The value of nonsense

In the 1940s, a small fragment of "Gu Huayan" had just surfaced on the surface of history. Its artistic style and important value amazed the scholars who were lucky enough to read it. Jushishanren received three fragmentary copies of three chapters of "Gu Huanyan" from a friend. He couldn't help but stay up late at night and read them. He thought that "although the fragments remain in brief chapters, they are still full of flavor." He felt that the layout of the remaining "Guhuayan" was somewhat similar to "The Story of Marriage to Awaken the World", but it did not have the sourness of "The Story of Marriage to Awaken the World"; the narrative style of "Guhuayan" was as light and concise as Yuan Zhonglang's writing style, among which Some small words interspersed are also fresh and recitable. However, because the remaining "Gu Wangyan" has no beginning or end, it is impossible to know the author's situation, which made the layman sigh deeply. Zhou Yueran also believes that the elegance of the text in "Gu Wang Yan" is not inferior to that of "Jin Ping Mei", and that "Jin Ping Mei" is written in northern vernacular, which is difficult to understand, while "Gu Wang Yan" is written in ordinary vernacular, which is easier to understand. Zhou Yueran also believed that the writing style and word count of "Gu Wang Yan" were not inferior to "Jin Ping Mei", but the fate of the two books was quite different. "Jin Ping Mei" was widely circulated and highly praised, but "Gu Wang Yan" was never recorded. Silence and obscurity. This is a regrettable incident in the history of ancient Chinese novels.

The value of "Gu Wangyan" is multifaceted. First of all, in the history of ancient Chinese novels, "Gu Wangyan" has great research and application value. From the perspective of the relationship between "Gu Wang Yan" and other novels, based on "Gu Wang Yan" which was written in the sixth year of Yongzheng's reign, we can verify the writing dates of other novels. The book touches on a number of earlier or contemporaneous novels. In addition to "Water Margin", "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "Jin Ping Mei", "Journey to the West", "The Romance of the Gods" and other books, there are also "The Legend of Ruyijun", "Later Journey to the West", "Monk Dengcao", "Fengcao" "Jian Chunqiu" and so on. The earliest extant version of "Fengjian Chunqiu" is from the Tongzhi period, so it is generally regarded as a work after Qianlong. With the records of "Gu Huanyan", we can know that "Fengjian Chunqiu" had appeared in the Yongzheng period at the latest. From the perspective of the development of ancient Chinese novel history, the status of "Gu Huanyan" is also worth noting. Generally speaking, from "Jin Ping Mei", "Awakening of the Marriage Story", "Lin Lanxiang" to "Dream of Red Mansions", "Qilu Deng", etc., the development trend of ancient Chinese world love novels is from vulgarity to elegance, and the writing age is the same as "Dream of Red Mansions" The similar "Gu Huan Yan" goes against the historical trend and seems to show a return to the "vulgar" artistic style of "The Plum in the Golden Vase". Is this tendency unique to "Gu Hua Yan", or is there an undercurrent in the history of ancient novels that we don't yet fully understand? These topics are worthy of further in-depth exploration. In terms of artistic form, "Gu Huanyan" also retains a special example of the courage to experiment with institutions in ancient Chinese novels.

Secondly, "Gu Wangyan" also plays an important role in the history of ancient Chinese culture. The text and comments in the book mention or quote many good books, dramas, novels, drum lyrics, chants, treasure scrolls, Wu songs and other artistic works, which provide us with rare and vivid specimens for studying the cultural and artistic forms of that time. . What is particularly noteworthy is that the book retains a large number of jokes, proverbs, ancient sayings, sayings, sayings and other popular cultural forms, preserving fresh and vivid historical materials for the study of popular culture in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.

In addition, "Gu Wangyan" can also provide research materials for other related disciplines. "Guwuyan" preserves a wealth of social historical materials, including vivid descriptions of people's living conditions, customs and systems at that time, as well as relatively faithful records of the economic and social life at that time. Not only can we copy the social life in Jiangnan in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties centered on Nanjing. It can also provide useful help to related disciplines such as history, economics, folklore, etc.

As another novel about worldly affairs after "The Plum in the Golden Vase" that records a large amount of erotic content, "Gu Huanyan" also reflects the complex and diverse sexual customs and psychology of the time, and preserves some theories in the room. Many specific examples are recorded, providing rich materials for the current ascendant sexual culture research.