First of all, let's talk about the research method of "mutual evidence between Cao and Jia" Professor Chen believes: "Under the concept of autobiography, the known Cao family history can be used to prove that the story in A Dream of Red Mansions is a historical book, and conversely, the story in A Dream of Red Mansions can also be used as a historical book to prove the unknown Cao family history. Generally speaking, Hu Shi and Zhou called the practice "to prove Cao with Jia". In fact, Hu Shi's textual research on literature and history is mutual proof-this is the most essential feature of all technical textual research (including Suoyin Dream of Red Mansions). " Professor Chen also quoted the data of "Yu Pingbo and Gu Jiegang, two experts in the study of New Dream of Red Mansions", proving that they were "dominated by this concept of memorizing books". Professor Chen denied the long-standing popular method of "mutual testimony between Cao's family" in the red circle, and turned Jia Jia in the book and Cao's family in life into conjoined babies, which is undoubtedly correct. Aside from the absurdity of blind attachment to the old Dream of Red Mansions, the research history of the new Dream of Red Mansions, that is, Cao Xue, is almost a pseudo-academic history full of "anti-literature and anti-science".
The so-called "Cao Jiahe Cao family proves each other" should include three aspects: "Cao family proves Jia", "Jia proves Cao" and "Cao Jiahe Cao family proves each other". First of all, "Cao proves Jia", that is, Cao Xueqin's life experience proves Jia Baoyu's tragic life experience in A Dream of Red Mansions, and the rise and fall of Cao Fu woven by Jiangning proves the rise and fall of Jia Fu in the novel. Strictly speaking, if Cao Xueqin is really the author of A Dream of Red Mansions, this research method of "learning from Cao" is not impossible. However, so far, there is really too little information about Cao Xueqin. The so-called "taking Cao Xueqin as a witness" advocated by redologists is not to prove the people and things in the book with materials about Cao Xueqin, but to replace it with materials woven by others about Cao's family in Jiangning. Most of them use new materials to prove the inevitability of A Dream of Red Mansions, based on the weaving of Cao Shi family. This kind of "Cao Jiazheng" is undoubtedly absurd. Regardless of the relationship between Cao Xueqin and Jiangning weaving family, it is still uncertain. Even if Cao Xueqin is really Cao Yin's grandson, it is just as absurd to prove that his grandson Cao Xueqin has the conditions to write A Dream of Red Mansions with Cao Yin's knowledge and experience, just as it is absurd to prove that Hu Shi can write A Dream of Red Mansions with his grandfather's knowledge and experience.
It is absurd to engage in "proving Cao Jiazhen with Cao Cao" in this way. On this basis, it is even more ridiculous to engage in "proving Cao with Jia". There is little evidence about the relationship between Cao Xueqin and the life reflected in A Dream of Red Mansions. When studying Cao Xueqin's ideological realm and literary talent, almost all poems in A Dream of Red Mansions and Jia Baoyu's words in the book are used to disprove Cao Xueqin's superb poetic skills and heresy. Look at Cao Xueqin's monograph on poetry and biography, which is now full of red altar. Except for the imagination of the author of the monograph, almost all the supporting materials used are from A Dream of Red Mansions, all of which are the products of Jia disproving Cao. Strictly speaking, "proving Cao with Jia" is not a real academic research, but a pseudo academic research, because logically speaking, "proving Cao with Jia" can not only prove Cao, but also anyone else, even Zhu Bajie and Kong Yiji. Any imbecile researcher can use the brilliance of A Dream of Red Mansions to disprove the brilliance of this imaginary author. As for the comprehensive use of "Cao Jia as a witness" and "Cao Jia as a witness", it is even more absurd to regard "Cao Jia as a common witness". A proves B, and then B proves A, because A=B, so B = A；; Because B=A and A=B are mutually causal, logically untenable and unscientific, there is no need to discuss them.
