| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立暨南國際大學 === 中國語文學系 === 99 === Xu Wei (1521-1593) was a famous “madman” and “genius” in the history of Chinese literature. For what reason is he worth being researched? And are our understanding and cognition on him correct? Therefore, “What a mad man Xu Wei was?” was the interrogating question raised at the beginning of this study. This question was raised because the idea “Xu Wei was a madman.” used to be recognized directly whenever this name was first acquainted. As a result of Xu Wei’s special and conspicuous figure impression such as madness, self-harm, and imprisonment due to killing his wife, he used to be acquainted prior to his works. However, the author, after reading lots of relative researches, found that many “peculiar deeds” he had acted were merely exaggeration, playing up, and parroting. Consequently, it was crucial necessary to get acquainted with Xu Wei through his self-writing.
This paper mainly developed three aspects, his illness, therapy, and abrupt artistic expression, to explore contents and psychology in his poems and prose in order to look into his special “fantastic” realm. Firstly, Xu Wei’s perspective on himself in each course of life was deemed as a generalized biography and from several perspectives in-depth understanding on his psychological landscape was also attempted. Besides, in investigation into the physical and psychological diseases Xu Wei actually had, as well as his perspective on death, comprehension on Xu Wei progressively advanced. In consequence, clues in and connections in his creations of poems and prose were found between strange dreams, ghost speech, and weird and jointly sensorial writings, as well as calligraphy which he emphasized to express in manner of violence and insolence and like a disturbed snake escaping into grass.
Xu Wei’s art was peculiar due to his peculiar personality, i.e. “Peculiar personality, peculiar art.” With such an existing label on Xu Wei, it is necessary to appreciate Xu Wei’s nature and impression. Therefore, “Do we know Xu Wei at all?” became the initial question and motivation in this paper. What people read about Xu Wei were compiled, evolved, and, eulogized by later writers. But what was Xu Wei’s own saying? What secret and code did his words reveal? How did his special experience and expression of literary art construct each other? Did organic context and link emerge? How was his special artistic fascination and expressional form with regard to literature research? What were the cultural influences Xu Wei had when Ming Dynasty was transiting from middle period to late period, which seemed to omen some cultural trends of late Ming?
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