Saturday, March 1, 2025
SSRIs Associated With Faster Cognitive Decline in Patients With Dementia
Can we say that novel (especially 長篇小說） is a child of modernity? (ChatGPT, 2025-3-1)
Yes, we can say that the novel (especially 長篇小說, long-form fiction) is a child of modernity, but with important caveats. The novel, as a literary form, emerged alongside modernity, shaped by its social, economic, and technological transformations, yet it also preceded and in some ways anticipated modernity.
1. The Novel as a Product of Early Modernity
• The novel flourished during periods of urbanization, increased literacy, and the expansion of print culture—all hallmarks of early modernity.
• In China, the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) saw the rise of vernacular 長篇小說 (Water Margin, Journey to the West, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, The Plum in the Golden Vase), coinciding with the growth of a merchant class and a print economy.
• In Europe, Cervantes’ Don Quixote (1605, 1615) marked the beginning of the novel as a self-aware, modern literary form, emerging alongside the decline of feudalism and the rise of individualism.
• Printing technology, whether in Ming China (woodblock printing) or Renaissance Europe (Gutenberg press, 1440), played a decisive role in the novel’s development, making long-form fiction accessible to a broader audience.
2. The Novel and the Individual
• Modernity, as understood in philosophy (Descartes, Kant), economics (capitalism), and politics (the nation-state), emphasizes the individual as an autonomous agent.
• The novel as a genre reflects this shift:
• European novels (Robinson Crusoe, 1719; Pamela, 1740; Tom Jones, 1749) explore the inner life, consciousness, and development of an individual.
• Chinese 長篇小說, while often focused on collective history (Three Kingdoms, Water Margin) or societal critique (Plum in the Golden Vase, Dream of the Red Chamber), also explore personal destiny and moral struggles.
• Japanese novels, such as The Tale of Genji (11th century), were highly psychological but existed in a pre-modern, aristocratic world, distinct from modern novels.
3. The Novel as a Medium of Social and Political Change
• Modernity brought nation-states, colonialism, capitalism, and revolutions—all of which were documented, explored, and questioned through novels.
• In Europe, 19th-century novels (Dickens, Balzac, Dostoevsky) chronicled industrialization, urban alienation, and social mobility.
• In China, Dream of the Red Chamber (18th century) was a proto-modern novel, chronicling the decline of an aristocratic family amid social change.
• Latin American and Russian literature (Bolaño, García Márquez, Tolstoy) often intertwined historical and political modernity with novelistic storytelling.
4. The Novel and the Crisis of Modernity
• While the novel arose from modernity, it also became a site for critiquing it.
• Modernist and postmodernist novels (Ulysses, 1922; The Trial, 1925; One Hundred Years of Solitude, 1967) reflect disillusionment with modernity, challenging linear narratives and stable identities.
• The 20th-century novel often depicted alienation, existential anxiety, and the fragmentation of meaning—responses to the crises of modernity (wars, capitalism, totalitarianism, technology).
5. Is the Novel a Child of Modernity or Something Older?
• If “modernity” means the Enlightenment, capitalism, and the nation-state, then yes, the realist psychological novel (e.g., Madame Bovary, Anna Karenina) is deeply modern.
• However, long-form prose fiction predates modernity:
• The Tale of Genji (11th century, Japan)
• The Romance of the Three Kingdoms (14th century, China)
• Don Quixote (17th century, Spain)
• What modernity did was transform the novel into the dominant literary form, shifting from epic and mythic storytelling to personal, realistic, and psychological narratives.
Conclusion
The novel is both a child of modernity and a precursor to it. While modernity provided the conditions for the novel’s mass production, popularity, and themes of individual consciousness, the novel as a form was already evolving in pre-modern societies. If we consider modernity as an unfinished project, then the novel remains one of its most important mirrors and critics.
Kundera said that “Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes, 1605, 1615) heralded the novel writing in Europe. Compared to 長篇小說 flourishing in Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), was it coincidental? (ChatGPT, 2025-3-1)
The flourishing of 長篇小說 (long-form fiction) in Ming China and the rise of the European novel, heralded by Cervantes’ Don Quixote (1605, 1615), may appear coincidental in terms of historical timing, but they both emerged from parallel cultural and technological developments rather than direct influence. The convergence of factors in both traditions suggests that the novel as a form was not simply a Western invention but an inevitable literary evolution across different civilizations.
Parallel Factors in China and Europe
1. The Rise of Vernacular Literature
• In China, the Ming period saw the dominance of 白話小說 (vernacular fiction) over classical prose. Works like Water Margin (水滸傳) and Journey to the West (西遊記) were written in accessible language, making them popular among a broad readership.
• In Europe, Cervantes’ Don Quixote was written in Spanish, rather than Latin, and it marked a shift towards storytelling in the language of the people, much like how Boccaccio’s Decameron (1349–1353) had earlier used Italian.
2. Printing Revolution and a Growing Reading Public
• China’s woodblock printing technology had been in use for centuries, but the Ming period saw an explosion of commercial publishing in cities like Suzhou and Hangzhou. Books became more accessible to the merchant class and educated commoners.
• Europe, following Gutenberg’s printing press (1440), experienced a similar expansion in book production. The 16th and 17th centuries saw a shift from manuscript culture to mass-printed books, allowing more people to read fiction.
3. The Influence of Oral Storytelling
• Many Ming novels evolved from oral storytelling traditions (話本), performed in teahouses and marketplaces. This gave them episodic structures, much like Don Quixote, which was initially published in two parts and exhibits an almost improvisational, serialized nature.