Professor Chen's criticism of "mutual testimony between Cao and his family" is undoubtedly correct, but traced back to China's traditional concept of "recording" and confused it with Mr. Hu Shi's theory of "Cao Xueqin's autobiography". Strictly speaking, this is biased. The old school of redology and research attached a large number of irrelevant historical materials to the content of A Dream of Red Mansions, exploring the secret history of the Qing Dynasty behind the novel and the author's humble research methods, like a "fool". Indeed, it can be said that it originated from Professor Chen's traditional ideas of "record" and "spring and autumn brushwork" in his interpretation of China's Confucian classics, but strictly speaking, the old method of redology research has nothing to do with the new method of "mutual proof between Cao and Jia". The theory of "Cao Xueqin's autobiographical biography" put forward by Mr. Hu Shi cannot be said to have nothing to do with the traditional concept of "record" in Confucian classics, but should come from the concept of "autobiographical novel" in the field of modern literature research to a greater extent. It is undoubtedly correct for Professor Chen to deny the concept of "factual record" in the study of Confucian classics, but it is inappropriate to deny the concept of "autobiographical novel" in the new redology by opposing the old concept of "factual record". Dickens' david copperfield and Ostrovschi's How Steel was Tempered are both typical autobiographical novels with documentary nature. The creation and research of these novels probably have nothing to do with China's traditional concept of "record".
This involves another logical relationship problem: the old seclusion method in A Dream of Red Mansions really stems from the historical concept of "recording", but it can't help Professor Chen to prove its fallacy by criticizing the new method of "mutual testimony between Cao and Jia" in A Dream of Red Mansions; It is proved that Cao Xueqin's autobiographical biography is a patent of the New Dream of Red Mansions, but it is not necessarily related to the concept of "record" in the interpretation of Confucian classics. Although the method of "Cao Jia's mutual testimony" has the nature of "anti-literature and anti-science", it proves that the concept of "record" in the historical category can be used, but it should not deny the characteristics of "autobiographical novel" in the literary category of A Dream of Red Mansions; Just because the research method of "mutual proof of Cao family" is unreasonable, we can't think that the literary research of the story creation material of A Dream of Red Mansions originated from life is unreasonable. In other words, there is no necessary causal relationship between the research method of "Cao Family Mutual Proof" and the autobiographical novel of A Dream of Red Mansions. Whether A Dream of Red Mansions is the author's life record is not allowed to be proved or denied by the pseudo-academic research of "mutual evidence from Cao family". Strictly speaking, the purpose of Professor Chen's general denial of the concept of "Ji" is probably not to deny Cao Xueqin's identity as the author of A Dream of Red Mansions, nor to deny that Cao Xueqin's creation of A Dream of Red Mansions requires life experience. It seems to make up for the lack of evidence of Cao Xueqin's life experience, and instead emphasize that the study of a dream of red mansions should not "ignore the writer's aesthetic construction function", that is, find an appropriate reason for Cao Xueqin's novel creation through reasonable fictional methods. Yes, in the creation of any novel, especially excellent novels, the author's "aesthetic construction function" is indispensable, but this does not mean that the author can "aesthetic construction" out of thin air without life. Mr. Lu Xun's phrase "A Dream of Red Mansions is transformed into freshness because of realism" accurately expounds the relationship between "aesthetic construction" and life materials in A Dream of Red Mansions, which can be described as incisive. However, Cao Xueqin's departure from the fictional "genius" and "advance" of his works' living materials is the most lame footnote of Professor Chen's "aesthetic construction".
Here, it is necessary to comment on the "god-making movement" in today's red circle. Look at the articles and monographs of many redology experts today, and they are full of praise and reverence for Cao Xueqin's "advanced thinking" and "unparalleled genius". Many redologists openly flaunt themselves as "working for Qin all their lives". Why do redologists admire Cao Xueqin so much? Because of the "infinite love" for a dream of red mansions! It is the result of Cao Xueqin's love for me and my dog from A Dream of Red Mansions. There are not only the common fallacies of "proving Cao with Jia" or "proving Cao's family with each other", but also many psychological factors of helplessness consciously or unconsciously. As we all know, it is almost a helpless chore to prove the life in A Dream of Red Mansions by Cao Xueqin's life experience and the ideology and culture embodied by the protagonist in his works, and it is also a chore that can never be completed. So what can redologists do if they don't want to give up Cao Xueqin's idol and prove that he created A Dream of Red Mansions? There is only one way, that is, to dress Cao Xueqin as a "genius" and "ahead" god out of thin air! Why do we have to decorate this statue with the images of "genius" and "advanced"? Because Cao Xueqin can "fiction" A Dream of Red Mansions without life experience, in the era of A Dream of Red Mansions where he lived, people who could write such a great novel were either "genius" or "ahead of time"? This logical relationship inevitably falls into the strange circle of "mutual proof between Cao Jiahe and Cao Family".
