A Study On Zuo Zhuan From The View Of Literary Criticism

As the one of three Biography of Spring and Autumn Annals,Zuo Zhuan occupied a very important status in Chinese ancient academic history that be regard as the representative of Confucian classics based on the old Text.Because of its oneness characteristics of Confucian classics,historiography and literature,,it has a profound influence on the development of ancient Chinese classics,historiography and literature.Therefor,besides the history and classics research fields,studying Zuo Zhuan from the literature perspective can not only promote the enrichment and development of Zuo Zhuan’s own research,but also deepen the study of ancient Chinese literature.However,have a comprehensive survey of the actual literature research on Zuo Zhuan,it can be seen that the remarkable achievements has be take on the literariness and literary value though the research on the past dynasties literary criticism is still lacking from the vision of literary criticism.Thus,the research spot of this thesis is the perspective of literary criticism.Through to combs and studies the propositions of literary criticism in the past dynasties,the thesis will discuss the original meanings and analyzes every concrete performance and ideological source of Zuo Zhuan critical proposition.On this basis,the study will expand research on the elaborations,metonymy and influence about critical proposition at the later generations.Hopping to contribute the more further study of literary criticism in Zuo Zhuan.In fact,due to the oneness of classics,historiography and literature,the literary criticisms about Zuo Zhuan often mixed with the criticisms of classics and history.It until Song Dynasty that the literary study of Zuo Zhuan has been stand alone in form of comments on text and articles.So,to study the criticism of Zuo Zhuan,we should start with the argumentation of the scholars of classics and history.Many classics and history scholars actually have a profound understanding about the literary characteristics and achievements of Zuo Zhuan,mostly these understandings are not explained in detail and comprehensively,but scattered in the preface and postscript of the relevant classics and historical works.Meanwhile,some other scholars of profound literary cultivation have their wise understanding of Zuo Zhuan’s literary features delivered in their own poems and books.All these understandings have formed the main body of the literary criticism onZuo Zhuan.From the view of literary criticism history,these criticisms centering on Zuo Zhuan has actually shaped a unique literary criticism system,in which some concepts,categories and propositions have had a borader meaning to literary criticism.Thus,it is of great value to systematically study the concepts,categories and propositions proposed in the literary criticisms on Zuo Zhuan in past dynasties,and to carefully tidy up these propositions’ academic background and original meaning,their development and evolution as well,from which a general framework of the literary criticim on Zuo Zhuan will be established.It is not only very beneficial for literary research on Zuo Zhuan,but is also greatly constructive for literary criticism history.Due to this background,the current thesis is costructed around seven research views which are listed as follows:Chapter one revolves around “being gentle in text but profound in intention”.With reference to Kong Yingda’s commentary,this chapter discusses what “being gentle in text but profound in intention”in Zuo Zhuan connotates,which is originally proposed by Du Yu.As to “being gentle in text”,it means being distant in content,relaxing in mood,tactful in expression,and loose in structure.In Zuo Zhuan,“being gentle in text” is fully shown in its roundabout content,its mild and gentle diction,and its elegant and loose narrative structure.As to “being profound in intention”,it refers to the application of saints’ commentary,calligraphy explanation,and personal choice into illustrating the Confucian proposals in thoughts,politics,ethics,and morals,etc.“ Being gentle in text but profound in intention”,which is connotated in Zuo Zhuan,is a natural display of “interpreting the annal by events” and “creating literature due to the prosperous vigor”.Chapter two deals with “expressing deep meaning by delicate wording”.Through an examination of the calligraphy in Zuo Zhuan and the doctorine in Yi Jing,this chapter thoroughly analyzes the differences of “expressing deep meaning by delicate wording” between classics and biography.Specifically,in The Spring and Autumn Annals,its deep meaning is expressed just by a small amount of words;whereas in Zuo Zhuan,both its delicacy and deep meaning is expressed.Specifically,in Zuo Zhuan,classics and literature is elaborated by vivid persons,minute details,direct calligraphy explanation,while quoting masters to make judgment as well as using Li to make decision,which is the technique and strategy employed by Zuo Zhuan when introducing and elaborating The Spring and Autumn Annals.The influence of Zuo Zhuan on later literature works mainly includes praising or criticizing with a single word,knowing people and judging world,discussing history and historical work,etc.In nature,the “expressing deep meaning by delicate wording” in Zuo Zhuan is what the new-confucianism thought reflects in historical works,which proposes a right way for learning and knowing history.Chapter three elaborates on the "five history-writing methods".As to the calligraphic writingin The Spring and Autumn Annals,there exists a difference between how to write and what to write.The calligraphic writing in The Spring and Autumn Annals has conveyed “being delicate and clear”,“being implicit while profound”,“being euphemistical but logical”,“being thorough while authentic”,and “evil is condemned while goodness is praised”,etc.This calligraphic