Discuss the evolution of historical prose in pre-Qin and Han dynasties? (1. Introduce the main prose works; 2. Summarize its evolution track; 3. Evolutionary reasons; 4)

The Evolution of Historical Prose in Pre-Qin and Han Dynasties

(1) Source

The initial stage of the emergence and development of pre-Qin literature is the source of China literature. As a part of pre-Qin literature, pre-Qin prose shows the strong vitality of China literature with its unique charm. "How can the canal be so clear, because there is flowing water at the source"? Only by returning to the original work can we constantly interpret the most accurate connotation from the works and inherit and carry forward China's excellent classical culture. Although the Han Dynasty followed the policy of fighting Korea in the political system, it made great adjustments in the cultural policy and adopted a series of measures conducive to the development of literature. In addition, with the strengthening of national strength and the progress of society, the literature of the Han Dynasty has developed vigorously. If the history of China literature is compared to a long river, then the prose in the pre-Qin period is undoubtedly a beautiful wave, while the prose in the Han Dynasty is the flowing water in the long river.

(B) The reasons for the development and changes of prose in the pre-Qin and Han Dynasties

Dynasty change and system change are only the main reasons for literary changes. What really promotes the change of literature itself is the development and change of the creative subject. By the Han dynasty, there had been a large group of writers in charge of writing. In addition, the innovation in ideological content, genre and artistic techniques of the works also makes the prose of the two Han dynasties obviously different from that of the pre-Qin period, such as Han Fu, which is the product of the progress of the times.

(C) the development of pre-Qin prose context

The main forms of pre-Qin prose are historical prose and various schools of thought prose. Historical prose is gradually produced and matured on the basis of the cultural tradition of historians. The development of historical prose can be roughly divided into three stages:

(1) The first stage is represented by Shangshu and Chunqiu. Shangshu is the earliest compilation of historical documents in China, which is similar to Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Jinwen in time span. The words in Shangshu are simple and elegant, and their language skills surpass those of Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Jinwen. Moreover, these works are independent and have a complete structure, which directly affects the maturity of historical narrative prose in the pre-Qin period. Spring and Autumn Annals is a chronicle of Lu, which was reportedly revised by Confucius. "Spring and Autumn Annals" praised Zhou rites and denounced heresy and atrocities. This practice of instilling strong feelings in historical writing was inherited by later historical biographies. These two books embody the characteristics of early historical prose.

(2) The second stage, represented by Guoyu and Zuozhuan. Guoyu is the earliest national history book in China, which is composed of historical materials from various countries. Guoyu mainly embodies the Confucian concept of respecting ceremony and people, and is mostly satirical, argumentative and responsive. Zuo Zhuan is China's first chronological history book, and it is also the most outstanding ideological and artistic work in pre-Qin historical prose. Zuo Zhuan takes the notes of Spring and Autumn Annals as the key link, adds a lot of historical facts and legends, narrates colorful historical events and describes various historical figures, and at the same time develops the short notes in Spring and Autumn Annals into a complete narrative prose. The narrative of Zuo Zhuan often pays great attention to complete narrative and causality, and is often characterized by moralization and mystification. The most outstanding achievement of its narrative is to describe the war. Zuo Zhuan describes a wide range of characters, many of whom have distinct personalities. The behavior and dialogue of the characters in narrative constitute the main means to express the characters, but there are few static descriptions of their appearance and psychology. Take the battle of Qin-Jin cuisine as an example. Like other chapters in Zuo Zhuan, the battle of Qin-Jin cuisine is mainly about narrative events. Originally, articles that mainly describe events are different from articles that mainly write people and biographies. We don't focus on the in-depth description of which character, but only make necessary and brief explanations of the characters involved in the incident. The battle of dishes vividly outlines the characters such as Uncle Jian, Wang, Huang Wuzi, Duke Xiang of Jin, Wenbo, and the father of Chu Yang. Although we don't have much pen and ink, some only have a few strokes, but the image is vivid and lifelike. For example, Wang's youth, intelligence, sensitivity, patriotism and alertness, Wen Won's special position in Jin and Qin Dynasties, and his father's framing by cutting off his left hand left a deep impression on people.

These two books mark the development of historical prose to a new stage.

(3) The third stage, represented by the Warring States policy. The Warring States Policy is also a national history book, which mainly describes the words and deeds of counselors and strategists during the Warring States period. The literary achievement of Warring States Policy is first manifested in characterization. The Warring States Policy also describes the ups and downs of characters, personalized words and deeds, vivid images and details. The argumentative and elegant style of Warring States Policy is the embodiment of the characteristics of the times at that time, which indicates that the language application of narrative prose in the pre-Qin period has reached a new level. Take Lu Zhonglian as an example. Qin surrounded Zhao, and Lu Zhonglian stepped into Qin. Handan clearance, Ping Yuanjun wanted to seal Lu Zhonglian, "the third son, eventually refused to accept". The article is complete and the plot is discounted. The characters are distinctive, which highlights Lu Zhonglian's outstanding wisdom and noble character. The argument is reasonable and restrained, the metaphor is sharp and profound, the logic is meticulous and convincing.

The words recorded in Shangshu have begun to have reasoning and argumentation factors. The gradual formation of China's ancient reasoning system is consistent with the emergence and development of a hundred schools of thought contending and hundred schools of thought's prose. The citation system created by The Analects of Confucius was developed in Mozi, and then the dialogic argumentative essay of Mencius was formed. Zhuangzi's rich fables and absurd imagination became the treasures of pre-Qin reasoning. The monographs in Xunzi and Han Feizi mark the complete maturity of China's ancient reasoning system.

(4) The development of prose in Han Dynasty (1) The rise of Han Fu. The stylistic sources of Han Fu are various, and it is a comprehensive style, which is inseparable from its huge capacity and strong expressive force. Mei Cheng's "Seven Hair" marks the formal formation of a new fu style. His works "Zi Xu" and "Shang Lin" focus on laying out and writing things, describing things with parallelism and exaggeration, with flexible syntax and different sentence lengths. (2) Political essays, such as On Qin by Jia Yi. The political essays represented by Jia Yi's On Qin not only inherit the momentum of the Warring States prose, but also have the rigorous style that the Warring States prose lacks, focusing on specific and practical principles and policies, rather than discussing political principles in theory. (3) Historical prose, such as Sima Qian's Historical Records. The narrative art of controlling complex events and grand scenes in Historical Records: the display of personality and the portrayal of * * *; Strong legendary style features have a great influence on later generations.

Prose in the Eastern Han Dynasty has made new development on the basis of the Western Han Dynasty. In historical prose, Han Shu by Ban Gu and Spring and Autumn Annals of Wu Yue by Zhao Ye are of great literary value. In terms of political theory, a number of works represented by Wang Chong's Lun Heng and Wang Fu's On a Thousand Commandments actively participate in reality. In addition, new prose styles, such as travel notes and inscriptions, have emerged as the times require, becoming a member of the literary family. At the same time, many essayists also deliberately pursue an easy-to-understand, concise and lively article style, which corrects the flashy style of writing to some extent.