Luo Guanzhong (about1330-about 1400), a novelist in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty, was the author of Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms. He is a native of Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, and his other major works are novels: Zhi Zhi in Sui and Tang Dynasties, History of the Five Dynasties, Ping Yao Yao in the Third World, and Water Margin. Romance of the Three Kingdoms (hereinafter referred to as Romance of the Three Kingdoms) is Luo Guanzhong's masterpiece, which has a far-reaching influence on later literary creation. Besides writing novels, the surviving drama Song Taizu Dragon and Tiger Club.
Luo Guanzhong's life experience in the south.
During the reign of Yuan Renzong, Luo Guanzhong's father was a silk merchant. In the mid-Yuan Dynasty, the social, economic and cultural focus began to shift from the north to the south due to the gradual fading of the trauma of the Song War. Hangzhou is not only a bustling city in the Southern Song Dynasty, but also an important center for the development of traditional Chinese opera and "Shuo" art. Therefore, many northern intellectuals, such as Guan Hanqing and Zheng Guangzu, have moved to Hangzhou. As a writer of novels and dramas, Luo Guanzhong was also influenced by this social trend of thought, as a writer who moved to the south. At the age of seven, he studied four books in a private school. /kloc-My mother died at the age of 0/4, so I dropped out of school and went to Suzhou and Hangzhou to do business with my father. But Luo Guanzhong was not interested in business. With his father's consent, he went to Cixi to study with the famous scholar Zhao Baofeng. Luo Guanzhong "scattered people in the lake", this title has the meaning of wandering the rivers and lakes and wandering the world. About 1345 ~ 1355, he came to Hangzhou. Many people who talk about art publish books here, and some comedy writers are also active here. Luo Guanzhong befriends like-minded people. In addition, he is very popular with folk literature, and naturally he doesn't want to leave here.
King of epic poems
In the 16th year of Yuan Zhizheng (1356), Luo Guanzhong bid farewell to Zhao Baofeng, and Luo Guanzhong, the "king of maps", visited the Zhang Shicheng shogunate of the peasant uprising. Zhang Shicheng's domination of this war is a heroic force. In the second year, at the proposal of Luo Guanzhong, Zhang Shicheng defeated the attack of Emperor Kang Taizu. In the same year, Zhang Shicheng's brother was defeated by the Yuan captives, and Zhang Shicheng surrendered. After Yuan Dynasty, Zhang Shicheng was greedy for pleasure. In twenty years or twenty years, Zhang Shicheng saw the decline of the Yuan Dynasty and became king again. Many aides, including Luo Guanzhong, proposed to suspend the position of king, but it was not adopted. Liu Liang, Lu Yuan and others left one after another, and Luo lost confidence in Shicheng and returned to his hometown in Taiyuan. In September of the 23rd year of Zhengzheng (A.D. 1363), Luo Guanzhong also left Zhang Shicheng and went north again. Twenty years ago, Luo Guanzhong returned to Hangzhou. The writing of The Popular Romance of The Three Kingdoms should be after that year. At this time, he is over 50 years old, has a mature view on history and life, and is fully qualified to create the Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms. In the third year of Hongwu in Ming Taizu (A.D. 1370), Luo Guanzhong had written twelve volumes, and the last one was finished, four years after Hongwu.
During Luo Guanzhong's writing of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Shi Naian moved from Suzhou to Xinghua and died in Hongwu for three years. In memory of his master, Luo Guanzhong decided to process and add the Water Margin to Hongwu for four to ten years after finishing the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. While processing and supplementing Water Margin, Luo Guanzhong continued to create a series of historical works.
Be angry with this book.
In the Yuan Dynasty, there was chaos in the world, and the heroes rose together, and he was also involved. Qi said in the Collection of History of Chen that he was "the king of maps and an example of God", that is to say, seeing that the world would not fall into the hands of the emperor, he had to fade out of the rivers and lakes. Soon, Luo Guanzhong traveled to the south of the Yangtze River, wandering in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, and described the dominant position of "the king of the soul" with his novels. The picture of the king failed, and the book was angry.
However, it may just be a legend. Because "Luo Guanzhong tyrant Zhang Shicheng" is recorded in Volume 4 of Ta Ying Yuan Ji by Gu Ling in Qing Dynasty, which is not consistent with the "image of the king". The contradiction between these two records is enough to show that Luo Guanzhong tried to make Biography at the end of Yuan Dynasty, but his choice failed in reality.
After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang made the provinces try again for three years in order to consolidate his position. Luo Guanzhong had to give up the opportunity to enter the officialdom because of his enmity with the emperor. In Hongwu 14 of Ming Dynasty, Luo Guanzhong wrote the Biography of the Three Sui Dynasties (twenty editions), and later, he was unable to accept it, creating the Biography of the Five Dynasties' Disabled History, Sui Tang Zhi Zhi and other works.
Some experts believe that the early experience of "viewing the king in the early days" and his special mood in his later years are the keys to Luo Guanzhong's preference for political and historical novels and his artistic success in such novels. First, the Romance of the Three Kingdoms was written with the story of the Three Kingdoms as the theme, and the Water Margin was written by an editor of Liangshan heroic stories with historical and heroic legendary qualities (for example, the original China Literature History, which was popular at that time, was written by a book edited by Luo Guanzhong).
After creating these works, Luo Guanzhong is already an old man in his sixties. In order to publish these works, he came to Fujian from Hangzhou in the 13th year of Hongwu. At that time, Jianyang in Fujian was one of the publishing centers. However, Luo Guanzhong failed to achieve his goal. Luo Guanzhong's creative ability is multifaceted. He wrote Yuefu language and opera, but his main achievement was novels. As for his novels, "Fish in the West Lake" said that he "compiled dozens of novels", and it is said that he wrote "The Romance of the Seventeenth History". In addition to the Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms, there are also the Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties, the Biography of the Five Dynasties and the Biography of Sansui Pingyao. Shi Naian is also preparing the Water Margin.
These works are the highest achievements in the Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms. This book describes the complicated political and military struggle from the Yellow River Uprising to the unification of the Western Jin Dynasty in the Three Kingdoms period with a grand structure. The works condemn the cruelty and ugliness of the rulers, reflect the sufferings of the turbulent people and their yearning for Qingming politics and benevolent governance, and reflect the tendency of "Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms". "The words are not very profound and vulgar", and the language is simple, lively and vivid. It combines the natural combination of history and literature, realistic description, and full of romantic legend. The earliest extant version of Luo Guanzhong's Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms is Jiajing, and the most popular version is the revised version of Maureen and Mao Zonggang in Qing Dynasty. In addition to the creation of novels, Jia's "The Continuation of Recording Ghost Books" thinks that his "Yuefu language" is very fresh. His existing opera works include Zhao Kuangyin Dragon and Tiger Generals. The basic idea of this drama is similar to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which describes the close relationship between the monarch and the minister, and hopes to end the tragedy caused by men through the "three cardinal guides and five permanents".