Wen fu

“Wen Fu” is a typical example of an ode fu , since it is characterized by its spaciousness (consists of 1658 hieroglyphs), complexity of the compositional structure, semantic content and lexical sophistication. The main text is preceded by a prose preface of 120 hieroglyphs, and the main part consists of 135 rhythmic elements, each of which contains a unique semantic nuance. In the commentary tradition of modern scientific literature, the division of an ode into 53 two-line stanzas is adopted, which in turn are grouped together in the sense of 12 or 16 sections ^[1] .

Wen Fu addresses questions about the nature and genre classification of Wen graceful literature, raises important topics for the theory of Chinese literature: the nature of poetic creativity and the nature of creativity in a person, the aesthetic criteria of a work, and the ratio of its formal and semantic aspects.

Sections I through III are mainly devoted to the nature of poetic creativity. Lu Ji connects his appearance with inspiration or trance, which, in turn, is generated not only by a certain mentality of a person, but also by his emotional and mental state. The defining condition for gaining this inspiration is Lu Ji, who calls the personality's ability to unite with the world (not only in the world, but also in the sense of the spiritual experience of society, expressed in creative activity). The next stage of the creative process, Lu Ji, considers the embodiment of the state of inspiration in a work of art. For this, according to Lu Ji, it is necessary to maintain a state of inspiration, to find a balanced correspondence between the plan and its verbal expression.

In Section IV, Lu Ji proceeds to the arguments about the formal features of a literary work using the terms first used in the treatise of Cao Pi (187–226). It recognizes the infinite variety of components of the structure of a literary work and the existence of its objective laws, which are caused by the harmony of inspiration, natural talent, design and verbal skill of the poet.

The variant of the genre classification of wen Lu Ji has several differences from the classification of Cao Pi in his treatise “Discourses on the Classical”. Lu Ji even expands the list of genres, regards business and memorial genres as wen related to statehood and Confucianism, but refuses the Confucian typology of the “four sections” that Cao Pi singled out. Also, Lu Ji puts in the first place the artistic and stylistic features of the genres, and not the content. From this it follows that Lu Ji builds a hierarchy of genres based on artistic parameters.

In Section VIII, Lu Ji discusses the causes of the flaws in literary works; he sees them in violation of the harmony of feelings, thoughts and words. He considers such breaches to be an excessive brevity of the narration, an enthusiasm for “beautiful words” to the detriment of the content or, on the contrary, ideas to the detriment of formal perfection. In order to avoid these flaws, you need to take into account the literary experience of the past, as well as preserve and develop your own creative individuality.

At the end of the ode in section XII, elegant literature is proclaimed the keeper of cultural values ​​and traditions, and at the same time a special kind of human activity, through which its metaphysical connections with the world are established.

There are a number of points in the work that indicate the influence of Taoist and natural philosophical ideas, such as man’s comprehending his own "I", penetrating into the deep essence of things external to him and natural processes, establishing metaphysical connections with the outside world. And although Lu Ji does not use the actual Taoist terminology, the picture of inspiration and trance he painted, as well as the image of the writer-creator he created, clearly echoes the Taoist ideas about comprehending the world. However, he not only does not protest against Confucian moral and ethical values, but, on the contrary, emphasizes his respect for them and their necessity in the creative process.

Thus, in the ode, Lu Ji is also influenced by Confucianism, since he refers to wen business and memorial genres, which is initially connected with Confucian views on the essence and function of elegant literature. Confucianism asserts that elegant literature is the guardian of cultural values ​​and traditions.

Lu Ji carried out the first in the history of Chinese literary theoretical thought experience justifying the aesthetic-emotional function of poetry. However, it should be borne in mind that this experience is carried out by combining the Confucian approach to wen with Taoist views on the nature and meaning of creativity. The formulation of such questions as the ethical purpose of literature, its social context and the expression of the author’s personality in a literary work, formulates a new aesthetic-emotional approach to poetry. Lu Ji describes the poet's mind as wandering around the microcosm in his own body in search of the meetings that make up the beginning of a literary work, and represents his own philosophical position in a series of balanced elements that unfold in an orderly manner. To this end, in his work, Lu Ji introduces a new vocabulary of terms, which to this day remain influential, although in many cases problematic.

• Kravtsov, ME (2008). "Wen Fu." The spiritual culture of China. Encyclopedia. [T.3.]. Literature, language and writing (p. 263-266). Eastern literature
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• Golygina KI The Theory of Elegant Literature in China, 1971, p. 15
• Lisevich I. S. Chinese literary thought at the turn of antiquity and the Middle Ages. - Moscow: Science, 1979. - 266 p.
• Lu ji An ode to the graceful word (Wen Fu), Alekseev V.M. Works on Chinese literature. Prince 1, s. 367-376