The Four Fathers Of Tongcheng School And "Records Of The Historians"

Reception Theory is ascendant, and its success in the field of ancient literature research proves that the research of ancient literature needs Reception Theory. However, recent research results show that there is few research on "Records of The Historians" (written by Si Maqian) from the view of Reception Theory. In the works of the four fathers of Tongcheng School, there is a clear tendency of reception of "Records of The Historians", therefore, this paper employs some thoughts of Reception Theory to make a deep and detailed analysis of the relationship between the four fathers of Tongcheng School and "Records of The Historians ".Reception Theory believes that the behavior of reception is a complete process, which includes background information and motivation of reception, concrete expression and deep influence on creation. According to this theory, this paper is divided into three parts. The introduction lists the relationship between the four fathers of Tongcheng School and "Records of The Historians", supplemented with the necessity and importance of regarding the four fathers of Tongcheng School as a whole rather than three fathers. The first part explains the background information and motivation why the four fathers choose "Records of The Historians " as the object of reception, from the view of society and history, literature and Tongcheng culture. The second part makes concrete analysis of content and theory of reception of the four fathers. The content part is from the view of the reception of name interpretation by Si Maqian, character evaluation, and "The Biography ofHuozhi". It puts stress on the particularness of the four fathers' reception of "Records of The Historians". The theory part mainly talks about the double transcendent made by the four fathers on writing ideology of Si Maqian and the former prose writers, displaying the uncommon sense and function of "Records of The Historians" in the history of Chinese prose writing. The third part analyses the four fathers' reception of "Records of The Historians" in writing, and the reasons why their achievement is not equal to "Records of The Historians ". At the last, the conclusion tries to analyze the theories and writing characteristics of other scholars of Tongcheng School to have a general comprehension of the development and decline of Tongcheng School."Records of The Historians" is the peak of history and biography literature. It makes great influence on prose writing of later generations. In addition, Tongcheng School is the representative of prose theory and writing of Qing Dynasty. Therefore, exploring their relationship is undoubted beneficial to show the important effect of "Records of The Historians" on Chinese traditional prose theory and writing, the adoption and development of prose theory and writing of Tongcheng School, and the rise and decline of classical prose in Qing Dynasty.