A Study On The Creation Of Lv Ye Xian Zong

Li Baichuan’s Lv Ye Xian Zong,a book of various thematic matters concerned with gods and demons,worldly affairs and histories,was written during the reign of Qian Long.It is regarded the leading example of supernatural novels in the middle of the Qing Dynasty,and its creation is of referential significance.The book’s Preface offers details of the author’s life and reading experiences,creative insights and especially how the book was composed,providing important materials for the study of the novel’s creation.Clearly Li Baichuan read extensively,these creative materials included in pre-text as a background to knowledge.His novel Lv Ye Xian Zong was very much influenced by and closely related to the books he read,in terms of structure,characters and subject matters.His novels breaks through the plot patterns of similar ones,such as Xin Ping Yao Zhuan and Sheng Xian Zhuan,inheriting the narrative structure of realistic novels with focuses on families which bring various characters together,with one character ushering in another.Also he borrowed ideas from realistic books such as Jin Ping Mei and Er Pai,while developing his own characters.Though his characterization of historical figures was based on histories and earlier books,innovative ideas can be detected.He artified and reshaped Yan Song,and depicted a very different Hu Zongxian.In his works,immortals,spirits and demons are liken to the characters in novels such as Bu Jiang Zong Bai Yuan Zhuan and Liao Zhai Zhi Yi,though,of slight difference.The enlightening dream scenes in his monastic novels often contained more realistic materials;illusionary scenes were adjusted regarding their plots and contents,officialdom in terms of plots and speeches,war subjects were integrated with their content.In terms of the context,Li Baichuan keenly sensed the decline in its prosperity of the Qianjia era.Lv Ye Xian Zong,concerned with the erosion of the world,exposes corruption,reflects on family ethics,and depicts the plight of literati.As to the academic environment,scholars of that age advocated being practical and emphasized reality to eliminate falsehood,advocating textual research and erudition.With this in his mind,Li Baichuan expressed his desire to achieve political and military ideals,criticizing Neo-Confucianism popular in the Song and Ming dynasties,meanwhile displayed his talent through his novels.In terms of the development of the novel itself,novel creation of this age was more literati oriented.Authors then tended to make improvements in narrative techniques,structures,and they were more self awared.When it comes to plots,they are well organized and closely knitted in the stories which feature mix-ups of various subject matters,vivid depiction of worldly affairs and reconstructed historical events to highlight the loyal and dishonest officials.As a result,these novels tend to contain a strong color of critical realism.In addition,novel creation at that time was inspired by the force and notion of“self-metaphor”,as subjectivity was integrated with novel creation.Self-metaphor,closely related to the tradition of writing books from anger,refers to the author’s deliberate containment of his own thoughts,emotions and life experience per sa in the characters.It normally was a conscious choice of novel creation.All these can be felt in Lv Ye Xian Zong.Its two characters,Leng Yubing and Wen Ruyu,opposite and complementary,are of self-metaphor,and its plot reflects the self.The monastic story inherits and meanwhile breaks from the traditional model of the Taoism novels,with its religious theme integrated with the feelings of scholars,its parasitic style expressing the sentiment of the author,and its structure catering to two different worlds of immortals and mortals through temporal illusion.Due to the long duration of creation,the author’s creative motives changed accordingly;the imperial examination criticism and realistic cognition changed obviously;life ideals and self expectations changed obviously.