Abstract
This article discusses the influence that A Dream of Red Mansions had on Xu Zhenya's novel writing. In his early years, Xu Zhenya wrote sixty Ci-poems about A Dream of Red Mansions. These Ci-poems indicate his understanding of characters in the novel and the love tragedy of Baoyu and Daiyu. When writing novels, he always uses A Dream in Red Mansions as an exemplar. Although Her Sacrifice and The History of Tears are autobiographical novels, Xu imitates A Dream in Red Mansions in terms of characterization and plot. Two Servant Girls, his third novel, is entirely a duplicate of A Dream of Red Mansions, although it is not a success. However, his next two novels, My Wife and The Two Dead Girls, which borrow ideas from A Dream of Red Mansions like before, are quite innovative. To sum up, Xu Zhenya was a faithful inheritor of the art of novel in A Dream in Red Mansions, and a unique transitional figure between A Dream of Red Mansions and the May Fourth literature.
First Page
130
Last Page
138
Recommended Citation
Bai, Yingjie. 2016. "A Dream of Red Mansions and Xu Zhenya's Novel Writing." Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art 36, (6): pp.130-138. https://tsla.researchcommons.org/journal/vol36/iss6/1
