| Premodern Chinese romances share a body of themes and techniques which can be traced through a wide variety of romantic literature. Many of these are also used in Honglou meng, though there they are often used ironically or with particular consideration for their effect. These themes and techniques survived into the 20th century, and many of these same elements are used in Ba Jin's extremely popular novel, Jia. Among these are many scenes that were apparently copied from Honglou meng, characters who are modeled on traditional romantic figures, elements of the "banquet pattern" of narrative, and an acceptance of the romantic views of the "Scholar and Beauty" romances.Jia reflects a struggle between these two influences. Even the language of Jia, which uses highly sentimental terms to discuss social problems, shows this conflict. Jia attempts to use the sentimental cliches of traditional romance to make social criticism, but the combination makes both sentiment and criticism seem trite. Ba Jin's unconscious reliance on traditional techniques in an attempt to discredit Chinese culture reflects an ambivalence about that culture which has persisted up to the present.Another strong influence on Jia was the use of fiction as a tool for social criticism. From the early days of fiction in China writers and critics have emphasized that literature should convey a moral message. This element of fiction was strengthened by the reformers of the late Qing dynasty, who saw fiction as primarily a tool for the political and moral education of the masses. The predilection for seeing fiction primarily as tool for social and political reform led some critics to interpret even Honglou meng as a political novel. Later, "modern" critics such as Hu Shi saw Honglou meng as an autobiography, but they too stressed the element of social criticism in the novel. |