If you think about it carefully, Cao Xueqin's act of creating gods in the red circle is not so much his love for A Dream of Red Mansions as his helplessness in the study of A Dream of Red Mansions. There has always been a debate in literary circles about whether novel creation needs life and whether fiction is allowed, especially in the study of A Dream of Red Mansions. I remember that in the early days of reform and opening up, the ideological imprisonment had just been opened, and the experts in the red circle almost invariably made speeches and wrote articles, all talking about the same topic-A Dream of Red Mansions is a novel. Don't redologists know that A Dream of Red Mansions is a novel in the past, but now they find that A Dream of Red Mansions is a novel? No, it seems that our red scientist is too retarded. A Dream of Red Mansions is not only a novel, but also covers up the incompetence of textual research on Cao Xueqin's life materials with the literary principle that novel creation allows reasonable fiction, thus providing decorative gold foil for shaping Cao Xueqin's "genius" and "advanced" image. To tell the truth, on this issue, Professor Chen, like other Redology scholars, is also caught in an embarrassing situation that cannot be justified. Although Professor Chen did not directly advocate the theory of "genius" and "advance", the contradictory expression of "writer's aesthetic construction" and literature originating from life in the article can not but be said to be a copy of the theory of "fiction" and "genius" of red scientists. If this kind of research continues, Professor Chen will certainly embark on the road of "mutual proof between Cao and Jia", because there is no other way to prove how Cao Xueqin "constructs aesthetics" without life.
It is an indisputable truth in the field of literature that literature originates from life and literary creation needs life experience. The "aesthetic construction" in writers' creation can only be sorted out, refined and sublimated through "aesthetic construction" on the basis of the accumulation of life materials. Seeking truth from facts, Mr. Hu Shi's textual research on Cao Xueqin was not so much based on the "concept of record" in the traditional Confucian classics as on the "bold assumption" that A Dream of Red Mansions reflected Jiangning's weaving life. No matter "Cao Zheng Jia", "Cao Zheng Jia" or "Cao Jia mutual testimony", what the redology circle (mainly the so-called new redology) is engaged in is a pseudo-academic behavior based on Mr. Hu Shi's "bold assumption". At the beginning of Cao Xue's construction, Mr. Hu Shi admitted that his research method was "bold assumption and careful verification". On the premise of "boldly assuming" that Cao Xueqin was the author of A Dream of Red Mansions, he carefully verified that Cao Xueqin was capable and possible to create A Dream of Red Mansions by using the method of "mutual testimony between Cao Jiahe and Cao Family". No matter whether the textual research method of Cao's mutual testimony is "meticulous" or not, it is an indisputable fact in a dream of red mansions that even if "Cao's mutual testimony" is deliberately manipulated, it cannot support Hu Shi's "bold hypothesis", on the contrary, it can only deny Hu Shi's "bold hypothesis". The negation mentioned here is to deny Mr. Hu Shi's assumption that Cao Xueqin is the author of A Dream of Red Mansions, but it does not mean to deny the autobiographical nature of A Dream of Red Mansions, and it cannot be used as an excuse that the creation of A Dream of Red Mansions can be divorced from life. Only the author's "genius" and "advanced" "aesthetic construction" can be made out of nothing.
