The Formation Of Chinese Novel History

The history of Chinese novels came into being in the 1920 s.The research of Lu Xun,Hu Shi,Zheng Zhenduo and others enabled the history of novels to rapidly develop into a systematic study under the framework of modern academics.If we look at it from a broader "concept" level,the reasons for the generation of the history of novels can be summarized as two ends: on the one hand,the generation of the history of novels is closely related to the evolution of ideas within ancient novels;on the other hand,the generation of the history of novels is very important.It is beneficial to the promotion of various ideas and concepts of the external world since modern times.The former includes novel terminology,stylistic concepts,classification concepts,research methods,etc.,while the latter covers educational thoughts and novel historical concepts.Based on this,this article focuses on "concepts" and divides into six chapters to discuss in detail the formation of the history of novels from inside and outside.The first chapter is about the ancient and modern evolution of novel terminology.Terminology is the most basic building of a discipline,and the terminology of novels has undergone a sharp transformation from ancient to modern.After the introduction of the concept of Western novels,words such as"Bai guan"(稗官)and"Tang novel"(唐小说)disappeared,while"old novels"(旧小说)and"numeric novels"(诨词小说)obviously had transitional forms.Eventually the westernized word"novel"and its subsidiary words took the lead.Location has become a core term in the history of fiction.The second chapter is the evolution of novel style concepts from ancient to modern.The stylistic concept of ancient novels has undergone a development process from "one yuan" to "two points" and then to "four points".The ancients took notebook novels as the orthodox style of novels.Legends and Romance were regarded as variants.By the beginning of the twentieth century,Zhanghui style The status of novels has gradually increased,forming a dichotomy mode of two novels: notes and chapters.Since the1920 s,the two types of legends and storybooks have gradually separated from notes and chapters,forming "notes,legends,storybooks,and chapters." "Zhanghui" novel split mode,since then this mode has gradually spread,and continues to this day.The third chapter is the evolution of the concept of novel classification in ancient and modern times.The concept of novel classification has changed from ancient times to the present from chaos to clarity.The ancient classical novels have a wide range of classifications due to their disparate content.Zhanghui novels are closely related to the"Four Talkers"in the Song Dynasty,and their classifications are relatively neat.After the introduction of the concept of classification of Western novels along with the introduction of translated novels,new novel genres continued to emerge.In the book"A Brief History of Chinese Novels"(《中国小说史略》),Lu Xun reconstructed the genre names of ancient novels.This classification model is in the history of novels.Gradually occupy a leading position in the development of.The fourth chapter is the evolution of novel research methods from ancient to modern.The research methods of ancient novels have been developing from“fragmented”to“scientific”since ancient times.Criticisms such as prefaces and postscripts,notes,and comments,etc.are all based on fragmentation.Since modern times,with the rise of newspapers and translated novels,"Small talks in newspapers"(小说话)are all the rage in the newspapers.In the 1920s,Hu Shi integrated textual research and essays.This"scientific"monograph has been influential to this day.At the same time,Lu Xun’s"A Brief History of Chinese Novels"has become a"historical writing"with its complete structure and careful review of expositions.The fifth chapter is about the "view of evolutionary history" and the construction of the history of novels.As a kind of writing thought,the "view of evolutionary history" has deeply influenced the construction of the history of novels.This concept originated in the field of Western natural sciences,then entered the field of history and spread to China.Local scholars came into contact with and consciously used them in their own writings in the special environment of the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China.Hu Shi,Lu Xun,Zheng Zhenduo,Tan Zhengbi and others were deeply influenced in their future research and constructed the context of the history of novels based on this.The sixth chapter is about the changes of modern school system and the formation of the history of novels.The changes in the modern educational system are a major external factor for the formation of the discipline of the history of fiction.Although there was a subject of "Literature" in the late Qing Dynasty,there was no novel content.It was not until the establishment of the Republic of China government to develop popular education that novels were officially recognized and entered the market circulation field.In 1920,Lu Xun gave the first "Fiction History" course at Peking University and wrote the far-reaching "A Brief History of Chinese Novels." After that,Ma Lian,Yu Pingbo,Zheng Zhenduo,Shen Congwen,Sun Kaidi and others also taught the history of novels at the university.While compiling and publishing teaching materials,a large number of viable forces have also been cultivated,and the development of the history of novels has gradually matured.