What are the characteristics of satirical art in The Scholars?

The content written in The Scholars, under the guise of the Ming Dynasty, is actually the Qing Dynasty, and the characters are real people in all likelihood. It truly depicts the ups and downs of intellectuals' life, ups and downs of circumstances, gains and losses of fame, ups and downs of official career, noble and despicable sentiments, advocacy and disillusionment of ideals, and exploration and pursuit of outlets during the reign of Kang Yong.

Wu affirmed or denied the characters in the book with his attitude towards fame and fortune. For example, Kuang forged documents and took a knife to catch the exam, but he was "elected as an outstanding scholar by Wenzhou" and was guilty of many evils, but he was elected as an "outstanding scholar" by his predecessor Zhou Xuetai.

While mercilessly lashing ugly things, the author also praised a few positive figures. Wang Mian is a first-rate figure in the book, and he is "upright". Zhuang Shaoguang pursues "educating people with rites and music" and "educating people with morality". Father Niu and Father Bu are also respected by the author. Cheng Jinfang said in "Touching Poems": "Bachelor of Historical Records, what to describe; I feel sad for the people of Sri Lanka. I actually passed on history! "

In The Scholars, Wu wrote the decadent darkness of the imperial examination system, the vulgarity of fake celebrities and the meanness of corrupt officials in a simple, flexible and humorous local language.

Hu Shi described the book like this: "... the country hangs the signboard of Confucius and Mencius every day. In fact, no one is allowed to talk about Confucius and Mencius, nor is anyone allowed to practice Confucius and Mencius. As long as people read eight-part essays and write poems; The rest of the' source of literary works' need not be concerned. If you pay attention to them, you can say,' Is that for your officials?' "

Extended data:

Creation background

On the background of the times, capitalist relations of production sprouted in the three generations of Kangxi, Yong Zhengdi and Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty, and the superficial prosperity of society could not conceal the decay of feudal society. While suppressing the armed uprising, the rulers adopted Daxing literary inquisition, stereotyped writing and open imperial examination, and advocated Neo-Confucianism to imprison scholars with ruling ideology. Wu opposed stereotyped writing and the imperial examination system, and hated literati's obsession with art and their passion for fame and fortune.

He reflected these views in The Scholars and exposed the ugly things in a sarcastic way.

Wu, the author of The Scholars, was born in a noble family. Great-grandfather and great-grandfather are two generations of "versatile officials" (Biography of Mr. Wenmu by Cheng Jinfang). * * * has six scholars, including one second prize and one flower detective.

And his father, Wu, was a tribute during the Kangxi period. In sixty-one (1722), Wu Kangxi was admitted as a scholar, and his father died in the same year. Because he is not good at managing his livelihood, he lives like a prodigal son. In the seventh year of Yongzheng (1729), when he took part in the imperial examination, he was dismissed as a "variant" and was insulted.

Later, he left his hometown angrily and made a living by selling articles and helping friends. In the first year of Qianlong (1736), Wu participated in the pre-test of Bo Ci. Zhao, the governor of Anhui Province, officially recommended him to take the Tingkao in Beijing, but he "insisted on studying with illness" (Gu Yunzhi's Wu Chuan) and never took the imperial examination again. In his later years, he was often hungry and cold. This personal experience made him feel particularly deeply about the advantages and disadvantages of stereotyped writing and imperial examination.

In the title of the book, the word "Confucian scholars" comes from Historical Records and Biography of Confucian Scholars. It is "the scholars", which refers to the academic circles and so on. Biographies of national history are naturally "official history", and the author takes "foreign history" as the title, just to make a difference, as Cheng Jinfang, the author's close friend, revealed in "Poems of Huairen": "Foreign historical books are like scholars, so what to describe;

I feel sorry for the people of Sri Lanka, and I actually passed it down as a history. "It is a biography of Confucian scholars outside the orthodox record. The author deliberately took the story in the book under the guise of' official history', but it actually described the extensive social life of the Qing Dynasty and reflected the bad luck of his contemporaries under the poison of the imperial examination system.

References:

Baidu encyclopedia-scholars