Chinese literature: a brief excursion into the history, genres and features of the works of contemporary Chinese writers

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Chinese literature is one of the oldest art forms, its history goes back thousands of years. It originated in the distant era of the Shang Dynasty, simultaneously with the appearance of the so-called buts - "fortune-telling words", and throughout its development has been constantly changing. The trend in the development of Chinese literature is notable for continuity - even if the books were destroyed, then this was certainly followed by the restoration of the originals, which were considered sacred in China.

Books written on turtles

"Divinatory words" - butsy - are pictographic signs, which, as a rule, were applied to tortoise shells. They are the progenitors of modern Chinese writing - hieroglyphs. It is worth noting that Chinese writing has always stood apart from oral speech and also developed separately.

That's itmakes Chinese literature different from world literature. The Chinese consider the art of the word to be the highest possible, as well as calligraphy.

History of the development of literature

Modern Chinese literature, of course, has a completely different structure and meaning than the ancient one, which can be divided into 8 parts - stages of development and formation. Myths and legends became its beginning and basis. This is followed by historical prose and stories about the masters, written in an artistic style, ditties, poems and songs. So, in the era of the reign of the Tang dynasty, poetry was born, and in the era of the Song, lyrics.

Chinese literature, created at the initial stage of cultural development in China, can be considered quite primitive. It is based mainly on the legends and myths of ancient China, they were passed on by word of mouth. Such works can be called folk art and legends.

However, it was these legends that gave impetus to the overall cultural development in China. And over time, separate genres, various variations of literature began to appear.

Culture of Liu and Confucius

At the beginning of the Zhou dynasty, the patrimonial system was practiced, which opened a new stage in the history of the state of China. And the most common direction in the literature of that time was the political views of the Chinese - ideals and judgments.

Each country during the Autumn and Spring periods had its own chronicle books, but the most representative was "Spring and Autumn", writtenConfucius. It told about the history of the state of Lu. Even to this day, in the art of modern Chinese literature, it does not lose its artistic value.

Confucius, as you know, believed very much in the value of society. He worked on this chronicle for quite a long time, putting a lot of work into it.

Literature unlike any other

Unlike the literature of the whole world, fiction was not particularly popular in China; on the contrary, they used historiographical and ethical-philosophical genres. This was a direct consequence of the ideology of the notorious Confucius, which was and still is very popular in China.

Also, the drama originated in China already at a fairly late period. Such literary genres as memoirs and epistolaries were less developed in comparison with European prose, they occupied a certain niche only by the 20th century. But essays, or bizi in Chinese, have been popular in China for more than two millennia. Of course, bizi cannot be called an essay in the full sense of the word, but nevertheless these two subgenres are very similar.

A special language for writing books

In China, as in other countries, there is a classic literature. It represents an inseparable cultural current that existed exactly until 1912. This is a huge number of works that were created in about 2400 years. That is, for all the time of the development of books of Chinese literature, colloquial speech never mattered - they were written in the classical language. If in Europe the literarythe story was similar, then the classic writers of the 20th century would have to write their works in Latin or ancient Greek, which had long since died out and were not used in everyday speech. That is why Chinese classical literature is so different from world literature.

This special language, in which absolutely all books were written in China for 2400 years, was the imperial script for more than 1000 years. For this reason, it was necessary for all the ruling strata of the population to know all the neo-Confucian literature.

This is the first time the world saw Chinese literature. References can be found below.

Classics of literature - books

"Journey to the West". This unique novel was first published in the 1590s by an unknown author. Already in the 20th century, the opinion was established that it was written by the scribe Wu Cheng'en. The work can be attributed to the genre of fantasy. The book tells about the adventures of the monkey king - Sun Wukong. To this day, it occupies a leading position in sales, not only in China, but throughout the world.

"Dream in the red chamber." The Dream in the Red Chamber was written by Cao Xueqin. His work has become a classic for a number of reasons, the main of which is the peculiarities of the plot and narration. It is unlikely that there will be another book in China that could describe Chinese life, traditions, customs, and the originality of the national Chinese character and life with such reliability and truthfulness. All this the reader observes against the background of the story of the decline of the two branches of the Jia family.

"River backwaters". Classical Chinese novel opens before the readerlife in China during the Northern Song Dynasty, and talks about the so-called noble robbers that gathered in the rebel camp - Liangshanbo. The novel "River Backwaters" was the first written in the knightly genre - wuxia.

"Three Kingdoms". This novel also belongs to a special genre of Chinese literature. It was written in the distant XIV century. It is based on folk tales, myths and legends that tell about the sad events of the III century, when China was divided into three parts. All these three new countries waged an uninterrupted bloody war among themselves. The main characters of the book are Chinese heroes who fought for justice.

The history of Chinese literature, of course, has a much larger number of books. We have only talked about the most popular and in-demand works on the global book market.

Time to get acquainted: Chinese literature presented in Russia

Chinese books are presented on the Russian book market in much smaller quantities than, for example, on the Japanese or Korean market. They are published and published, as a rule, in a rather modest circulation, but the books are very high in price, and they are of interest only to specialists in this field. In fact, the demand for Chinese books is low.

