A Study Of Variations In The "Journey To The West" Literature

The story of Xuanzang,a prominent monk in the Tang Dynasty,who traveled west to seek Dharma,has been widely circulated throughout the ages.Starting with the recording of "Da Tang Xi Yu Ji" by Xuanzang in the Tang Dynasty,the true story of seeking Dharma while traveling to the West gradually evolved into a variety of storybooks,operas,and novels.Especially after the publication of Wu Chengen’s chapter novel "Journey to the West" in the Ming Dynasty,the story of "Journey to the West" spread more widely.During the Ming and Qing dynasties,the publication of novels,operas,and Baojuan with the theme of "Journey to the West" was very popular.The various genres and versions of "Journey to the West" published by the publication constituted a complex literature system.Due to the same subject matter,the vocabulary and characters used to narrate the same kind of story have similarities and differences,as well as the differences between transcripts and engravings.Therefore,there are abundant differences between the various versions.By comparing the similarities and differences in the catalog,content,characters,and illustrations between different transcripts and engravings,the thesis determined that the Journey to the West,a new large-character book with images engraved in the Ming Dynasty,was used as the research base,and selected 8 types of novel engravings and 9 opera transcripts from the Ming and Qing Dynasties as comparative materials.The thesis compared various versions and selected variations materials with linguistic and Chinese character research values,and described the phenomenon of variations between different versions of the "Journey to the West" literature.The thesis investigated and analyzed the phenomenon of variations formed due to the use of different characters in the documents of "Journey to the West",and discussed 45 groups of variations composed of regular script and popular form of characters,43 groups of variations composed of original characters and phonetic loan characters,and 71 groups of variations composed of true and false characters,presented the specific situation of these characters in different generations and versions,reflected the complexity of variations composed of characters between various versions of "Journey to the West".The thesis investigated and analyzed the phenomenon of variations formed due to the use of different vocabulary in the documents of "Journey to the West".From the perspective of semantic relations,it discussed 61 groups of synonymous changes,17 groups of different word meaning changes,and 7 groups of incorrect word meaning changes,and explored the specific reasons for their formation.The thesis combined the situation of the same and different versions of the documents of "Journey to the West",explored the external factors that promote the formation of variations from three aspects: master copy,tools,and writers.It analyzed69 groups of variations in detail,enriching the theory of research on variations.By examining and distinguishing specific variations,the thesis analyzed the errors in the use of characters and word meanings in the collated version of the novel "Journey to the West".A total of 36 errors in the use of characters have been corrected and 16 explanations of word meanings have been added.By comparing the variations of the nine novel engravings,the thesis focused on investigating the errors in 6 groups of characters in the variations,and summarized the evolution of the errors between the variations.This work not only promoted the collation of the novel "Journey to the West",but also helped to further clarify the relationship between the previous versions.In summary,based on a comparison of various versions and a comprehensive arrangement of variations,the thesis systematically sorted out the phenomenon of variations in the documents of "Journey to the West",collected and organized variations,focused on analyzing the differences in characters and vocabulary,revealing and summarizing the reasons for the formation of variations,and further exploring the value of variations in the arrangement of the novel "Journey to the West".The research in this thesis has important research significance for philology,Chinese history,collation of ancient books,and the formation of variations,and enriches the theories of related disciplines.