Chapter 18 Section 1 The Golden Age of the Novel

The development of novels in the Ming Dynasty shows the great artistic potential of vernacular novels.The development of novels in the Qing Dynasty continued to prove this point.The difference is that most novels in the Qing Dynasty, especially novels in the Qing Dynasty, were created by individual writers.They did not go through the long process from folklore, story books, dramas to literati finishing and writing like ,,.The novels of the Ming Dynasty, except for the exception, or write extraordinary heroes, such as Lin Chong, Wu Song, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Sun Wukong; or write bizarre stories; Works such as "Crossroad Lamp" turn their attention to daily family life and ordinary people in life.It is in such novels that the great tomes of realism emerge—and.

In the Qing Dynasty, a collection of short stories in classical Chinese by Pu Songling, a collection of short stories in classical Chinese by Ji Yun [yunyun] appeared, and "Drunk Awakening Stone", "Gossip in Doupeng", "Five Colored Stones", "Twelve Floors", " "Silent Play" and other story-telling novels.However, on the whole, the Qing Dynasty was the golden age of novels.For legends of heroes, there is "The Romance of Yang Baodi in Wanhualou"; for historical novels, there is "The Complete Biography of Shuo Tang Romance";Although the achievements of these novels cannot be compared with, but together with the great masterpieces of realism, they constitute a magnificent picture of Qing Dynasty novels with many genres, different styles and competing for novelty and beauty.

In the late Qing Dynasty, there appeared the narrow and evil novel "Pin Hua Bao Jian", which described the life of a prostitute; "Shi Gong An", which described gongan and chivalry; Jian] Ren's, Zeng Pu's, Liu E's.The denunciation novel exposed the corruption and darkness of feudal officialdom with sharp pen and ink, which had a great influence at that time.However, the denunciation novel's exposure to officialdom is relatively superficial, and the criticism is not deep enough.In terms of expression, it is exaggerated, lacks implicitness, and is still far from real satire.