To put it bluntly, on the relationship between Cao Xueqin and A Dream of Red Mansions, Professor Chen's handling of the logical relationship in the process of thinking is a bit confusing. Professor Chen opposes the "record" based on the "mutual evidence between Cao Jiahe and Cao Family", but he does not object to Cao Xueqin as the "aesthetic builder" of A Dream of Red Mansions. However, Cao Xueqin's authorship of A Dream of Red Mansions was "assumed" and "verified" by Mr. Hu Shi in the way of "the concept of real record" and "mutual proof of Cao family". The key here is how to treat Cao Xueqin's lack of life experience and material accumulation conditions described in A Dream of Red Mansions. There are only two possible answers: one is to deny Cao Xueqin's identity as the author of A Dream of Red Mansions according to the truth that literature originates from life; The other is to deify Cao Xueqin's talent according to the truth that literary creation allows fiction, and the deification of Cao Xueqin's talent can only be realized through "mutual proof between Cao and Jia" In this way, Professor Chen fell into the trap set by himself: he should not only oppose the "anti-literature and anti-science" method of "mutual testimony between Cao and his family" in the red circle, but also safeguard Cao Xueqin's power of "aesthetic construction" instead of living. This is a dilemma. I really don't know how Professor Chen will deal with this almost impossible dilemma in his grand research plan on the history of Dream of Red Mansions.
A Dream of Red Mansions is an autobiographical biography of Cao Xueqin from Mr. Hu Shi's "bold assumption". However, A Dream of Red Mansions, as an autobiographical novel, is not a new continent discovered by the new Dream of Red Mansions with the help of "mutual proof of Cao family", but an objective fact clearly explained in the text and criticism. At the beginning of A Dream of Red Mansions, it is explained that the story of this book is written according to the "personal experience" and "true record" of the stone, and "the non-fake is equal to the fake". The author's method of creating this book is to "follow the trail" and "dare not make any loopholes" for fear of "losing for people" in his creation. There are also many hints of "really a thing" and "really a language" in Zhi Yanzhai's comment on writing. What Zhifuzhai said in his book is that "everything is witnessed" and "nothing is inferred" is not groundless. Professor Chen's statement that "Fat criticism is the general source of A Dream of Red Mansions, and the concept of recording facts also arises from it" is probably only half right. Nowadays, A Dream of Red Mansions is regarded as an autobiographical novel by the red circle, which is of course related to the discovery and research of fat criticism. However, when Hu Shi wrote A Dream of Red Mansions and came to the conclusion that Cao Xueqin was an autobiography, he relied on Cheng Gaoben, who didn't have a fat review-The Story of the Stone with a fat review hasn't appeared yet. Today, we attack the pseudo-scientific research method of "Cao Jiahe Cao Jia Xiang Zheng" in order to deny Cao Xue, the product of "Cao Jiahe Cao Jia Xiang Zheng" and Cao Xueqin's position as the author of A Dream of Red Mansions, rather than the inherent realism of the novel itself. On this issue, Professor Chen just appeared the phenomenon of logical confusion, and completely distorted his conclusion. He did not object to Cao Xueqin's life experience, but questioned the autobiographical nature of A Dream of Red Mansions, which is undoubtedly putting the cart before the horse and reversing right and wrong.
Everyone has the shortcomings of selling melons, and tumo fever is inevitable. Based on the following two points: the heresy in A Dream of Red Mansions is the same idea of the literati in the early Qing Dynasty, and the "love complex" in A Dream of Red Mansions is an objective reflection of the love culture in the early Qing Dynasty. Tumoge fundamentally denied the author status of Cao Xue and Cao Xueqin in the middle period of Qianlong, and determined the work of A Dream of Red Mansions as the product of the continuation of "late Ming culture" in the early Qing Dynasty. Professor Xu Jinru first put forward this concept, and Tumog never dared to steal the beauty of others. On this premise, Tumeger judged the origin relationship between A Dream of Red Mansions and The Palace of Eternal Life from the perspective of comparative literature research, and verified that the story materials of A Dream of Red Mansions are the story of "family difficulties" of Jiangnan clan in the early Qing and Ming Dynasties, the story of Twelve Women in Banana Garden and the historical fact that Gao Shiqi rebuilt the "bamboo window" in Banana Garden, thus inferring that the author of A Dream of Red Mansions is. The new system of A Dream of Red Mansions established by Tumochi neither denies the nature of A Dream of Red Mansions as a realistic or autobiographical novel, nor denies that the creation of A Dream of Red Mansions requires the author's superb "aesthetic construction", which fully embodies the literary essential characteristics of A Dream of Red Mansions, which originates from life and is higher than life. This is probably not in contradiction with Professor Chen's attack on "mutual evidence of Cao family", and coincides with Professor Chen's conclusion that "the product of late Ming culture", but it is absolutely incompatible with Cao Xueqin's understanding of "making something out of nothing" or "aesthetic construction" in the red circle. The logical relationship between right and wrong is thought-provoking.
