Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio by the Post-Litigant.

Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio is a collection of short stories in classical Chinese written by Pu Songling at the age of 20 to 40, and he continued to write in his later years. There are nearly 500 articles in the book, with various contents. There are many stories about foxes, ghosts, flowers, demons and immortals. Although they involve wild illusions, they are carefully made. The purpose is to criticize the disadvantages of the times, to persuade the good and punish the evil, to change the customs and express loneliness and anger. Its materials are mostly taken from real life, anecdotes, legends and personal feelings. For example, articles describing wars in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, such as Ghost Li, Wanderer, Wild Dog and Zhang Wife, as well as The Woman in Green, were all written to comfort down-and-out scholars and lonely teachers.

Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio has widely inherited ancient myths and legends, historical biographies and strange stories of the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties, and has integrated legends of the Tang Dynasty and novels of understanding stories in the Song and Yuan Dynasties. Pu Songling takes foxes, ghosts, flower demons and immortals as the carriers and means to express his thoughts and feelings, "making the flower demons and foxes charming, full of human feelings, amiable and easy to forget differences" (Lu Xun's language); Combining the advantages of the legends of the Six Dynasties and the Tang Dynasty, "take the legendary method and aim at the strange"; Through the acquisition of historical biography literature, vernacular novels, drama literature and other artistic skills, the creation of classical Chinese novels reached the final peak.

Judging from the connotation of the work, Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio reflects a wide range of social life. Pu Songling, a cold Confucian in Buyi, paid attention not only to the corruption and brutality of official management from the emperor down to local officials, but also to all social strata, social customs and people. What he can't tolerate in particular is the unfairness of the examination room and the fatuity of the examiner, which also entrusts his yearning for a better life and an ideal society. The representative chapters are Promotion of Weaving, Luling, Owl, Dream Wolf, Flying Butterfly, Rouge, Zhang Hung-chien, Thief, Gong, Beauty and Wu Hefang. The paintings on the wall are Kao, Zhong Sheng, Chen Xijiu, Zhang Cheng, Er Shang, Zeng Youyu, Xin Shiniang, Ma, Da Nan, Yun and Yao An. Ye Sheng, Si Wenlang, Yu Quxie, Wang Zian, He Xian, Jia, Hungry Ghost, Sanxian, Goddess, Kaoji Division and Hu Siniang; Redjade, Girl in Green, Liansuo, Yu Xiang, Xiao Xie, Chang 'e, Ainu, Impatiens, Childhood, Jiao Na, Qiao Nv, Liancheng, etc.

The literary achievement of Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio is unprecedented in China's ancient legendary novels. Pu Songling's Superman is unique in that he is good at fiction, breaking away from convention, expressing fantastic ideas in legendary ways, setting up false illusions to imply, and writing about imaginary ghosts, foxes and monsters in real life, so as to express his feelings and warn the world. However, these innovative achievements were later opposed by Ji Yun, and what Ji Yun opposed was the root of this masterpiece's enduring for hundreds of years.

Although Gao Feng and Tang Mengzuo wrote a preface to Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio, and Wang Shizhen also commented on it, Pu Songling failed to publish it before his death, so it could only be copied by the people. In the thirty-first year of Qianlong, the first woodcut edition of hanger-on Pavilion was published in Zhou Mu, Zhejiang Province, and then various annotated books, commentary books, illustrated books and gleaned books were published overseas. Up to now, there are more than 20 foreign language versions in Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Italy, Czech Republic, Romania, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Norway, Switzerland, Netherlands, Malaysia and Indonesia, and dozens of versions are all over the world. Collected Works of Liaozhai is Pu Songling's essays, essays, entertainment, plans and other collections. Originally it was four volumes, and the collection of later generations was 13 volumes, including Fu, Ji, Yin, Preface, Book, Theory, Postscript, Inscription, Book Opening, Proclamation, Presentation, Marriage Opening, Life Record, Epitaph and Practice. Among them, except some works are self-created, most of them are songs and cries of several generations, and parallel prose accounts for six tenths.

