Known as “a literary account of historical events,” biographical literature is supposed to describe the course of a person’s life. Some writings are criticized for having the “apes evolving into humans” structure by following a strict “chronological timeline.” It results in a single structure that is uniformly monotonous and unreadable. Instead of being understood merely as a way of organizing materials, the structure should be seen as the general attribution for all things. It manifests itself in the unity of content and form. The development of human sciences and thinking will enable us to have deeper understanding of nature and society. The birth of systematology took the study of structure to the next level, as well as shedding light on the artistic structure of biography. Colorful and varied structures of social life are the endless source of artistic structures. The artistic appeal of biological structures can be completely unfolded under the extreme restriction of historical authenticity.
1. “Injecting blood into the body and enduing it with facial features and bones”
Reconsideration of the Definition of “Structure”
The artistic theory of structure first appeared in ancient Chinese classics. It gradually took shape as Xie He’s 谢赫“division and planning (or placing and arrangement according to composition and space)”[1] in his ‘six elements that define a painting’ and later Li Yu李渔 ( 1611-1680), a playwright in the early Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), proposed that “the structure should be given top priority”[2] in playwriting. However, the research on the artistic structure of biographical literature, a special literary genre, like this one, has strictly constrained by historical life, and has been insufficient. Besides, the denotation and connotation of “structure” still calls for a deeper and clearer understanding.
Some textbooks define “structure” as an artistic arrangement of characters and events, or the textual design and layout, as it’s commonly known. This understanding, however, fails to reveal the nature of the structure though the functions are clear. It can be traced back to over a thousand years ago, when Lu Ji 陆机(261-303) in his On Literature (Wen Fu 文赋) asserted a proper selection and consideration of the meaning of the words and rhetoric’s. Liu Xie刘勰 (6th century) in his 43rd chapter of The Literary Mind and the Carving of the Dragon (Wenxin Diaolong 文心雕龙) described “structure” as “synthesizing the entire writing, making it coherent from beginning to end; deciding what to write and what not to, integrating all the parts into a whole, and finally arriving at a writing that is complex in content and yet clear in structure.” It should be pointed out that the concept of “complex in content and yet clear in structure” embodies the aesthetics of coordinating each part of a literary work for a certain purpose. Despite its unquestionable values, this definition shows only a superficial understanding of “structure”: regarding it as a specific method and important means for synthesizing the entire writing, creating a coherent whole, and making additions or deletions.
The epistemology of dialectical materialism shows that what makes a thing different from other things is its special nature, which manifests itself in the organic unity between content and form. The form cannot be separated from the content; when devoid of the content, the form is empty of substance and can only exist in a metaphysical sense. The unity of content and form is realized through structure. The content of a literary work exists within a certain structure and cannot live without it. Therefore, the structure is also a component part of the content, the form of the content that has taken shape,and a transitional zone between content and form. It is a conjoined unit of both content and form. Li Yu has given a thorough exposition on it by using the metaphor of ‘molding before creating human beings.’ As for “structure,” he explicated that “it should be considered prior to music composing or playwriting. It is like molding before creating human beings: the entire body should be molded beforehand when the blood is barely coagulated and the embryo is still unformed. And then inject the blood into the body and endue it with facial features and bones. If, instead of molding the body in advance, different parts, from neck to heels, are created in a step-by-step manner, the human body will end up having numerous joints and the circulation of qi and blood will be impeded.”[3] Despite the vastness of the universe and the smallness of the very act of blood injection, can both be recognized (relatively) as a system in the perspective of systematology. A System is, in a relative sense, an organic whole, which is realized by means of the twisting and joining, integrating, supporting and interacting of the structure. A Structure has complicated levels and an order of importance. Albeit deformed, one can still survive without limbs. However, one is bound to die with no head or heart. Structure is thus integrated in the living organisms as well as in the interrelationship of all things.
According to systematology, the so-called “structure” is the interaction between all the elements within a system on both spatial and temporal scales. The elements come together to form a whole through a certain structure while function is the interaction between a system and its surrounding environment. The relationship between a system and its environment can only be manifested through function. They reflect the whole nature of a subject from the inside to the outside respectively. They belong to the domain of philosophy whose meaning is to be grasped as a whole. There is a dialectic relationship of the unity of opposites between them: on the one hand, structure is the basis of function and different structures that has different functions; on the other hand, function is the external representation of structure, which will have an effect on the structure under certain conditions. Their relations are relative, of course, for they are interchangeable in given conditions.[4] If literary techniques, such as “psychological structure”, “interleaved space-time structure”, “montage”, etc., were widely used in a biographical structure at the expense of historical authenticity, the artistic function of “credibility” in biography would be radically undermined.
