怪诞化了的抒情诗世界 : 《金瓶梅》的“畸艳”审美特质 = GROTESQUE LYRICAL WORLD: THE QI-YAN AESTHETIC OF THE PLUM IN THE GOLDEN VASE

Abstract

This dissertation studies the complex interactions between literati cultural and the emerging merchant culture as reflected in the Ming novel Jin Ping Mei or Plum in the Golden Vase, when the Chinese society underwent rapid urbanization and commercialization during late Ming. This dissertation argues that by setting the novel within such specific urban and commercial environment, traditional lyrical world, a cross-generic aesthetic tradition which dominated the Chinese culture for three millennia, became a grotesque in the Plum in the Golden Vase, Jin Ping Mei. The novel parodies the lyrical tradition in the aspect of theme, setting, plot, character and form. By using prose rather than verse, the author of the novel reveals a skeptical attitude towards the reliability and authenticity of the Chinese lyricism in the socio-economic and cultural transformations. The rise of Chinese novel shows that the early modern Chinese artist managed to use a new literary genre to explore the truth of human existence, question the destiny of traditional culture in early modern period.