Most of his works reflect the social reality at that time, and some of them also reflect Pu Songling's thought of serving the people, such as Before the Forty-three Years Disaster of Kangxi, After the Autumn Disaster, First Secretary of Emergency, Following the Good Officials, The Abuse of Ziyi, On Salt Law, etc. The article is exquisitely conceived, elegant and vivid, and has achieved great success. Wang Shizhen greatly praised it: "The eight ancient words are getting more and more dull, so Cangzhou and Langzhou have become ancient", while Cao Cao said that "writing about feelings because of their different genres, every time they are bold and steep, they will see simplicity" and "when you are a fisherman, Qiu Gu is a historian, you will be a masterpiece. Liaozhai Ci is not recorded in its tombstone or description, but it is mentioned in the book From Pulide to Wang Hongmou. On the basis of collecting and sorting out Liaozhai Ci, Mr. Lu Dahuang revised the content of Liuquan Jushi Ci (manuscript) found in An with what he had collected before, and got a volume of 92 * *, and put Tang Mengben's Liaozhai Preface in the front. This is the authentic serial lyrics that we have seen so far (The Complete Works of Serial Studio in the Republic of China was serialized with 26 lyrics, 262 poems, 6 articles and two volumes of "Notes").

Judging from the writing time of Liaozhai, it began at the beginning of Kangxi, mostly after his southern tour, between the library and Xidian. The content mostly includes singing with friends, playing with gifts, lamenting the embarrassment and loss after the provincial examination, praising the talent of women and the joy of love between men and women, writing landscapes, mocking the world, and so on. The characteristics of the work, as Tang Xu said: "It is as steep as clearing the mountains after snow, and it will never come out. Every grass and stone has aura." There is no such thing as "generational disease" and "Kansai Dahan disease". The Quotations of Provincial Style was written in Jiazi (1684) in the 23rd year of Kangxi, and its content is "respecting the book motto, for introspection, for showing the future". The Collection of Liaozhai Edited by Lv Dahuang has only a preface, but no text. Professor Ma from Peking University brought back a manuscript from Keio University in the spring of 1994, and edited and published Seven Kinds of Remnants of Lonely Studio (Peking University Press 1998), which was previously published in Pu Songling's Research (named Stories of Lonely Studio).

Huaixinglu was written in the thirty-fifth year of Kangxi (1696). The Collection of Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio compiled by Lu Dahuang contains a preface without a text. Judging from its sequence, the book "sets the ceremony of five clothes and abides by the law of five clothes", aiming at "making the readers know love, the readers know respect, which is conducive to weathering" and "making the distinction between honor and inferiority and the meaning of intimacy". This book has been lost for a long time and has not been published yet.

Li Wenzi is a manuscript carefully collected by Pu Songling in Sikuquanshu about "taboo of good fortune and bad fortune, happiness and happiness", which has been compiled into a book after years of painstaking management. After the loss of China, the "Liaozhai Library" of Keio University kept its remaining manuscripts. Mr Ma copied it down and took it back to China. After finishing, it was first published in Pu Songling's study, and then included in his book "Seven Kinds of Lonely Studio".

Manuscripts of Commonly Used Characters was written in the first month of Shen Jia in the 43rd year of Kangxi (1703), and it was not until Qianlong that it was carved into a book. At that time, Pu Songling saw that there were many omissions and fabrications in the book Zhuang Nong Zazi, and he was not satisfied. Therefore, he made a detailed survey of vocabulary and compiled another book, Everyday Words. Among them, the pronunciation is learned from Zhengzitong, and the difficult ones are marked with pronunciation. * * * A total of 365,438+0 chapters, including chapter on body, chapter on farming, chapter on sericulture, chapter on diet, chapter on vegetables, chapter on utensils and so on. , covering the world's biological and social business, vulgar characters are widely used in all aspects. It is not only a good literacy book, but also an encyclopedia of social customs at that time.

Nong Sang Jing was edited by Pu Songling on the basis of Han Nong Xun, according to the principle of adapting to local conditions and drawing lessons from ancient and modern sericulture theorists. The purpose is to "be a dude, hold a scholar, and everyone knows the crops." Including agricultural economics 7 1 (including annual soil preparation and fertilization, planting time and methods of various crops, pest control, famine relief and disaster prevention, etc. ); Silkworm Classic 2 1 (including seed selection, silkworm rearing, cocoon selection, cocoon matching, etc. ); Silkworm Tonifying Meridian12; Appendix "Silkworm Treasure Book" 27 and "Mulberry Planting Law" 10, etc. It's a valuable agricultural science book.

