On Prose has turned a new page in the history of prose. The literary theory flourished in the pre-Qin period, and each school had its own strengths, which greatly enriched the genre of the paper. One of the most unique is Zhuangzi's implication. The article in the book breaks through the routine of logical reasoning based on evidence, boldly combines literature and philosophy, and forms an argumentation method with logical reasoning as the main axis and fables and romance novels in literature as one. Finally, it becomes a special artistic style in philosophical fables of truth and absurdity.
For example, in "Happy Travel", it is said that there are ghosts in southern Chu, and 500 years old is spring and 500 years old is autumn; In ancient times, people with big stumps took 8,000 years as spring and 8,000 years as autumn. This endless exaggeration and fiction contains Zhuangzi's vision and imagination of the infinity of the universe. Another example is that Zhuangzi is good at drawing profound truth from rich imagination. There is a fable in Autumn Water that it is not easy to walk with only one foot, so I envy those dazzling feet; A dazzling and amazing snake can do it without feet; The snake envies that the wind is invisible and floating; The wind envies that the eyes can see far away as soon as they turn; Eyes envy the mind, and when you move, you can think of everything. Through this fable, it shows that all instincts are innate, and it is unnecessary and impossible to envy others or other things, or to surpass others. We should conform to nature and forget the gains and losses, so that we can truly surpass everything. Finally, he inferred from this fable that only saints can dominate everything.
The absurd imagination is the main factor that forms Zhuangzi's unique style. In the article "Free Travel", I wrote about Wan Li, where Kun Peng hit the water for three thousand miles and went to rest in June. I also wrote about Kun Peng's free change and free travel form, all of which are inseparable from his rich imagination. Because Zhuangzi has a cheerful mind and a romantic and broad image, the things he describes are magnificent and colorful. The article "Autumn Water" says: When autumn water comes, a hundred rivers fill the river, and the river is so big that there is no debate for two rounds. What childe fishing, Bai Bo if the mountain, the sea shock, the sound of ghosts and gods, afraid of how far away. The depiction is vivid and magnificent.
Zhuangzi's imagination is extremely changeable and exaggerated. In "Happy Travel", Xiao Kun is imagined as a bird who doesn't know his distance. Its name is Peng, and Peng Bei doesn't know its thousands of miles. Another example is "Zeyang": whoever has a country in the left corner of a snail is called Tushi; Those who have a country in the right corner of the snail are called human. At that time, we fought for land and buried tens of thousands of bodies. The snail in Zhuangzi is just a small snail, but how big is the snail's horn? But the army can concentrate on the life-and-death battle here. This is really an imagination, too big to imagine and too small to describe.
Incorporate unique feelings and profound observations into the work. Zhuangzi is a writer full of emotion and artistic imagination. He often absorbs a lot of myths and legends, or fictional characters, and creates vivid artistic images through imagination, association, exaggeration, rendering and contrast. Through careful observation of society, he often painted those dignitaries, Confucian scholars, hermits, skilled craftsmen, and even ghosts and gods of heaven and earth, clouds, the sun and the moon, birds and quails. Into his work. These are inseparable from rich social feelings and practices, and from careful observation of natural phenomena. The source of literary creation comes from social practice, which has a far-reaching influence on the creation of later writers.
In the history of China literature, Zhuangzi had a far-reaching influence on the development of China literature. Jia Yi and Sima Qian in Han Dynasty influenced by Zhuang Zhou's literary thoughts and works; Ruan Ji, Tao Yuanming and Liu Xie in the Southern and Northern Dynasties; Li Bai, Han Yu and Liu Zongyuan in the Tang Dynasty; Wang Anshi and Lu You in Song Dynasty; Wu Cheng'en and Feng Menglong in Ming Dynasty; Cao Xueqin and others in Qing Dynasty. They all absorbed Zhuangzi's creative ideas and methods, and got a lot of lessons from them. Guo Moruo said that Zhuangzi was a famous philosopher in China, but also a famous writer and artist in China. His thoughts are detached and implicit, and his words are clear and unrestrained, which is really ancient and modern. * * * comrades have a special liking for Zhuangzi, full of praise. His romantic and provocative writing has a great influence on Comrade * *. Chairman Mao quoted Zhuangzi many times in his poems.