In recent years, there are two kinds of interesting comments on oncology in the redology circle: one is a pretentious scholar in Hong Kong, who makes irresponsible remarks and attacks oncology as "a new variety of old research by Cai Yuanpei and Pan Chonggui". When people study the textual research materials of Tumo River and find that the study of Tumo River is not conducted by esoteric methods, this argument is naturally broken. Later, a red-tongued and white-toothed authority of Dream of Red Mansions appeared in Chinese mainland, attacking Tumog's "setting up another mountain" regardless of the facts, with the intention of overthrowing Cao Xue's theory and constructing "Hong Xue", which was nothing more than Hu Shi's dream of Red Mansions. There is an interesting phenomenon in today's dream world. Experts and scholars who claim to be the descendants of the New Dream of Red Mansions have been eating Mr. Hu Shi's grass and milking Cao Xueqin since the class struggle Dream of Red Mansions prevailed during the Cultural Revolution, but they dare not openly admit that they are writing according to Hu Shi's theory. But habitually made irresponsible remarks about Hu Shi's theory. In the words of Mr. Yu Pingbo, they are "all disciples and grandchildren of Hu Shi", but they criticize Hu Shi for "getting used to each other". They often consciously or unconsciously use Hu Shi's coming out of the mountain as an excuse to kiss up to others behind their backs, and their attitude towards Tumo fever is nothing more than this gloomy inertia psychology. Don't you know that this kind of attack is not only unscathed in Tumo's redology, but also has serious consequences for Cao Xue, who Hu Shi relies on for a living. If the skin does not exist, the hair will be attached, Hu Shi will not exist, and Cao Xue will be safe? However, the arrow shot at others penetrated the fortress where he lived, and instead made his "anti-literature and anti-science" face known to the world. It's forgivable to commit sins in heaven, but it's not sad to live for your own sins.
Professor Chen said: "After 1978, Suoyin Redology merged. On the one hand, Suoyin Redology absorbed Cao Xue's latest achievements in time; On the other hand, in A Dream of Red Mansions, more attention is paid to Cao family, and Hu Shi's family theory put forward in the 1920s is comprehensively studied. In these studies, some researchers sometimes use the method of "proving Cao with Jia" or "proving Li with Jia" intentionally or unintentionally. Some scholars' research on a dream of red mansions can no longer be called research on a dream of red mansions, textual research on a dream of red mansions or empirical research on a dream of red mansions. For example, the research of Wang Guanshi, Guo Wei, Kong Xiangxian, Pi Shumin and Liu Cunren is consistent with the concept of record. "In addition to the researchers listed by Professor Chen, who are characterized by the confluence of old and new redology, the most famous examples are Qin Xue by a great writer and Interpretation of Dreams by three younger brothers and sisters. On the one hand, they inherited Cao Xueqin, the author of Hu Shixin's new Dream of Red Mansions, and on the other hand, they made Cao Xueqin's attachment to the secret history of the Qing Dynasty more thorough and thrilling than the old Dream of Red Mansions. In fact, this novel is written by fictional means, which is the incredible "aesthetic construction" achievement of these researchers and the inevitable product of the study of A Dream of Red Mansions, which is "anti-literature and anti-science". Tumo School's redology students were born out of time, almost in this muddy environment where the old and new redology meet. In the process of "group fighting" and "disinfection" of redology, being attacked as "a new variety of Suoyin school" or "following the old path of Hu Shi" should be regarded as a polite remark under the bad mentality of redology.