In addition to the above five miscellaneous books, Pu Songling has also compiled many works, such as Marriage Encyclopedia, A Brief Introduction to the Scenery of the Imperial Capital, Selected Poems of the Song Dynasty, Biography of Zhuang, Collection of Primary Schools, Medical Collection, Internal Compilation of Home Economics, External Compilation of Home Economics, Watching Elephants and Playing Zhan, etc. It can be seen that he is diligent, and he is more human. Unfortunately, except for the manuscript of Yao Sui Shu and the manuscript of Home Economics Inside and Outside Edition, other books have long been lost, leaving only the preface and postscript. "Noisy Pavilion" is about the teacher who couldn't find customers in the famine year and shouted "teach" along the road like a beggar. After asking for a counter-offer, he made a deal with a very low salary, willing to pick up and drop off the children for his employer for free and do all kinds of housework. Although there are only two decent meals a day, it is better than starving. It fully reflects the social reality that "Sven is worthless".

"Zhong Mei's Birthday" celebrates her brother's birthday by sending ghosts to Zhong Mei, but Zhong Kui, who can only spit out the phoenix because of his ugly face, bears a grudge against the imperial court article and angrily bumps into Jin Zhi. After his death, he was promoted by God to be the judge of Jiuyou Sancao. He thinks that the injustice in the world is caused by a few evil spirits, so he specializes in swallowing evil spirits. "cultivate a ghost spleen and stomach, and the rice is not ghost or beautiful." "Sweep away all demons and fog, and let the sun and the moon shine on Yin Cheng." I said what Pu Songling said. He was incompetent and hated the unfairness of the examination hall.

"Embarrassment" (attached to "The Salesman Transferred from Southern Shandong to Nine") describes all kinds of embarrassments and psychological changes of candidates in the rural examination room in the process of answering questions. The latter is about the scholar who took part in the provincial examination, from rushing to prepare for the exam, waiting for the exam, entering the venue, and all kinds of feelings and mentality that he regretted before and after answering the paper. The embarrassment and hardships of the candidates are vividly portrayed.

The three plays are vivid and humorous, and they are written about Pu Songling's personal feelings and indignation at the unfairness of the examination room. According to Pu Songling's tombstone, there are 14 kinds of Liaozhai folk songs, among which "rich immortal" was later changed to "suffering song", which should actually be two kinds, *** 15 kinds. At that time, Lu Dahuang did not include a kind of harp music when sorting out the folk songs of Liaozhai.

"Liaozhai Folk Music" is a rap opera created by Pu Songling in Zichuan dialect, which is similar to today's Qin Shu rap and local opera. The tune used is sung by borrowing dozens of songs (lyrics) that were circulated at that time (because the work has no soundtrack, it is only oral, and more than a dozen have been recorded so far).

Judging from the writing time, except for a few short stories written in the author's middle age, most of them were written in his later years. Judging from the writing motivation, the author is trying to "break the mystery of rural mediocrity and awaken the dream of the city" to persuade the good and punish the evil and change the customs. Most of the works are written in Xipu, the direct reason is to please the widowed wife, Mrs. Wang (her aunt).

Judging from the contents of the works, half of them are adapted from Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio: Gu Fuqu is a coral, Compassion Qu is Zhang Cheng, Revenge menstruation, Envy Curse is Jiangcheng, Richness Fairy and Suffering Qu is. Most of the works reflect family ethics, such as the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law (Uncle Qu), the relationship between husband and wife (The Curse of Jealousy), the relationship between stepmother and son, the relationship between brothers (Song of Compassion) and the relationship between father and son (The Story of the Wall Grass), as well as neighborhood relations (such as turning over nightmares) and social injustice (such as wealth and wealth). Except for a few games, all of them are saturated with the author's redemption and good intentions. Some of his works are still instructive.

Judging from the artistic effect, the materials used in the works and the use of dialect proverbs are deeply loved and welcomed by local audiences, audiences and readers. For example, The Wall Grass, as a local drama, has flourished to this day.

From the creative form, Liaozhai folk songs have experienced a development process from short stories to long stories, and also experienced an evolution process from simple rap with piano books to local operas performed on the stage, such as Envy Mantra, Bitter Songs and Story of the Wall, which were finally completed. The author's thought has also changed from the initial self-pity to the highest level of sharing weal and woe with the public. Liaozhai folk songs eventually became the pinnacle of popular art works and popular literature.

The talented Pu Songling surpassed the worldly pursuit of pleasure, shouldered two literary peaks of elegance and vulgarity, and climbed to the top of the world. He set up a monument for himself and set an example for future generations.