Theory Of Humorous Literature Of Xie Yin In Wen Xin Diao Long

The part about “witty words” and “concealed metaphor” is the last chapter in the10chapters about “articles with rhyme” in the book, Wen Xin Diao Long, written by LiuXie. Its main content is to discuss about the source, definition and function of “wittywords”(playing with words) and “concealed metaphor”(word games). In ancient times,the civilians had no channels for pleading if having any resentment and complaintstowards the governor, so they had to use witty words, comic metaphor or concealedriddle to express their dissatisfaction or expectation.Being “funny” indicates simple words and conforms to social conventions, so thatlisteners will laugh understandingly. Bing “concealed” means using concealed words tohide the real meaning, and using treacherous metaphor to state certain things. In ancienttimes, there were many comic people being recorded. They always mediated dispute byteasing and playing, to restrain governors’ wrong politics and acts of violence, and speakout very serious means for managing a country. Therefore, the function of “concealedmetaphor” can help to invigorate a state, correct individual’s characters, and secondly, itcan also help to correct fault, solve puzzles. Liu Xie listed “witty words” and “concealedmetaphor” as one kind of literary styles, and left a seat for this joke kind of articles,which could be regarded as him being outstanding in viewpoint.There were many articles after that, however, there were only a few of that inheritedthe spirit of “witty words” and “concealed metaphor”. In other words, an article shouldbe satire, funny but involve no major principle, aiming at the reality, then it can possess“the value of teaching, satirizing and metaphor” advertised by Liu Xie.