• European medieval literature had similar roots in chivalric romances, picaresque tales, and oral epics, which Cervantes deconstructed and parodied.
4. Societal and Cultural Transitions
• The late Ming period was marked by urbanization, economic expansion, and social mobility, which created new forms of leisure and entertainment—such as long fiction.
• Likewise, early modern Europe saw major social transformations, including the decline of feudalism and the rise of capitalism, leading to new individualistic narratives, a key theme in Don Quixote.
5. Satire and Social Commentary
• Both Ming novels and Cervantes’ work were satirical.
• Don Quixote mocked the outdated chivalric ideal in a rapidly modernizing world.
• The Plum in the Golden Vase (金瓶梅) was a Ming novel that critiqued corruption and hedonism in contemporary society.
• Water Margin and Romance of the Three Kingdoms dealt with heroism, morality, and political struggle, much like European political and picaresque novels.
Key Differences
1. Narrative Structure
• Ming novels often retained a loose, episodic structure based on oral storytelling and historical compilations.
• Don Quixote was more self-reflexive, playing with metafiction and questioning the nature of fiction itself, something that later European novelists like Laurence Sterne (Tristram Shandy, 1759) would develop further.
2. Philosophical vs. Historical Focus
• Chinese novels of the Ming period were often historical or mythical, aiming to preserve cultural memory (Romance of the Three Kingdoms).
• Cervantes’ work was philosophical and existential, examining illusion vs. reality, and introducing modern narrative irony.
3. Individual vs. Collective
• European novels, from Don Quixote onwards, increasingly centered around the psychology and interiority of the individual.
• Chinese long-form fiction, while exploring individual characters, often focused on the collective, whether it be a band of outlaws (Water Margin) or an extended family (Dream of the Red Chamber).
Conclusion: Coincidence or Parallel Evolution?
Rather than a direct influence, the flourishing of 長篇小說 in Ming China and the emergence of the European novel seem to be parallel literary evolutions driven by similar social, technological, and economic changes. While Kundera emphasizes Don Quixote as the birth of the novel in Europe, the long-form novel was already well established in China.
If there is a fundamental philosophical distinction, it is that Chinese novels of this period were historical, mythological, and social, whereas Don Quixote introduced modern self-awareness, irony, and interiority, setting the stage for the European novel’s later psychological depth. However, both traditions responded to the same fundamental human need: telling long, immersive stories in a changing world.
Why 長篇小說 flourished in Ming dynasty (1368-1644)? （ChatGPT, 2025-3-1)
The flourishing of 長篇小說 (long-form fiction) in the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) can be attributed to several key cultural, social, and technological factors:
1. Increased Literacy and the Rise of a Reading Public
• The Ming dynasty saw a significant expansion of the literate middle class, including merchants, scholars, and urban dwellers who were not part of the traditional aristocracy.
• The imperial examination system continued to promote literacy, and even those who did not pass the exams sought entertainment in written texts.
• This created a demand for vernacular literature (白話文學), making lengthy and engaging narratives more accessible to common readers.
2. Commercial Printing and the Expansion of the Book Market
• The invention and development of woodblock printing made books cheaper and more widely available.
• The emergence of private printing houses, especially in Jiangnan (Suzhou, Hangzhou, and Nanjing), allowed for mass production of novels.
• Serialized publications became common, further supporting long-form storytelling.
3. The Rise of Vernacular Fiction and Storytelling Traditions
• Prior to the Ming, much of Chinese literature was dominated by classical prose and poetry, but the Ming saw the rise of vernacular fiction (白話小說).
• Many Ming novels, such as Water Margin (水滸傳) and Journey to the West (西遊記), were based on oral storytelling traditions that had been refined by professional storytellers (說書人) in teahouses and marketplaces.
• These stories were episodic, making them ideal for long-form storytelling.
4. Patronage and Cultural Shifts
• The late Ming period, particularly under emperors like the Jiajing (1521–1567) and Wanli (1573–1620) Emperors, saw a more relaxed cultural atmosphere.
• Scholars and literati, such as Li Zhi (李贄), defended vernacular literature as a legitimate form of literary expression.
• This was also a period of growing interest in individualism and human emotions, themes explored in long-form fiction.
5. Social and Political Factors
• The Ming dynasty was relatively stable compared to earlier periods of turmoil, providing a conducive environment for artistic and literary development.
• However, its later years were marked by bureaucratic corruption and social unrest, which inspired satirical and critical works, such as Wu Cheng’en’s Journey to the West and Feng Menglong’s Three Words (三言) collections.
• Novels often reflected Confucian, Daoist, and Buddhist ideas, but also subtly critiqued society, governance, and morality.
6. The Influence of Drama and Historical Romance
• Ming dynasty chuanqi (傳奇) drama, especially the works of Tang Xianzu (湯顯祖), influenced the narrative structures of novels.
• Historical romances, such as Luo Guanzhong’s Romance of the Three Kingdoms (三國演義) and Shi Nai’an’s Water Margin (水滸傳), blended history with legend, creating long and engaging stories that appealed to a broad audience.
Conclusion
The convergence of increased literacy, printing technology, vernacular storytelling traditions, and a growing urban readership made the Ming dynasty a golden age for the 長篇小說. Works like Journey to the West, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and The Plum in the Golden Vase (金瓶梅) set the stage for the Qing dynasty’s literary masterpieces, such as Dream of the Red Chamber (紅樓夢).