Author ｜
Hsuan-chang Huang
Abstract ｜
Contemporary researchers mostly consider Sida qishu 四大奇書 (The Four Masterworks of the Ming Novel) are the literary canons of the form and aesthetics of Chinese classical novels, and indicate that this perspective is originated from a preface by Li Yu. However, Andrew Henry Plaks claims that “I am not sure at what point during the Ching or Republican periods this became a fixed critical category.” This paper argues that “The Four Masterworks of the Ming Novel,” which become a fixed category in modern academic monographs, are precisely shaped by and as a result of multiple ideological movements such as disciplinary education, the Enlightenment, Xinmin thought 新民思想, and literary criticism. This paper attempts to problematize the concept of the “The Four Masterworks of the Ming Novel” in modern periods, and examines the multiple historical contexts behind it. It is not intended to challenge the writing skills and the canonicity of “The Four Masterworks of the Ming Novel,” but to explore its organic process of the acceptance in literary history. Firstly, I explain the early popular sayings of “The Four Masterworks of the Ming Novel” in the Qing Dynasty are actually related to the marketing strategy of the bookstore. It also shows the referents of “The Four Masterworks of the Ming Novel” were not settled before they were disciplinized or accepted as common knowledge. Secondly, based on the statement of “The Four Masterworks of the Ming Novel” in the early Chinese literary history, I indicate the source of knowledge can be extended to the literary history of Japanese Sinologists, and illustrate that, after the discussions of Kainan Mori, On Shionoya and other Japanese Sinologists on the connotation of qishu 奇書, the value of qi 奇 has shifted from biyi fengchiao 裨益風教 (benefting moral teaching) to a discussion of writing techniques and aesthetics, which is different from the connotation of traditional commentaries. Finally, I assume the concept of “The Four Masterworks of the Ming Novel” is constantly being reproduced in the East Asian knowledge circulation, and then produced as “new knowledge” within the academic and educational system, forming the common understanding of the “The Four Masterworks of the Ming Novel” known by the general public.
keywords ｜
The Four Masterworks of the Ming Novel, canon, literary history, the Novel, Kainan Mori