A Study Of The Philology And Mythology Of Luo Mi’s Lu Shi

Lu Shi, literature of myths and legends, was compiled by Luo Mi. Although scholarshave been attracted by its rich data and numerous anonymous articles, there are almost none ofthem who have done any research in detail and depth regarding this valuable work. Mydissertation, first of all, in a perspective of Philology, it reviews Lu Shi comprehensively.Furthermore, it explores the value of Lu Shi on mythology. There are three sections includedin my dissertation.The first section is Introduction, which summarizes the status quo of academic research onLuo Mi and Lu Shi. It discloses that its related research has been in process gradually inhistory; however, there has never been any monograph that has studied Luo and Lu Shispecifically and deeply. Therefore, it is meaningful to do this research thoroughly.The second section is the main body of my dissertation, composed of seven chapters,which can be divided into two parts.Part One includes three chapters. First of all, by tracing Luo Mi’s family history, itdiscovers that his family background has a significant influence on his work. In the meantime,it explores Lu Shi’s composition, annotation, edition, and circulation, which are critical toreview Lu Shi’s value on Philology. On this basis, it further discusses the contribution of LuShi on Philology. Moreover, through examining its bibliographic citations and collections ofancient works, Part One gives a convincing conclusion.Part Two is composed of four chapters. On the basis of a study of Lu Shi’s philologicalvalue, it interprets its ancient myths and legends profoundly. Chapter Four and Five exploresthe filiations of ancient kings in Lu Shi. It investigates the background and preparation of LuShi’s compilation; further pays more attention to the source of those myths and legends,including Luo’s integration of diverse figures in Lu Shi. Chapter Six finds that because of hisrespect and reverence of the ancient kings, when he compiles the filiations, Luo Mi does notdistinguish the complex materials he has. Thus any records that are related to ancient kingsare all included into his work. Chapter Seven reviews related theories of mythology, and alsoconcentrates on the analysis of ancient myths and legends recorded in Lu Shi. Not only doesit explain briefly the relation of myths, legends, and history, but also points out that in theperspective of Luo Mi, besides the differences between myths and legends, there is a mixtureof myths and history.The third section is the conclusion of my dissertation. Based on its summarization of thecontents in the whole dissertation, it believes that Lu Shi has an important value. In addition,regarding its significances to Philology and Mythology, although my dissertation has manyexplorations, there are still more interesting topics we can further dig out. For instance, whyis it popular to study primitive history during the Song dynasty? How can we orientate therelation of Lu Shi and Jiang Xi culture, Lu Shi and cultural development during the Songdynasty?...