Everyone starts as a reader, whether one becomes a writer, critic, or historian of literature development. It is imperative for readers to actively engage in a literary work to make the work last its life in history.
Numerous resplendent comments and derivatives of widely known“Ode to Goddess of River Luo”by Cao Zhi (曹植洛神賦) have been profusely made and created in the years to come. This dissertation is trying to use the methods and perspectives from the Acceptance Aesthetics to explore the phenomena of the propagation and reception of the “Ode to Goddess of River Luo”.
This dissertation initially started to trace the image development of Fu Fei in Pre-Qin (先秦), West and East Han Dynasties (兩漢).
Then, I analyzed the description of Fu Fei in Cao Zhi’s “Ode to Goddess of River Luo” and his writing background and theme points, as well as explored why it became a focus by critics. Lastly, I summarized the principles, regulations and methods of its unique Acceptance.
Fu Fei begins as a goddess spouse to He Bo (河伯 God of the River). Through the embellishment in the literary works by Qu Yuan (屈原) in Warring States Period, and Yang Xiong (揚雄) Sima Xiangru (司馬相如) and Zhang Heng (張衡) in West and East Han Dynasties, her initial image was gradually built up.
Based on these predecessors, Cao Zhi has further borrowed the idea from the“Ode of Goddess”(神女賦) by Sung Yu (宋玉) and created this“Ode to Goddess River Luo”.
In it, Fu-Fei’s appearance and style of dress were meticulously described and in addition to her detailed disposition and charming characteristics, it culminated in her utmost beauty and complete affection for her.
During the socially unstable and chaotic Dynasties of Wei (魏), and Jin (晉), disappointed intellectuals diverted their attention from politics and indulged themselves in the imaginary Fairy World.
The world described in the “Ode to the Goddess River Luo” depicted the dreaming fairy world suited the contemporary world the most.
Calligraphers Wang Xizhi (王羲之) and Wang Xienzhi (王獻之) wrote Fu Fei through their Calligraphy works in expressing their own feelings, while Gu Kaizhi (顧愷之)’s“Painting of the Ode to the Goddess of River Luo”vividly illustrated the story.
The romantic episode between a Goddess and a human in the period of Six Dynasties (六朝) was further strengthened by Cao Zhi’s prominent royal and literary status, which made the“Ode to the Goddess of River Luo” a role model for all Ode writers.
In later years, poets of Gong Ti Style (宮體詩which using gorgeous wordings, rhythm and parallelism sentences immensely) followed this norm in describing beauties.
Being selected into Zhao Ming Anthology (昭明文選) attracted attention from all intellectuals with romantic fantasies. Li Shan (李善)’s expounding in his annotation further gathered critics and helped its propagation to later years.
Poems in the Dynasties of Tang (唐) and Sung (宋) extracted portions of their descriptions to illustrate the “small steps lightly walking on the water surface excited the fine ripples just like treading on the earth raising the fine dirts (陵波微步,羅韈生塵)”and became a new way to describe the elegance of beauties.
Classic novelists and traditional drama writers who were influenced by the romance between a human and a goddess from the “Ode to Goddess of River Luo” and similarly in another derivative story between a talented scholar and an unreachable beauty from “Unrequited Love to Queen Jane”(感甄記) could still create their own literary works based on their memory, understanding and imagination, though confined by contemporary social norms. Some of them extracted partial episodes and created various masterpieces.
In modern days, the acceptance and appreciation of the “Ode to the Goddess of River Luo” is expansive. Their developments are multilayered, influencing the realms of literature and all forms of the art by portraying the utmost creativity with new adaptations.
These developments have attracted more audiences and readers of all ages, thus creating a phenomenon never before seen.
In my study, I found three outstanding characteristics in the propagation and acceptance of the “Ode to the Goddess of River Luo”:
First, propagation and acceptance are in tandem and are coherent through time and contemporary popular ideologies.
Second, derivative literal works from the Ode complemented each other and made them both even more flamboyant.
Third, combined and intertwined with all kinds of writers in accepting Goddess of River Luo has achieved greatly in the realm of “Acceptance Aesthetics.”
We are convinced that in the future that this approach through the study of “Acceptance History” will be further blossomed in the future.