writing method can be traced back to Zuo Zhuan,thus it is much more reflected in Zuo Zhuan.Then,this chapter takes Zuo Zhuan to make a discussion on the connotation of the five history-writing methods as well as the ways to realize them.Among them,the first method is “being delicate and clear”,which can be realized through the use of delicate wording to make clear the hidden meaning between the lines.The second method is “being implicit while profound”,that is,those facts in history had been recorded are implicit while profound.The third method is “being euphemistical but logical”,which takes etiquette taboos as scale involved in writing.The fourth method is “being thorough while authentic”,which is to record historical facts thoroughly and authentically without any loss or distortion.The fifth method is “evil is condemned while goodness is praised”,that is,the facts,characters,words and deeds should be truly recorded,and the trace of the goodness and evil will not die out.As a result,evil is condemned while goodness is praised.Thus,the so called five history-writing methods in nature involves the wording,the organizing principle and the value orientation when writing,which has great significance to later history writing and compiling,poem and prose appreciation,and classical Chinese writing.The five history-writing methods have become a universal law throughout both literature and history.Chapter four makes an exploration on “Zuo Zhuan’s abundness and colorfulness”.This chapter,taking Fan Ning’s commentary as a starting point,analyzes the weaknesses and strengthness of The Spring and Autumn Annals and discusses the essence of Zuo Zhuan’s abundance and colorfulness,and its relationship with characters and diction as well.The diction in Zuo Zhuan is a carrier for the reality of historical events.Thus,abundance and colorfulness,as diction’s posture,covers all the field of classics,historiography and literature.Specifically,abundance and colorfulness means being delicate and profound in tenet,extensive and vivid in content,varied in style,infinite in meaning,remarkable in character description,smart in technique of expression,luxriant in words and rich in language.Since Fan Ning commented Zuo Zhuan is a work of abundance and colorfulness,abundance and colorfulness has become an important criteria for poem and essay evaluation,character criticism,and painting and calligraphy appreciation.Chapter five expounds “being brief while elaborate” in Zuo Zhuan.This chapter,taking Shi Tong as the foundation,makes an analysis on the meaning and implication of “being brief while elaborate” in Zuo Zhuan.The tenet of “being brief” lies in the use of a brief style to recordhistorical facts,making readers having no feeling of incompleteness,which can be realized through the four styles,namely,word reduction,sentence simplification,reasonable logic,and sound skill.The tenet of “being elaborate”,however,lies in a thorough and detailed description which can completely and exquisitely present the contents in Three Disciplines and Five Chronicles.This brief while elaborate style is what the Confucian school advocates for writing.Chapter six argues about “Zuo Zhuan’s exaggeration”.In this chapter,the sematic meaning of exaggeration is analyzed after a review of different perceptions of exaggeration by sholars in all ages.It’s shown that some of them are rooted in unreal facts and some of them are rooted in self-pride.The difference between them can be attributed to the different perspectives: from the perspective of Zuo Zhuan’s text,exaggeration,referring to a boastful diction,is a weakness;while from the perspective of the author’s literary talent,exaggeration,referring to a rich and beautiful diction,is a strengthness.Both ancient works and modern works can be analyzed either from the text or from the author.Only when this undestanding is got,can the gap in the perceptions of the exaggeration in Zuo Zhuan be bridged.Chapter seven talks over “the oneness of literature and history”.In this chapter,the thoughts about the oneness of literature and history by Confucius,Mencius,Liu Zhiji,Wang Shizhen,Zhang Xuecheng and Qian Zhongshu are introduced,followed by an analysis on how the oneness of literature and history has been achieved in Zuo Zhuan,with emphasis put on a discussion on the dummy items in Zuo Zhuan.At the same time,this chapter makes a comparison of the narration on Wu Zixu in Zuo Zhuan and Shi Ji,as well as the narration on Han Xin’s deeds in Han Shu and Shi Ji,aimed at illustrating the nature of historical writing is also a kind of literary creation which must conform to historical facts.Hence,historical record is a kind of literary expression for aesthetic needs in terms of its nature.However,the literary elements in historical records must coincide with historical facts.At the same time,liteature,as a record and presentation for social history,must embody the spirit and value of historiography.The organic integration of literary elements and historiographic spirit in Zuo Zhuan is the key to Zuo Zhuan’s lofty status.After the discuss of above seven chapters,we can conclude that the oneness of Confucian classics,literature and history made Zuo Zhuan become a great classical works.The organic integration and benefit by associating together of Confucian classics theory,history facts and literary grace is the key that Zuo Zhuan text can stride millennia still magnificent and bright.The literary criticism centre on Zuo Zhuan not only deeply excavated the literary characteristics and outstanding achievement of Zuo Zhuan,but also have universal guiding significance for historical literature and even narrative literature.As the organic composition of ancient Chinese literary criticism,the literary criticism of Zuo Zhuan are both rich in quantity and content.It have a greatresearch potential and worth our unceasing exploration and development.