The Study Of Zhang Dafu’s Anthology Of Plum Blossom Cottage Essay

This dissertation mainly discusses the Anthology of Plum Blossom Cottage Essay written by Zhang Dafu, who was a Kunshaness lived in the late Ming Dynasty. As the old saying goes" Only when a person had experienced twists and turns in life could he achieve great success", so was Zhang Dafu. The Anthology of Plum Blossom Cottage Essay wrote by Zhang Dafu is to express himself and attach deep meditation about life after his suffering. However, the valuation on this anthology was divided between Zhou zuoren who depreciated it and those who praised it, such as Tang xianzu, Chen jiru and Qian Qianyi. Therefore, this dissertation aims to study the artistic characteristics of the anthology through text analysis and explore its value, as to establish Zhang Dafu’s status in literature of Ming Dynasty.There are five parts in this dissertation. For the first chapter, it gives a general idea of the study situation of Zhang Dafu and establishes the methods for this dissertation. Besides, it focuses on the life background and works introduction about Zhang Dafu.In Chapter two, it mainly discusses4types of Zhang Dafu’s essays based on the text of Plum Blossom Cottage Essay. Then it further explores Zhang Dafu’s writing style by comparing with his another work named the Collection of Plum Blossom Cottage, which gives more proofs for grasping Zhang Dafu’s skills in essay writing.When it comes to the third part, it pays attention on literature theories in the anthology from three aspects and how these theories were put into practice by Zhang dafu.In the forth chapter, it probes into Zhang Dafu’s style and characteristics on essay writing through comparing his essays with Zhang Dai’s from3perspectives. First of all, the two displayed different styles in the biography writing. In addition, as a writer lived in the city of Hangzhou, Zhang Dai tended to describe different people and customs of Jiangnan, while Zhang Dafu paid his attention on his own life and meditation. Last but not the least, both the two attached highly importance on sentiment expressing. Unlike Zhang Dai who conveyed his love for the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Dafu mainly showed his affection to his family and friends, which resulted in different styles in their essays. Through the analysis, it gives more arguments for this dissertation.As to the conclusion part, it’s about the collection of the arguments mentioned above. Once Qian zhongshu spoke highly of this anthology, In his view, Zhang Dafu could be comparable with Zhang Dai, who was a distinguished essay writer in Ming Dynasty, from the analysis and discussion in this dissertation, it proves his idea that Zhang Dafu deserved this highly praise.