The Study Of Liu Xie’s View Of Novelty And Elegance

Wen Xin Diao Long is a broad and profound literary theory, some theoretical andaesthetic ideas of which have received much attention of scholars as research topics.This paper studies one of the theory categories in Wen Xin Diao Long, novelty andelegance and their relations."Combining novelty and elegance" is an importantaesthetic pursuit in Liu Hsieh’s literary theory throughout Wen Xin Diao Long. Thispaper probes into the dialectic structure of Liu Xie’s literary theory in such fouraspects as pandect, literary creation, literature development and critical appreciationtheory to introduce the theory of novelty and elegance on literature.The paper consists of three chapters:Chapter One explores the generation of Liu Xie’s novelty and elegance theory.There are two sections in this chapter. Section One discusses the origination andideological conditions of the theory of novelty and elegance, mainly including threeaspects: First, it is affected by Confucianism, Taoism and other philosophical ideas;Secondly, the origination of the theory of novelty and elegance has its specifichistorical background; Finally, it is also influenced by metaphysics and Buddhism ofLiu Xie’s time. Section Two introduces the aesthetic connotations of Liu Xie’s noveltyand elegance theory respectively as well as their relations so as to present "Regulatingelegance and novelty" aesthetically.Chapter Two probes into Liu Xie’s novelty and elegance theory comprehensively,which is divided into four sectors: Section One summarizes the theoretical basis of thenovelty and elegance theory through the analysis of the theory in the key position ofliterature; Section Two analyzes that the idea of novelty and elegance penetrates thetheory of feelings and literary grace through creation theory; Section Three points outthat the interconversion theory also contains the idea of novelty and elegance from theperspective of the literature development; Section Four suggests that the idea ofnovelty and elegance is an important criteria of literary criticism and appreciation from the criticism theory perspective.Chapter Three investigates the evaluation and aftertime effects. First, Liu Xiemakes the best of both respectively by unifying two oppositions, which is related tohis eclecticism. Finally, he proposed that the aesthetic idea of "Combining novelty andelegance" had made a significant contribution to the correct understanding therelationship between fantasy and reality in aftertime novel writings.