The writer Mo Yan, who received the Nobel Prize for his literary works, made the world talk about Chinese literature. Our country is no exception. The first book translated into Russian by Mo Yan is “The Land of Wine”. She went out of print on the same daywhen its author received an award, and aroused some interest among the population.

Soon the translation of other new books by Mo Yan is expected, which will also appear on the shelves of Russian bookstores, and, perhaps, will take their place in the hearts of readers. Chinese literature in Russia is just beginning to win over an audience and shows great promise.

Difference in perception

As already mentioned, the history of Chinese literature is unique, there are quite a large number of books written in a special language. Undoubtedly, they are very interesting, but contemporary Chinese writers such as Lisa Xi, Amy Tan, Anchi Ming and others are of no less interest.

Of course, in the translation of their books they sound a little different, as well as the aftertaste is different - everyone knows that reading books and watching movies is best in the original language. It is known that there is a big difference between Russian and English, but an even greater gulf separates languages such as Russian and Chinese. Literature in our countries is also different, with its own characteristics and zest. But one should not lose sight of the literature of the Middle Kingdom, if only because of its uniqueness.

Modern books - three best novels

"Wild Swans", Yun Zhang. The real epic. The plot of the book covers the life story of three generations of the same family at once - mostly women. Events develop very slowly, and their description is extremely detailed, which may seem boring, but you should read the lines and you will feel the inimitable and unique Chinese flavor. Yes, and the plot of the novel "Wildswans" is truly striking and unusual. It tells about the strength and masculinity of three generations of women, about the trials they had to go through: the repression of the times of the Chinese "Cultural Revolution", persecution and torture. Despite all the difficulties and fears, they were lucky to build strong families and happy harmonious relationships.

"Joy Luck Club" by Amy Tan. This book, like the previous one, is dedicated to the fate of women. It is divided into many stories and novels that are told from the perspective of mothers, daughters and grandmothers. All of them are united by the author in the so-called "Club of Joy and Good Luck". The novel by Amy Tan is a very inspiring and life-affirming work that can impress even the most demanding reader.

"Girls from Shanghai" by Lisa Xi. The main characters of the novel are young and often very frivolous girls, the offspring of we althy parents, who are engaged in posing for photographs on wall calendars. There are no difficulties, failures or ups in their life. Every evening they relax in expensive restaurants and bars with the same frivolous friends, representatives of golden youth. And then - the ruin of families, marriage, war, famine and many other troubles that will make girls look at life from a completely different angle.

Development of modern literature

Books by Chinese writers have recently begun to conquer the world and have already achieved quite a lot of success. The development of literature continues, but at a modern level. And right now in China there is a so-calledLiterary revolution, the largest in the history of the country. Today, about 30,000 books of various subjects and genres are published in China every year. It is worth noting that the most popular among the Chinese are fantastic works about Shaolin masters. But, of course, other literary movements are also in demand.

Lost in translation

The Chinese people are much more familiar with Russian prose and classics than Russian with Chinese. The Celestial Empire published and republished the books of Dostoevsky, Turgenev, Ostrovsky and Tolstoy. This is partly explained by the fact that it is relatively easier to translate a book from Russian into Chinese without losing special speech patterns.

But now this case has been put on stream. The best translators work on books by contemporary Chinese writers, and it is worth noting that they are doing quite well.

The library of Chinese literature is regularly replenished with new books that are translated into dozens of different languages. We invite you to learn about the most famous writers of modern China.

Gao Xingjian

The future writer was born in 1940 in the province of Guangzhou. His craving for creativity began to manifest itself from an early age: he wrote his first story when he was still a 10-year-old child. But the writer had to burn all his impressive works during the Cultural Revolution, and he himself was sent into exile for educational purposes in a remote, remote village. There, Gao Xingjian continued to write.

Many of his works are banned to this day. Otherspublished quite freely. For example, the play "The Other Shore" was censored in 1986, while his book "A Pigeon Called Red Bull" was out of print the year before.

In 1987, the writer left his native country and moved to France. And after he condemned the actions of the Chinese government in 1989, he was completely stripped of his citizenship.

Wang Meng

Wang Meng was born in the capital of China, in Beijing, in 1934. He began to write early, and by the age of 15 - by the beginning of the Cultural Revolution - he had already written two books. Wang Meng participated in the underground struggle against the government, for which he served time in a colony. After his release, the writer was offered the high post of party leader, but he preferred literature to politics.

Wang Meng received a second term and went into exile for 20 years for his novel Long Live Youth, which describes the lives of members of the underground resistance. And he also wrote a book about this - "On the River".

Jia Pingwa

Jia Pingwa is a very popular Chinese novelist. His book "Perishable City" is in particular demand, in which the writer tells about the temptations of the metropolis, its frantic pace of life and the reverse side of external sparkling prosperity. Many critics believe that Jia Pingwa is talking about Shanghai, but the writer himself does not confirm this information, nor does he refute it.

Besides this, the writer also worked in the erotic genre. It is believed that some of the erotic books that are soldto say from under the counter, it was Jia Pingwa who wrote, although he himself had long ago refused authorship. Therefore, it cannot be reliably said that he really wrote them.

Today, Chinese literature is striking in its diversity and brightness. Undoubtedly, every book lover must read at least one book from the Middle Kingdom, because they differ from other works of world literature in their originality.