Who wrote the Water Margin? What about division of labor?

The TV series "Water Margin" indicates that the original authors are Shi Naian and Luo Guanzhong, which has aroused many viewers' doubts: The author of "Water Margin" is obviously not Shi Naian alone, but how did it become Shi Naian and Luo Guanzhong?

it's a long story

During the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, the most widely circulated version of Water Margin was Guan Huatang, that is, a commentary on Jin Shengtan written by Shi Naian (70th edition). From the founding of the People's Republic of China to the Cultural Revolution, the most widely circulated version of Water Margin was the revised version of People's Literature Publishing House, and its title author was still Shi Naian. At the same time, in many literary works, the copyright of Water Margin belongs to Shi Naian alone. Therefore, for a long time, the view that "The Water Margin was written by Shi Naian" left a deep impression on people. As a matter of fact, there have always been many opinions about the author of Water Margin, and "Shi Naian's Works" is just one of them. Aside from those absurd statements (for example, The Water Margin was compiled by Yao Zongzhen, the father of the county governors), in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there were three main statements in the notes and bibliographic records of scholars: (1) Luo Guanzhong wrote in Lang Ying's Seventh Edition and Tian Rucheng's Notes on the West Lake.

(2) Shi Naian and Luo Guanzhong co-authored the narration of Hundred Rivers Record, Jiajing edition of Water Margin (8 existing Beijing Library), Preface to Tiandu Foreign History, Preface to Yuan Yin, Preface to Li Zhuowu Printed Edition, Preface to Wuhu Old Man Printed by Xue Ying Caotang and Preface to Mustard Garden Printed Edition.

(3) Shi Naian's titles include Xiongfei Pavilion and Flower Watching Hall in Water Margin, Hu Yinglin's Shao Shi Fang Shan Pen Cong, Xu's Talking about the Old Committee of Three Villages, Xu Shupi's Notes on Knowledge, Hui Zhou's Trivia of Jinling, Qian Xiyan's Defects in Play and Liu Shiyi's New Knowledge of Playing Yi Xuan.

Which statement is the most reliable or more reliable?

Let's talk about the records of scholars first.

The first statement first appeared in Lang Ying (1487- 1566)' s Seven Revisions. Lang Ying was from Jiajing, Ming Dynasty. The second statement was first seen in Gao Ru's Hundred Rivers Record. The date of Gao Ru's birth and death is unknown, but the Preface to Hundred Rivers contains the preface of the 19th year of Jiajing in Gao Ru (1540), which shows that he and Lang Ying are also Jiajing people. The third statement was first seen in Hu Yinglin's Collection of Shaoshi Mountain (155 1- 1602). Hu Yinglin is a Wanli. Therefore, the first statement and the second statement are undoubtedly earlier than the third statement in terms of their respective time.

From the head of the water margin.

The first statement can't be found in any existing version of the title department. The version with the second statement as the title department mostly appeared in Jiajing and Wanli periods of Ming Dynasty, and the two versions of the third statement appeared in Chongzhen period at the end of Ming Dynasty. Therefore, the third statement is later than the first statement and the second statement in terms of time.

Does this mean that the first statement and the second statement are more reliable and the third statement is the least reliable? Not necessarily.

The first way is probably the most unreliable. As we know, Luo Guanzhong is the author of The Romance of Three Kingdoms. At this point, there is no dispute. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Water Margin are completely useless in language form. The former uses simple classical Chinese. The latter is a popular vernacular. It is difficult to get people's approval that it was written by the same author.

Although the second statement and the third statement appeared earlier or later, they have one thing in common: Shi Naian is the author or one of the authors, and they actually support each other. So from this point of view, it is more reliable.

The second statement co-authored by Shi Naian and Luo Guanzhong has some truth. But unfortunately, it is not clear what kind of cooperative relationship they are: who is the master and who is the second? Judging by common sense, it can't be exactly 50% to 50%, which is not so coincidental.

In the Qing Dynasty, someone (such as Xu, the author of the 100 Eight Commanders of Water Margin) completed the division of labor between history and Luo, and gave the first 70 chapters back to Luo Guanzhong. This is just a conjecture made out of nothing, and it appears too late: 120 and 70 editions of Water Margin will sprout in people's minds after they become popular.

To understand their cooperative relationship more accurately, at present, the only way is to examine the inscription of the author of Water Margin in Ming Dynasty: "Shi Naian's book, edited by Luo Guanzhong"; Jiajing Ben, Preface to the History of Heaven and Earth, published by Yuan, edited by Luo Guanzhong.

The so-called "Deben" is the common language of Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties. That is, "true copy" and "compilation" are "writing". This shows that Shi Naian is the author as well as the author. The so-called "editing" can be interpreted as "editing", which has the same meaning as "editing". This is equivalent to saying that Luo Guanzhong is an editor, or an organizer and processor.

Therefore, first of all, the copyright of Shi Naian should be clearly confirmed; Second, Luo Guanzhong participated in the creative process. He is a collaborator of Shi Naian and should be treated fairly.

Based on the above understanding, I think, in a narrow sense, Shi Naian is the author of Water Margin; Broadly speaking, Water Margin is the product of cooperation between Shi Naian and Luo Guanzhong.

In short, the TV series "Water Margin" indicates that the original author is Shi and Luo, which is justified and understandable.