Abstract
As an outstanding poet in the middle Tang Dynasty, Li He is famous for his talent, novelty and magnificent poetry style. Since the middle Tang Dynasty, he and his poems have been paid close attentions to by many literati and scholars. On the basis of the reception aesthetics theory, by focusing on the “novelty” of Li He’s poetry characteristics, this dissertation discusses the reading and reception situation of Li He’s poetry, and analyzes the differences and fluctuations in the process of reading and reception.Chapter Ⅰ is the introduction of the dissertation. Firstly, this chapter introduces that as a study of reading and reception of literary works, this dissertation takes the reception aesthetics as the theoretical core, and can be developed on the basis of the reception history and reading history. Secondly, it summarizes the current status of the researches on the reception history of ancient Chinese literatures. At the same time, it reviews the current results of Li He's reception research and pointes out the problems. In terms of research methods, this dissertation is based on the theory of reception and pays attention to the readers’ ontology status and process of reception, drawing on the methods of reading history research, focusing on the subjects, methods, mechanism, mentality and the impacts of reading.
Chapter Ⅱ focuses on the core category “novelty”. “Novelty” is the most remarkable feature of Li He’s poetry. Before embarking on the reading and reception research, this chapter aims to grasp the philosophy origins and core elements of “novelty”, and at the same time, sorts out the manifestations of “novelty” in the literary and literary criticism works, in order to lay the foundation for the reasonable development of subsequent research.
Chapter Ⅲ first probes the social foundations, ideological trends and literary inheritances of the previous generation, and summarizes the historical space and literary situation of Li He's life and poetry creation. Taking “retro for innovation” as a clue, this chapter connects the ideological trends of literary innovation from the late Sui to middle Tang Dynasty by discussing Chen Ziang, Li Bai and Du Fu. The Han Meng poetry school where Li He was based continued Chen, Li, and Du's idea of “retro for innovation”, and gradually formed their “advocating novelty” literary style and artistic characteristics. It is precisely under this historical background that Li He had formed his unique poetic characteristics which famous for novelty.
Chapter Ⅳ summarizes the reception history of Li He's poetry from the middle Tang Dynasty to Qing Dynasty. During the middle Tang Dynasty, the admiration of Li He by members of the Han Meng poetry school and the formation of the “advocating novelty” poetry style of this poetry school were the initial stage of Li He's poetry reading and reception. The poets in the late Tang Dynasty regarded Li He as an imitation object, and gradually formed a typical style represented by Li Shangyin, Wen Tingyun and others. During Song Dynasty, the reading and reception situations of Li He's poetry showed a trend of diversified development, and entered the peak period of the theoretical discussion of Li He's poetry. The reading and reception of Li He's poetry in Yuan Dynasty was mainly reflected in the imitation of Li's poetry and its style, and became a landmark phenomenon in the literary world of Yuan. Compared with Yuan Dynasty, there are obvious differences on the reading and reception of Li He's poetry in Ming Dynasty. In Qing Dynasty, as the reception of Li He's poetry became more balanced and comprehensive, there were more detailed and pertinent discussions on the connotations and artistic characteristics of his poetry.
Chapter Ⅴ is based on summarizing the characteristics and external performances of the “novelty” of Li He’s poetry, and splits the reading and reception situations of Li He’s “novelty” with the core elements of this category: at the horizontal level, focuses on the forms and emotions of Li He's poems, that is, classifies the expressions of Li He's “novelty”, and examines the reception situations of his “novel words” and “novel emotions”; at the vertical level, focuses on the three meanings of the “novelty” category itself, that is, analyses the causes of Li He's reading and reception situations with the core three elements “odd”, “ungentle and standard”, “different and un-vulgar”.
Chapter Ⅵ Since the late Tang Dynasty, the statement about Li He's poetry "lack of reason" has been a key topic in the study of Li He's reception history. Song Dynasty is the most concentrated period of this discussion and had a profound influence on the dynasties that followed. This chapter focuses on the reception of Li He's “reason” ( li ), points out that the discussion of Li He’s li is not only a product of the special cultural background of Song Dynasty, but also a product of the reading and reception history of Li He's “novelty”.
Chapter Ⅶ takes the tags “white jade tower” and “old silk bag” as examples, discusses the process of Li He's image construction, and the role and influences of “novelty” in this process. It points out that Li He's overall image is composed of his immortal identity in fairy tales and poet identity in real life. At the same time, the aesthetic characteristics of Li He's “novelty” are activated in the continuous reading and reception activities of his works, and serve as a fundamental impetus to promote the canonization of Li He's image.
Chapter Ⅷ is the conclusion of the dissertation. Different eras have different historical environments, cultural backgrounds, literary ideas, ideological trends, and so on. The inheritance and understanding of previous literatures are also different. In addition, under the influence of literature's own development law, the reading and reception methods of Li He's poetry in different periods showed differences. The category of “novelty” is an important concept in the field of ancient Chinese philosophy and literature. Li He's poems are the most typical and representative literary works in the category of “novelty”. The reading and reception of Li He's “novelty” directly reflect the changes of literary thoughts in different periods, and it is also a comprehensive result of the interweaving and influence of history, culture and literature.
Appendix As the key material for research, Wenxin Diaolong completed the theoretical construction of the “novelty” category. The proposal of its core principle not only provided the possibility for the rise of “advocating novelty” thoughts, but also made a huge impact on Li He's reading and reception situations. The appendix provides an in-depth analysis of the discussion around the “novelty” category in Wenxin Diaolong, in order to supplement and explain related issues in the dissertation.
| Date of Award | 2 Sept 2020 |
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| Original language | Chinese (Traditional) |
| Awarding Institution |
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| Supervisor | Wanmin ZHANG (Supervisor) |
Keywords
- Li He
- Poetry
- Novelty
- Reading
- Reception