersed with some minor auxiliary battles, and running through the book, forming a war system (1992, pages 246-273). Mao Xin and Ye Xu have a similar view. They take Battle of Red Cliffs as an example: from the beginning to the end, * * * counted it eight times, including a series of short stories, Cao Cao's writing style, Zhuge Liang's Confucian war of words, Jiang Gan's recruit, Huang Gai's dangerous move of fighting, Kong Ming's borrowing an arrow and the east wind, and Hua Rongdao's explanation of Cao Cao, all of which formed a big focus and became an orderly structure.
language feature
The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is written in plain classical Chinese, which is concise and lively. This was widely appreciated by people with a little culture in feudal times, which was beneficial to communication.
The book Romance of the Three Kingdoms, especially Mao Pingben, borrowed many poems from ancient writers. Compared with vernacular Chinese, the use of plain classical Chinese can make it more unified and harmonious with these poems in language style.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms created many idioms, quoted or invented many proverbs, which were lively and enriched the language of the Chinese nation.
6. The influence of Romance of the Three Kingdoms on later literature.
The Romance of the Three Kingdoms has several influences on later literature. First, it is the originator of historical novels, and many later historical novels use it as a model to imitate its institutional structure. Second, the story of the book is wonderful, and many dramatists in Ming and Qing Dynasties and even in modern times adapted it into a script; Thirdly, the later poetry works are used as allusions or as singing themes; Fourthly, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is rigorous in language, which can enrich the language of later writers.
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