Normalized Light Research

Since the Ming Dynasty and the early Qing Dynasty, Gui Youguang has always been viewed as one of the most outstanding prose writers in Ming Dynasty. However, the criticisms of him in the Ming and Qing Dynasties are in one way or another skimming over the surface. The modern and contemporary studies on him mainly focus on several of his well-known pieces and the school ascription of his writings, with their scopes comparatively narrow and their conclusions often astray from the actual thoughts of the author. With the relevant research by the predecessors, this paper attempts to give Gui Youguang and his writings a more thorough study.It is composed of an introduction and seven chapters. The introduction explains the reasons why I have chosen this topic and the issues I work on. Chapter One reviews the critical reception of Gui Youguang in the Ming and Qing Dynasties to show the corresponding changes of his literary status with the changing critical angles and standards. Furthermore, it reveals the distinctively different criticisms on him by the scholars and prose writers in the Ming, especially in the Qing Dynasty. Chapter Two discusses the relationship between Gui Youguang and the "Tang-Song School" in the first place, and elaborates the formation of "Tang-Song School" and its defects. It also explores the connotations of Tang Shunzhi's theory of "true nature", and brings forth my own thinking about that theory. Chapter Three probes, through textual and comparative analysis, into the characteristics and success of the "family endearment" style prose of Gui Youguang. It holds that his unique life experience, especially his emotional experience, enables him to go beyond the limitations of literary notions unconsciously and create the most valuable prose. Chapter Four discusses the main content and the academic values of Gui Youguang's interpretation of classics. Chapter Five studies Gui Youguang's comments on Shi Ji (Historical Records). Judging from his emphasis and comments on Shi Ji, we could see that his mastery of this book stays mainly in techniques and fails to grasp its soul. It further illustrates the relations between Gui Youguang's prose style and that of Shi Ji , and points out that the former critics arewrong when they overstate the influence of Shi Ji on Gui Youguang's prose. Chapter Six studies mainly some of the literary concepts by Gui Youguang, such as the "origin", "function", "style" and the "rhetoric" of literary compositions. It maintains that his literary concepts actually lack creativity, and the literary texts written under the restrictions of his literary concepts are not those of great literary value. This chapter also suggests that Gui Youguang's literary concepts in their essence are not contrary to those of "The Seven Scholars" school, though they are different to some extent. Chapter Seven explores the ethics of Gui Youguang. It conteds that he follows the Confucian orthodox, stressing especially the Three Cardinal Guides (i.e. ruler guides subject, father guides son and husband guides wife), and believes in the "correspondence between man and universe" of ethic and moral behaviors, which reflect his strong tendency of maintaining the feudal ethical codes.