A Study Of The Image Of The Scholar In The Vernacular Short Stories Of The Ming Dynasty

As a popular novel that flourished during the Ming Dynasty,the vernacular short story portrayed many characters with the flavor of the times.Most researchers have focused on the images of women and merchants in Ming vernacular short stories,but relatively little attention has been paid to the images of scholars.The scholar class,as the first of the four people in ancient Chinese society,faced with the great social and cultural changes in the middle and late Ming Dynasty,they encountered unprecedented material,moral and spiritual impacts,and their mentality and concepts changed,and the character of the scholars also showed contradictory states.This,of course,also affected the creation of Ming vernacular short stories,in which the image of the scholar reflects the reality of the current situation of the scholar class,reflecting the dynamics of the historical development of the scholar class.This paper explores the types,characteristics,portrayal techniques,reasons,and meanings of the scholarly figures in Ming vernacular short stories,and explores the deeper meaning of the scholarly figures in Ming vernacular short stories on this basis.The first part briefly summarizes the evolution of the image of the scholar in pre-Ming novels.The time mainly starts from the Wei-Jin-North and South Dynasties period,when the ancient Chinese novel was first formed,to the Tang Dynasty,when the ancient Chinese novel matured,and then to the Song-Yuan period,when the ancient Chinese novel took an important turn.On the basis of a brief overview of the general situation of the image of the scholar in the novels of the Wei,Jin and North and South Dynasties,the writing of the image of the scholar in the novels of Wei,Jin and North and South Dynasties is introduced,centering on A New Account of the Tales of the World.Then the Tang legends are used as representatives to illustrate the writing of scholarly figures in the novels of the Tang Dynasty and to show the style of the scholarly figures in the Tang Dynasty.Both vernacular novels and literary novels were highly developed during the Song and Yuan dynasties.The author uses the Song and Yuan dynasties to summarize the writing of scholarly figures in vernacular novels,and uses the Yi Jian Zhi as the center to illustrate the writing of scholarly figures in literary novels.The purpose is to show the evolution of the image of the scholar in pre-Ming novels,to study the image of the scholar in Ming vernacular short stories,and to highlight the uniqueness of the image of the scholar in Ming vernacular short stories.The second part focuses on specific texts of Ming vernacular short stories,and on the basis of a close reading of the texts,classifies the images of typical scholars in Ming vernacular short stories,selects specific typical scholars as cases,analyzes the connection between the life situation of scholars and Ming society,and explores the hidden cultural connotations behind them.According to the personality characteristics of these typical scholars,they can be roughly divided into seven types.Specifically,the first type of scholars are those who are unqualified and pay attention to profit and loss,most of them are unqualified and unsuccessful,and they always keep in mind the ideal of "learning and excellence";the second type of scholars are those who are smart and competent,clean and virtuous,and they adhere to the principles of Confucian gentleman after joining the government and become "clean officials " The third category of scholars was the intelligent and resourceful,bold and careful,most of them were wise and brave,boldly defending their own interests;the fourth category was the suave,affectionate and righteous scholars,who persistently pursued sincere love and followed their inner desires;the fifth category was the honest,weak and feeble scholars.The fifth category is the honest,weak,lack of scholar,they have been pursued by the Qin scholars,both civil and military,rigid and unyielding personality style;the sixth category is greedy for money,lust,righteousness and thin love of the scholars,they indulge their own desires,abandoning the ethics of the scholars;the seventh category is cunning and ruthless,scheming scholars,they are the embodiment of evil,completely exposed the evil of human nature,the greed of human desire.The third part explores the deep-seated characteristics of the scholarly figures in Ming vernacular short stories.Under the guidance of the creative concept of "the strange in the common",the scholars in Ming vernacular short stories either have qualities beyond the common or have legendary life experiences,showing distinctive legendary traits.The complex and contradictory social context of the mid-and late-Ming dynasty provided a deep soil for the contradictory qualities of the scholars in the Ming vernacular short stories.Moreover,the scholars in Ming vernacular short stories were never free from the shackles of fate,and their reasonable aspirations were easily caught by fate and could not be satisfied,showing a strong tragic color.The fourth part analyzes the portrayal of the scholar in Ming Dynasty vernacular short stories,taking a typical case of a scholar as an example,and specifically analyzes the various portrayal techniques used by the creative subject in shaping the image of the scholar.The creative subject chooses to portray the delicate inner world of the scholar,showing the inner activities of the scholar directly to the reader.The subject uses a lot of details to show the living conditions of the scholar and to highlight certain qualities of the scholar’s character.The uniqueness of the scholar’s identity requires the creative subject to pay attention to whether the use of the scholar’s language is consistent with his status and at the same time expresses the character of the scholar.The rational use of contrast makes the image of the scholar in Ming vernacular short stories more distinct and distinctive.The clever setting of conflicts successfully exposes the soul of the scholar and shows the true character of the scholar.The clever combination of strange and unusual stories and the image of the scholar adds a divine and romantic touch to the image of the scholar.Starting from Abrams’ four elements of literature,the fifth part takes the creative subject as the center and connects the elements of the period context and the receptive subject to explore the reasons for focusing on the writing of the image of the scholar in Ming vernacular short stories from different aspects.The prosperity of the commodity economy directly affected the status of the scholarly class in the Ming Dynasty;the eight examination forms in the Ming Dynasty controlled the fate of the scholars and shaped their mentality;the new trends in the field of thought and culture impacted the spiritual concepts of the scholars and brought confusion and contradiction to them.The creative subject directly intervenes in the construction of the image of the scholar in the Ming Dynasty’s mock-ups,and his dual identity as both a scholar and a creator makes the image of the scholar in the Ming Dynasty’s vernacular short stories carry the self-identity of the creative subject as a scholar.The creative mentality,aesthetic concept and inheritance of the scholarly image in previous novels directly affect the selection and cutting of materials used in the construction of the scholarly image.The expansion of the range of receptive subjects in the middle and late Ming dynasty meant that the aesthetic demands of this group could influence the presentation of the image of the scholar in Ming vernacular short stories.The receiving subjects treated the scholar class itself with preexisting aesthetic expectations,easily resonated with the daily life experiences of the scholars,and unconsciously aspired to satisfy their spiritual or psychological desires through the images of the scholars.The sixth part digs deeper into the meaning behind the image of the scholar in Ming vernacular short stories.From the perspective of reflecting the social landscape,the writing of scholarly figures in Ming vernacular short stories shows the social landscape of the midand late-Ming dynasty in many ways.From the literary point of view,the writing of scholarly figures in Ming vernacular short stories opened up a new stage in the shaping of scholarly figures,which was not only extended horizontally but also broadened in depth,providing a reasonable reference for the writing of scholarly figures in later novels.From the point of view of the creative subjects,the writing of scholarly figures in Ming vernacular short stories also reflects their efforts to construct a discourse for the scholarly class.In addition,the writing of scholarly figures in Ming vernacular short stories reflects the issue of the scholar’s governance of life and the style of scholarship in the Ming Dynasty,providing literary evidence for the study of the Ming scholarly community and enriching research materials.