the ornamental and the real

the ornamental and the real

Literary quality is the basic concept and term of ancient Chinese literary theory. It includes two aspects: literature and quality. Confucius was the first to put forward this concept: "quality is better than literature, literature is better than history, gentle, and then gentleman."

(the Analects of Confucius Yongye) He Yan's Analects of Confucius Jijie quoted Bao Xian's note: "wild, such as savages, speak despicably. Historians have more writing but less quality. "Binbin, a man of medium quality." Xing said, "if you are gentle and plain, then you can be a gentleman." Confucius also said, "the quality of writing is the same as the quality of writing; the quality of writing is the same as the quality of writing." (the Analects of Confucius, Yan Yuan) is originally about a person's inner character and behavior. "Wen" refers to external performance, "quality" refers to moral quality. This is one aspect of significance. In many cases, it refers to the beauty and simplicity of the category of language style. For example, Xiao Yi's preface to the collection of inscriptions in the canon says: "the husband has to change from generation to generation, and the thesis has different theories, which can make the language style colorful but not gorgeous, and the quality but not wild." Another example is Su Shi's comment on the characteristics of Tao Yuanming's poems, which is called "the quality but the real beauty, the depth but the real fullness" (Yu Su Zhe Shu). Another example is the later theories of "upholding quality" and "upholding literature". Literary quality, applied to later literary theory, also has another significance. That is to say, "Wen" refers to the diction and expression, which is roughly equivalent to the form of modern works; "quality" refers to the content. Because of the beauty and simplicity of literary style, it is ultimately closely related to the content and form of the works, so this has a far-reaching impact on later generations. For example, the concepts of "Wen" and "Zhi" used by Liu Xie in his book Wen Xin Diao Long are based on the unity of content and form. Many famous writers and theorists, such as Han Yu, Liu Zongyuan, Ouyang Xiu, Huang Zongxi, Ye Xie, etc., also have incisive discussions on the relationship between form and content. Literary quality has the meaning of artistic style, form and content. However, no matter from the aspect of beauty and simplicity of style, or from the aspect of the relationship between content and form, many successful writers and theorists are emphasizing "quality", that is, emphasizing quality and simplicity or content, and asking for the combination of "quality" and "Literature". However, in literary theory and writing practice, there are also tendencies to be simple, content or rhetoric and form oriented.