SUMMARY
The existence of popular literature has been the opposite problem between refined and popular literature. When the barriers between refined and popular literature are collapsing, the mutual influence between popular novels and society has gradually been taken seriously. In Ming dynasty, selling popular novels had been increased due to the convenience of the transportation and economic development in the south area of the Yangtze River.
Based on the consumer culture, from the shifts of the merchandise contents, we can see the societal and the time changes. The prevalence of popular novels represented the rising of the entertainment culture in Ming Dynasty. The reading culture as an entertainment had a direct impact on the connotation and the values of the literature as well as a change on the relationship between readers and authors.
The popular novels in Ming dynasty not only changed the authors’ writing habits, liberated readers’ reading interests, but in the same time it also took the literature from being serious to entertaining. Due to the convenience of the transportation in Ming Dynasty, it promoted economic development which made the business people more interested in selling popular novels in the southern area in China.
INTRODUCTION
This dissertation has six chapters:
The first chapter - Introduction: includes intend of this study and a literature review.
The second chapter - Elaboration of popular novels in Ming Dynasty: explains the form and analyses of the novels in Ming Dynasty. Uses the rising of novellas, the creation of the vernacular short stories, and the development of vernacular novels to explore the creation of popular novels in Ming Dynasty.
The third chapter - Impact of commercial economy on the popular novels in late Ming Dynasty. From the perspective of the canal and commercial development, this chapter explores the economic prosperity, the prevalence of urban and consumer culture, the rise of luxury style. Because of the merge on the scholars and traders, it changed how the social classes were identified. Use the creation of Sanyan and Erpai and how they became popular to explain the prevalence of popular novels was due to the well development of the business culture in the society of late Ming dynasty.
The fourth chapter - Print and sale of the popular novels in book stores in Ming Dynasty”: discusses how the merchant of literature added the creation. Uses the models of Xiong Da Mu and Yu Xiang Dou to analyses how such types of the novels were produced. Explains the relations between the engravings, reviews, illustrations, advertisements and sales volumes.
The fifth chapter - Compilation and reading of popular novels in the Ming Dynasty, explores the rise of civic literature from the relation between the canal and the city. Analyzes the creation and selling of popular novels from three perspectives of author, commentator, and reader.
The sixth chapter - Conclusion, summarizes the main ideas on the first five chapters, concludes the popular novels became a pop culture phenomenon in Ming Dynasty.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The popular novel in this dissertation, to determine the distinction between elegance and vulgarity, was grounded by the judgement of nature, the focus on the birth of the novel and it’s evolution of the characteristics, the writer's creative motivation, the publication of the text and its scope of dissemination, and the reader's aesthetic standards of culture,
The content of this dissertation mainly discusses the relevance between the popular novels and the society in the Ming Dynasty. Utilizing the sociological methods, this study investigates how the popular novels became prominent in the Ming Dynasty and explores the influence of literature on the society by focusing on the sociological criticism and the analyses of use of the materials.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The intent of this dissertation is to find which type of the “cultural context” led the popular novels becoming prominent. Because a society occupies an indispensable position in all literary phenomena, it is necessary to exam the society in Ming Dynasty with its’ trendy phenomenon of popular novels.
The popular novel became prominent in Ming Dynasty had much to do with the consumer culture at the time. The traditional methods of literary studies lack in the perspective of social observation, are mostly confined to the traditional model of people and works, and have the scope tended to be overly simplified. The preponderance of popular novels represents the rise of social entertainment culture in the Ming Dynasty. This kind of entertainment culture mainly based on reading directly affects the connotation and value of literature as well as changes the relationship between readers and authors. When the material goods have become a symbol of the taste and the lifestyle, what does the popular novels represent the society in the Ming Dynasty?
CONCLUSION
The rise of popular literature is often closely related to the prevalence of popular culture. The development of popular literature originates from the impact of the increasing numbers of the commercial cities or towns. The popular literature used to be unappreciated. Because of the increasing numbers of the readers, the popular literature became a classic. Taking novels as an example, the process of become classics of the novels in the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty first appeared in the Jiangnan area, which is famous for its well developed on the economy, large population and cultural prosperity. The commercialization and popularization of literature and art reflect the contemporary trend of culture at the time.
Literature and art can become a commodity because of the popular culture. The formation of popular culture came from the inevitable result of urbanization of a dense population with frequent and diversified commercial activities. From the periods of Jiajing and Wanli, the traditional literature (used to be favored by the literati) has been replaced by the popular literary. Because of a huge numbers of readers who are ordinary people, the definition of literature has been differed from the tradition. This inspires the readers to think there is unlimited possibilities of literature.