Chapter 47 The Historical Truth in Fictional Lies——Tu Zhigang

When a novelist writes history, he always has an expectation in his heart that his novels can be close to the historical truth in some way. If there is no such driving force, I am afraid that few authors are willing to spend time in historical novels. In this sense Basically, all historical novelists are lovers of history.However, what history pays attention to is firstly the concept of history and the second is the training of professional historiographical methods. Neither of these two things can be easily achieved by ordinary authors. For novels, if the novelist actually thinks that his writing is close to history, historians will be angry.In recent years, the theme of the Qing palace has become very popular, and countless historical novels and film and television works have been produced. Sometimes it is unavoidable to joke too much. The academic circles are quite critical of this. Looking back at Gao Yang’s Qing palace novels at this time, one can’t help but lament that Gao Yang wrote it in decades I am afraid that the historical novels of the past are still difficult to surpass.

Gao Yang’s Qing Dynasty novels give people the first feeling of being there. Gao Yang has unique conditions in this regard. His ancestors were officials in the Qing Dynasty for generations. The two plaques personally inscribed by the Queen Mother, such a family background allowed him to be exposed to all kinds of officialdom in the Qing Dynasty. Such conditions, today's historical novelists may only be envious. Because of this sense of presence, Gao Yang's judgment on the entire Qing Dynasty may not be the same as that of ordinary people.Since the late Qing Dynasty, China's weakness has always been a matter of concern to the people of the country. Countless people have searched for the root cause of the disease, and the Qing Dynasty has corrupted the foundation of the country. It is a consensus. Gao Yang's view of history is quite different from these people. In his opinion , as a link in history, the Qing Dynasty played too much role of accidental factors, and various regrets were unavoidable, but in general, the role of these three hundred years in promoting Chinese history cannot be underestimated.Gao Yang's Qing palace novels are based on such a view of history, in which there is a sense of compassion for the big history.

But a novelist is a novelist after all. In Zhong, Gao Yang analyzed the reason why Cixi was able to take power. The most critical factor was Prince Gong Yixin’s support for the curtain. ministers, thus being excluded from the power group.In fact, Prince Gong and Emperor Xianfeng were originally born of the same mother, and they were real brothers. The most fundamental reason for the brothers to participate in business was, after all, the struggle for the throne.Gao Yang lamented the impermanence of fate, the accident caused the estrangement between King Gong and Emperor Xianfeng, and the ultimate beneficiary was only a woman, and it was this woman who completely rewritten the history of the late Qing Dynasty.Gao Yang's analysis here is of course reasonable, but it is not inevitable to attribute the most painful experience in modern Chinese history to the power of a few individuals.This is just like Mr. Guo Moruo's "Jiashen Three Hundred Years Ceremony" attributed Li Chuang's failure to the mistaken killing of Li Yan. It was a little naive dream left because history did not follow the beautiful direction people imagined. Authoritarianism has its own advantages, and the weakness of the late Qing Dynasty cannot be changed or caused by Cixi alone.

A novel is a novel, and readers can just read it as a novel. When Gao Yang wrote his first historical novel "Li Wa", he once said that his interest lies in history, and he is full of enthusiasm for historical research and so on. What finally makes him forget about history is his boundless compassion and imagination, and his love for the details of the novel. Gao Yang is good at textual research, and provided a real background for many historical details in his novels, but later generations will never know the truth. What people can know with certainty is the fruit of today after history happened.Gao Yang reproduced many scenes in the novel. Although the details may not necessarily happen, readers are willing to believe that history may be like this. This should be the greatest success of Gao Yang's historical novels.

History and fiction are often two poles, one only focuses on facts and evidence, the other relies on imagination and literary talent, but fiction is rooted in the reality of human nature, and history is also created by human beings. It is on this point that the two agree.Some people say that history is made up of lies, but in any case, historical novels need to be rooted in history, and seek real possibilities in the lies of history.Gao Yang's works are almost the same.