| West Lake novels refer to short vernacular novels with scenes from West Lake or Hangzhou.As a regional novel,its development and changes are rooted in clear geographical and urban consciousness.Throughout the historical development of West Lake novels,although it cannot be completely synchronized with the development of Hangzhou,the general trajectory is consistent.During the Ming and Qing dynasties,the social and cultural environment underwent significant changes,and the West Lake novels also underwent evolution.This article selects 78 West Lake novels from the late Ming and early Qing dynasties as the research object.It mainly sorts out the evolution of West Lake novels from the first year of the Ming Dynasty to the twelfth year of the Qing Dynasty’s Kangxi period from three aspects: narrative scenes,character images,and narrative art.It also combines the political background,economic situation,urban appearance,social atmosphere,and author’s creative purposes of Hangzhou during the Ming and Qing dynasties to deeply investigate the reasons for the evolution of West Lake novels.The first chapter mainly studies the evolution of narrative scenes in West Lake novels from the late Ming Dynasty to the early Qing Dynasty.The prosperity of urban economy and the rapid rise of civic literature led novelists to generally place narrative space in the marketplace during this period.In the early Qing Dynasty,the author shifted more attention to the story of West Lake to the writing of mountains and lakes.But no matter which period there was,there was writing about the West Lake,the difference being that in the late Ming Dynasty,the landscape of the West Lake was briefly written,showcasing its secular color.In the early Qing Dynasty,detailed and specific descriptions were made,with a focus on exploring the humanistic connotations of landscapes.Among them,religious writing is relatively unique.Presenting the function of secular entertainment in the late Ming Dynasty;By the early Qing Dynasty,its entertainment function had weakened,with a focus on seclusion and seclusion.The second chapter mainly examines the character images in the novels of West Lake during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties,with the focus on female prostitutes,Buddhist monks,Taoist priests,and literati.Due to the influence of social atmosphere and dynastic changes,female prostitutes have shifted from a focus on love and desire in the late Ming Dynasty to a reclusive and secluded lifestyle;Buddhas,monks,and Taoists have gone from emphasizing secular pleasures to always being steadfast in their hearts,and scholars have also gone from being passionate about fame and fortune to being indifferent to fame and fortune.This transformation has also brought about a tendency towards flat characterization.Chapter Three explores the transformation of narrative art in West Lake novels during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.The narrative language is developing towards the direction of literati.The structural system has evolved from a fixed and single script novel system to diverse and flexible structural forms.Due to the change in creative purposes,the narrative arts of plot prophecy,spatiotemporal art,and character shaping in the novel have also changed from mature and rich to single and plain,resulting in a relatively simple plot.And the regional characteristics of the novel gradually fade with the reduction of dialect and folk description.In short,this article comprehensively combines the social atmosphere of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties,the spiritual state of the writers,and the development laws of the novel itself,and deeply examines the social atmosphere,Hangzhou’s status,and the psychological background of the writers behind the multi-level and multi-dimensional evolution of West Lake novels.It aims to reveal the evolution and laws of West Lake novels during the Ming and Qing dynasties. |
