LATE CH'ING VIEWS ON FICTION

Growing out of the needs of the political reformers who were looking for an effective means of rejuvenating China, and having derived the concept of the political novel from the West through the intermediary of Japan, late Ch'ing theories of fiction were predominantly pragmatic ones. The content of the critical writings on fiction produced during this period was largely propagandistic, journalistic, and public in nature. Although these views on fiction appear to be rudimentary by today's standards, they nevertheless mark the first step toward a critical and theoretical study of fiction in China. The realistic fiction the late Ch'ing critics helped bring into existence was firmly grounded in contemporary social and political realities, and as such, provides us with an inside view of Chinese society at the turn of the century.; This study consists of two parts. Part One has four chapters. The introductory chapter deals with the late Ch'ing political and intellectual setting as well as the publishing and journalistic enterprises in Shanghai which were directly responsible for the emergence of fiction and fiction criticism during this period.; The second chapter gives a brief overview of fiction criticism in traditional China. An attempt is made to compare and contrast the form and content of late Ch'ing fiction criticism with that which preceded it.; The third Chapter constitutes the main portion of this study. It analyzes the various views held by the late Ch'ing critics as regards such fundamental questions as: the function and subject matter of fiction; the relationship between writer and work; the techniques of fiction writing including form and structure, characterization, and language; the roles of the reader and the critic; comparison between Chinese and Western fiction; and finally, the introduction of Western literary concepts including those of Schopenhauer and Hegel into the Chinese literary world.; The final chapter presents an overview of the characteristics of late Ch'ing views on fiction and offers a few preliminary conclusions as regards their literary and historical significance.; Part Two consists of translations of a selection of the major late Ch'ing essays on fiction criticism discussed in Part One.