Novels In The Tang Dynasty For The Study Of Dreams

The many novels written by Tang Chinese and held in high regard in literature in Tang Dynasty, has fully reflected writers’skills in history and poem. While absorbing previous dream-written literature, Tang writers also integrate the specific culture in Tang Dynasty and as well as their particular sensation, making the dreamland novels spectacular. This thesis, through the description of dreamland in Tang novels, aims to analyze1) Tang society mirrored in dreamland;2) what are the factors influencing on the description of dreamland; and3) the influence of dreamland description on dream-written literature in later ages.This thesis consists of three chapters:First chapter:"dream" is a kind of widely existed psychological phenomenon with peculiar features. Ever since human beings are with consciousness, they commence to speculate and explore the dreams. The ancient human beings, due to the underdevelopment of science, hold that dreams indicate the good or ill luck. In other words, they convey the ghosts and gods’ messages. This thesis mainly probes into the understanding and exploration of the dreams achieved by the people prior to Tang Dynasty, which include those made in pre-Qin period, Qin and Han Dynasties, Wei and Jin Dynasties and Sui and Tang Dynasties.Second chapter:this part mainly research into the content of dreamland description in Tang novels, factors causing the generation of dreamland description, its influences and the function of its artistic expression. The variety of dreams described in Tang novels can be grouped into four categories:dream of love, dream of official career, dream of weirdness and dream of being suffered from a wrong. The four varieties basically reflect the social life in Tang Dynasty. The formation of dreams is mainly influenced by pre-Tang witch culture, immortal occult techniques, interactions between heaven and mankind, and the Buddhism and Taoism prevailing in Tang Dynasty. The fruitful artistic forms employed in Tang dream-written novels leave much to learn and refer to for the later literature writing.Third chapter:this part probes into the inheriting and developing of the thoughts and artistic expressions in Tang dream-written novels by the later literature. The great masters of literature in later ages, such as Tang Xianzu, Pu Songling, Cao Xueqing, are more or less influenced by the Tang dream-written literature in their creation of master piece with great impact in later ages.