There is no need to argue whether Tumoge is a new variety, because Cai Yuanpei and Pan Chonggui are both famous scholars. Although Tumochi has never been interested in the study of Dream of Red Mansions, and has consciously taken care not to study it with A Dream of Red Mansions, he still respects these great experts and scholars and never dares to compare with them in academic circles. Whether Tumog intends to overthrow "Cao Xue" and construct another "Hong Xue" and follow Hu Shi's old path in new shoes really needs to be analyzed. Tumen has always respected Master Hu Shi. Although he launched a serious attack on Cao Xueqin's theory of authorship and later Cao Xue, he respected his basic judgment that A Dream of Red Mansions is an autobiographical biography and a naturalistic work of the author. In a sense, Tumen's research on the author and creative materials of A Dream of Red Mansions is based on Mr. Hu Shi's "realistic novel" concept. However, Tumog's approach to red is fundamentally different from that of Mr. Hu Shi and his successors. According to Professor Chen's cognition, the fundamental reason why Hu Shi's Cao Xue is "anti-literature and anti-science" lies in "mutual proof between Cao Jiahe and Cao's family". Is the Tumo school of Redology also the product of "mutual proof between Hong and Cao's family"? Obviously not. When studying the creative materials of A Dream of Red Mansions, the creative basis and creative materials of A Dream of Red Mansions are verified by abundant historical materials and documents, whether it is the investigation of The Palace of Eternal Life and Jia Hongsheng South, or the confirmation of Twelve Chapters in Bajiao Garden and Lianzhu Window. This kind of confirmation is literary, one-way and objective, and there is no such "stupid" marginal note as "solve riddles on the lanterns". The research content of Tumog contains elements of "proving Jia with flood", but there is absolutely no paradox of "proving Hong with Jia" and "proving Hong and Jia with each other".
In all fairness, Tumo School of Dream of Red Mansions is not a part of the popular study of Fan An's Literature, nor is it an unconventional move under the trend of the integration of old and new Dream of Red Mansions. The purpose of Tumen River Dream of Red Mansions is not to overthrow Cao Xueqin's authorship, but to overturn his previous interpretation of A Dream of Red Mansions. In the study of Tumoge, the focus is not on the "empirical method", but on the ideological origin, cultural inheritance era and social judgment of A Dream of Red Mansions, and how to correctly interpret A Dream of Red Mansions according to the "cultural atmosphere of the late Ming Dynasty". To tell the truth, interpreting A Dream of Red Mansions according to the traditional one (old and new) will make "The more prosperous a Dream of Red Mansions is, the more secretive it is", and "The more redologists talk about it, the worse it is". Master Yu Pingbo's basic judgment on A Dream of Red Mansions in the past century is that "all Dream of Red Mansions are against a Dream of Red Mansions". Why is there a strange phenomenon that self-proclaimed "excellent learning" runs counter to its research on ontology? Mr. Yu Pingbo thinks: "I think A Dream of Red Mansions has always been taken in by Hu Shi". What did Hu Shi fall for? Of course, the author of Cao Xueqin said when; Interpreting A Dream of Red Mansions according to Cao Xueqin's concept of "factual record" and family history is a pseudo-academic "anti-literature, anti-science" and "anti-Dream of Red Mansions". The root of the mistake is not the author's mistake, but the wrong time to read A Dream of Red Mansions, which is the fundamental purpose of Tu Youyou's determination to set things right.
The research focus of Tumo School's Dream of Red Mansions is not to start with the trivial data of Hong Sheng and Jiao Yuan's sisters, and to conduct complicated textual research according to the method of "mutual proof of Hong Family", but to focus on the ideological origin and cultural inheritance of A Dream of Red Mansions, and to study that A Dream of Red Mansions is the product of the cultural atmosphere in the late Ming Dynasty from the ideological characteristics and cultural patriarchal clan system of Jiangnan scholars in the early Qing Dynasty. In a word, the main problem that Tu Geng has to solve is not whether the author of A Dream of Red Mansions is Cao Xueqin or Hong Sheng, but whether A Dream of Red Mansions is the product of ideology and culture in the early Qing Dynasty or in the middle Qing Dynasty. In a word, this is the fundamental question whether we really understand A Dream of Red Mansions. It is no exaggeration to say that this question is the root of A Dream of Red Mansions and A Dream of Red Mansions. Is Tumo's Dream of Red Mansions a "new variety" of Hu Shi's Dream of Red Mansions, and whether its research method is "old bottle and new wine"? Will it be "worse" to interpret A Dream of Red Mansions according to Tumo's Dream of Red Mansions? There is no need for Tumo's Dream of Red Mansions to be endless here, so let's leave it to all sentient beings and the long history to verify! Stop here. Please forgive Professor Chen for the improper points in the article. Of course, friends are also welcome to criticize and argue.