A critical comparison of texts Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

A critical comparison of texts - Term Paper Example Most of the Chuan qi stories involved some aspect of the supernatural, and often involved humans interacting with supernatural creatures and spirits. The Chuan qi genre is only one of the five forms of fictional Chinese literature, and has four thematic story groups within it, those being historical stories, supernatural stories, stories of knighthood and errantry, and love stories. The love stories of the genre deal with the acts of keeping faith and breaking faith. A creature of another realm could attain human form and gain its liberty by keeping faith with a human; likewise, a human who broke faith with a spirit entity could take on bestial habits and become beasts themselves. The idea behind the two was that one could not happen without the other; there was an even exchange that took place, and as long each participant offered something essential, no retribution took place. But, if one party broke the equation or the exchange, the situation became serious. The moral being that a balance was always to be maintained.1 (Pg.518). T’ang writers brought about the Chuan qi style at a time when the neoclassical movement in prose created a steady foundation for story narration. T’ang subject matter and literary material was taken from the rich, invigorating, cultural livelihood of the big city. Writers of the Chuan qi stories were mostly well-educated men who gathered in the capital city trying to make a name for themselves through either fame or through political advancement. While the Chuan qi genre of story telling often employs elements of the supernatural, the writers tried to tell interesting stories that were straight forward, and devoid of flowery poetic language. Supernatural events occur alongside human interaction, instead of replacing it, and city workers and dwellers are depicted in their everyday lives. Chuan qi stories can be described as tales of the marvelous, and are usually written in the classical