英文摘要 |
Stories of Extraordinary Characters(集異記), compiled and edited by Xue Yung-ruo (薛用弱) in late Tang dynasty, includes the following two chapters : “Wang Wei”(王維) and “Wang Huan-zhi”(王煥之). These chapters delineate “warming books” or “painting the wall of the garden kiosk,” events known to happen to poets in early-mid Tang dynasty. The stories and characters are vivid and attractive in these chapters, but they do not necessarily agree with recorded history. Instead of documenting historical events, the Tang novelists commonly romanticize what would seem to be factual. This article investigates how, and with what intentions, historical materials regarding the Wangs are recreated in the stories. It elucidates the Tang novelists' necessary use of the imaginary in the light of modern views of the historical novel |