韩愈的散文艺术 = THE ARTISTIC STYLE OF HAN YU'S PROSE

Abstract

Han Yu (768 -824 AD), the literary giant of the Tang Dynasty, plays a very unique role in both the literary and intellectual history of China. This dissertation does not propose to discuss his place in intellectual history but will rather confine itself to analyse the literary and artistic styles of Han Yu's prose writings. Since Han Yu was closely related with the Classic Prose Reform Movement of the Tang Dynasty, the first chapter of this dissertation provides a brief introduction to the history of the Reform Movement and highlights Han Yu's contribution to the success of the Reform Movement. As a literary theorist, Han Yu advanced new literary theories which in both ideological content and artistic form helped to perfect the classical prose writing styles. He successfully created a "new" prose style labelled as " Gu Wen " ( “古文") which was different from the former art of parallel prose writing — “Pian Wen "(“骈文”）， that was very popular in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. His theory on the unity of " Dao " ( Confucian ethics ) and " Wen "(literature ) represented his attempt to illustrate Confucian ethics through literary works. His insistence on a strictly Confucian interpretation of the true "Dao “ and on an unadulterated Confucian ideology constitutes Han Yu's essential contribution to the Classic Prose Reform Movement as a literary theorist. At the same time, his emphasis on "literature " heralded a new age of didacticism in literature, causing prose writing which had always served a utilitarian function to be consciously conceived as literature. Besides being an outstanding literary theorist, Han Yu produced numerous good quality prose. Thus an evaluation of his various styles through an analysis of his argumentative, narrative, descriptive and lyrical works is discussed in four separate chapters. Han Yu's argumentative essays are well known for their cogent logic and vigour of argumentation. For example in "On the True Way "(《原道》),Han Yu presents a powerful defence of Confucianism written in an equally forceful rose style. As for the narrative essays, they are succinct in style and concise in content. His capacity for etailed observation, reflected in vivid and lively description, contributed to the success of his descriptive essays. Many of his epitaphs and funeral orations are exquisitely lyrical essays which convey powerful and moving feelings. All these writing techniques are further elaborated within the four chapters. As a great prose writer of the Tang Dynasty, Han Yu's achievement is undeniably acknowledged by scholars of Chinese Literature .