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Authors

Guofu Cheng

Abstract

As the most influential selection of vernacular stories in late imperial China, The Spectacles of Ancient and Modern Times remains understudied compared to other venacular works. To date, no dedicated research article has examined its commentary. The commentary in the Wujun Baowenlou edition is highly innovative and distinctive, making it worthy of further study. This article examines the engraving time of this edition and proposes that it was published in the late Ming dynasty. Through literary statistics, this study analyzes its commentary forms, explores its commentary methods (including comparison, irony, and quotation), and examines its linguistic style (such as repetitive locution, word usage, and sentence structure) to reveal the unique regional characteristics of Suzhou reflected in the commentary. By highlighting the distinctive features of this edition, this article tries to enrich the study on the story-teller's scripts and novel commentary of the Ming dynasty.

Keywords

Wujun Baohanlou, The Spectacles of Ancient and Modern Times, engraving time, commentary characteristics

First Page

75

Last Page

86

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