Xu Youren’s Prose Studies

Xu Youren was a famous politician and writer in the middle Yuan Dynasty.He was originally from Tangyin,Henan,and then moved to Wuchang,Hubei with his father,he grew up and learned from the Confucianists in the south.During the Yanyou period,Xu Youren passed the imperial examination.He was awarded the governor of Liaozhou and began his official career.He was well versed in the administration of officials and had remarkable achievements.So he was appreciated by the Yuan court and achieved outstanding career,such as Canzhi Zhengshi,Zhongshu Zuocheng etc.He moved around a lot of places in his life and made a wide range of friends,not only with Guan Yunshi,Cheng Jufu,Wang Jie and other celebrities of Da Du,but also with low-level officials and Monks and priests.These people or talent,or meritorious,through their ethics,interests can understand Xu Youren’s ideas and value trends.Xu Youren’s literary talent was so high that he served as a scholar of Jixian University,and later entered the Kuizhang Pavilion,becoming one of the famous cabinet ministers in the middle of the Yuan Dynasty.Xu Youren,known as the "Great Writer of the Pavilion",had equal fame with Yu Ji,Ouyang Xuan and other great men of the literary world.Throughout his life,he has made great achievements in literary creation,including "Zhizheng collection" "Guitang Manuscript" and "Guitang Ainai collection".Among them,there are many prose works,about 370,with complete genre and rich content,involving all aspects of politics,economy and culture of the Yuan Dynasty,as well as the expression of personal aspirations,which is the true reflection of his life experience.It not only reflects the spiritual style of the literati at that time,but also reflects the broad social and historical outlook of the middle and late Yuan Dynasty,which is of great significance to the study of Xu Youren and the history of the Yuan Dynasty.This article takes the collection of Xu Youren’s writings included in Li Xiusheng’s Entire Yuan Articles as the research object,and focuses on the ideological content and artistic style contained therein.The full text is divided into five chapters:The first chapter is the introduction,which mainly expounds the purpose and significance of the research,explains the reason,basis and main problems of the topic selection,and sorts out the relevant research status to understand the space to be excavated in the current research,so as to determine the research scope and clarify the research method.The second chapter mainly introduces Xu Youren’s life,friends and works.His life is roughly divided into three stages : devoted to study,seeking official career in the north,and the ups and downs of officialdom.This paper introduces Xu Youren’s friendship with his teachers and colleagues of the same year,as well as the creation of the main indigenous works,which paves the way for further research.The third chapter mainly analyzes Xu Youren ’ s literary theory,examines the main content of his prose thought from the overall academic background of the Yuan Dynasty,and discusses it from two aspects:ontology and creation theory.The former mainly discusses the relationship between literature and the Way,emphasizes the unity of literature and the Way,affirms the value of literature and the Way,and believes that the two cannot be separated.At the same time,it also shows a tendency to pay more attention to the Way,and advocates the social value and social function of literature.The latter mainly discusses the creative methods,specifically elucidates the inclusive features of Xu Youren’s prose creation.The fourth chapter discusses the ideological content of Xu Youren’s prose,which is divided into three parts: the purpose of governing the world,the thinking of dealing with the world and the way of learning.It introduces his planning of governing the country,the concept of being an official,and expresses his thinking of life,as well as his understanding of poetry,calligraphy and painting.The fifth chapter mainly analyzes the artistic characteristics of Xu Youren’s prose.On the basis of in-depth analysis of the text,he roughly summarized the prose style as two aspects of vigorous and profound,plain and graceful.He specific analysis of its artistic characteristics by cutting in from expression and language style so as to feel the artistic charm of Xu Youren’s articles.The conclusion summarizes the acceptance of Xu Youren and his prose in Yuan Dynasty and later generations,discusses his influence on officialese style of early Ming Dynasty,and shows that his prose works have high literary value and play an important role in the history of Chinese literature.