A Study of the Poetic Structure in Mao Zonggang"s Comments on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Abstract

With regard to the structural problems of Chinese Ming and Qing Dynasties" novels, under the influence of Western causal traditions and their structural views, there has always been a saying of “episodic”. However, if we take the traditional Chinese view of nature, we can see the poetic structure of Chinese classical novels. Mao Zonggang revealed this in the practice of the commentary of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. He commented on the external structure of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and conveyed the concept of its historical cycle with a “circular” structure; And he sorted out the sub-structure chapters of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms by adopting a repetitive(反复), uplifting (起兴), dualistic(对偶) and other poetic way to pinpoint the ideals of Confucian politics. This paper believes that Mao Zonggang"s commentary on the structure of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms reflects a poetic structure that is different from the West. This kind of poetic structure takes the classical tradition of Chinese literary narrative, and combines lyrics with historical narratives to form a new tradition. The “weaving” of structure takes on the dual mission of “Zhu”(杼) and “Xu”(序), making the narrative of chinese classical literature combines the tradition of “Shi Yan Zhi”(诗言志) and the tradition of “Wen Yi Zai Dao”(文以载道) through the poetic structure, forming the national style of “singing story”. 关于中国明清小说的结构问题，在西方因果论传统及其结构观的影响下，一直以来存在“缀段”的说法。但是以中国传统的自然论观之，则可见出中国古典小说的诗性结构特征。毛宗岗在《三国演义》的评点实践中对此有所揭示，他点评《三国演义》总体结构外部圆融统一，借“圆形”结构传达其历史循环之观念；他梳理出《三国演义》具体章节之间采取反复、起兴、对偶等诗意方式连接，以此寄托其儒家政治之理想。本文认为，毛宗岗关于《三国演义》结构的评点，体现出了不同于西方的具有民族特色的诗性结构观。这种诗性结构观承载了中国文学叙事的古典传统，将抒情与史叙揉在一起铸成新法，以结构之“编织”承担起“杼”和“序”的双重使命，使得中国的古典文学叙事借助诗性结构融合了言志传统和载道传统，形成了“歌唱故事”的民族风格。