Abstract
In the sixth year of Wanli Reign in the Ming Dynasty (1578), based on Mao Zhifang’s Great Achievement of the ShilianPoeticsand Lin Zhen’s Great Achievement of the LianxinShibei Poetics in theYuan Dynasty, The Great Achievement of Ancient and Modern Poetics was publishedand exerted great impact in the literary world. It not only was adapted into a variety of reading primers for poetic enlightenment, but also became an immediatereference for the compilation of fictional workssuch astheSelected Works of Ancient and Modern Grotesque Stories and Youguai Shitan. Itdeeply influenced the development ofthe genre oflegendary fiction in the Ming Dynasty. First, it enabledpoetry to enter fiction in large numbers,generatinga narrative form with poetry as itsskeleton. Secondly, itmadethe fictional characters more functional and symbolic.Finally, the book embodied the view that fiction could work as playand attachgreat importance to the concept of fiction.The Great Achievement of Ancient and Modern Poeticsre-created the Selected Works of Ancient and Modern Grotesque Stories and Youguai Shitan asa collective workof poems, poetics, and poetic remarks. It alsoserved as a criticismof poetry, a teaching of practical poem writing,and afictional narrative.In short, it embodiedthe dual value of poetics and fiction. The book was at once a showcase of its author’s talent and theresult of the development of the concept of fiction in the Ming Dynasty.
Keywords
The Great Achievement of Ancient and Modern Poetics, genre of legendary fiction, narrative form, character symbolization, fiction
First Page
45
Last Page
55
Recommended Citation
Ren, Minghua. 2023. "The Grand Achievement of Ancient and Modern Poetics and the Genre." Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art 43, (2): pp.45-55. https://tsla.researchcommons.org/journal/vol43/iss2/5