“Structure” can be divided into “internal and external structures” and “tangible and intangible structures.”
All the visible things in nature (including things that can be seen with a magnifying glass or through a telescope) as well as humanized natural objects and visual arts (such as sculpture, painting, architecture, etc.) have “tangible structures” that are palpable, visible and stable, that are subject to quantitative analysis for the purpose of finding an optimum structure, the golden section method for instance. In the fields of social science and noetic science, all the abstract and logical ideologies and scientific methods, which are established by signs, symbols, and languages, have “intangible structures.” As a logical and noetic structure, it shows our understanding of the nature of things. While “tangible structures” manifest themselves in vivid and varied images, “intangible structures” endow art with profound and complex philosophical implications. Both of which are indispensable in the creation of literary and artistic works.
For the benefit of coordinating structure with content, the latter is often transformed into a certain shape which gives maximum expression to the inner meanings of the content, featuring a structure with dual emphasis on both the internal and external. In contrast to the implications and historical sentiment of the subject in a biography, character relationships, the start and end of events, and the change of scenes constitutes the ‘internal structure’, which is directly related to and inseparable from of content. “Internal structure” draws the content of historical life in silhouette. It exists in the writer’s mind as a rudimentary form, as an “image,” instead of the presence of an objective (the work). “Internal structure” must be materialized, with the language as a conveyor, into an aesthetic object (the work) that can be appreciated by people, i.e. “materialization of an image.” In the process, the language has to satisfy the demands of the content (internal structure) and also obey the rules of literary creation of the form. The former shows the beauty of perceptual material while the latter presents the charm of bound by the form. The unity between the two constitutes the glamor of the ‘external structure’ of biography.
We cannot avoid dealing with “Structuralism” when exploring the meaning of “structure”. “Structuralism” is not a single philosophical school, but a widespread trend of thought that links to the methodology of structuralism. It posits that the people’s perception of social phenomena is jumbled and disordered, that one has to grasp the underlying structures in order to achieve a better understanding in an orderly way. However, the structures behind the surface phenomena must be uncovered by means of theoretical models instead of summarized experiences. When encountered with a phenomenon, we can first put forward a hypothetical structure or borrow a model from other disciplines, to see if it can explain the research subject. If it can, this model is the one that is able to explain the structure of this phenomenon. Therefore, it is believed that structures are transcendental and that they are a reflection of the unconscious capability of the human soul upon cultural phenomena[5], which is radically different from the structure that was aforementioned. But structuralism points out, that things should be understood less through cause-effect relationship but more in terms of structure. They are to be known not only through separate components but also through the relationship between various components, i.e., the overarching structure. These are beneficial ideas that we should learn from.
According to materialism, it is not that the subjective structure determines the objective structure but that the former is determined by the latter. “Structure” is an objective presence instead of a transcendental schema. It can thus be argued that structuralism is a methodology that reverses the subjective and objective.
II. Conversation with History from a Modern Perspective
The Origin of Biographical Structures
The everlasting vitality of biographical literature comes from social and historical life. Without the objective reality of the human social life, the basis of biographical creation will no longer exist, let alone the artistic structure. Mao Zonggang 毛宗岗, a novel critic in the late-Ming and early-Qing Dynasties, made a comment on Chapter 92 of Romance of the Three Kingdoms 三国演义, saying that “an observation of the way nature is formed will help understand the rules under which a writing is constructed,” which embodies the idea of naive materialism, i.e., the rule of structure comes from the real world. He further points out that “when things are changed, the narrative text should also be changed” (from the general comment on Chapter 92). The twists and turns of the narration are based on the zigzags of real life. It touches upon the dialectic relationship between the act of reflecting and the state of being reflected. However, further research needs to be done on how the author of a biographical text represents the ‘true nature’ of historical life in a faithful and artistic way and how the structure of biography grasps and rises above the internal structure of historical life.
We should make clear the way we interpret “historical life.” If we look upon ‘life’ as a history that is frozen with the passage of time and changes of space and consider it in the vast domain of the human society, it is not difficult to see that “life” has three tenses: real life is the “present tense,” serving as a link between the past and the future; the future life is the “future tense,” which is worth looking forward to and changeable; the past life is the “past tense,” which is frozen, transient, and accumulating. Biographical literature is a conversation with history from a modern perspective, with its sound waves reflecting on the Echo Wall of the future. By striving to achieve the same richness of history itself, it “becomes the asymptotic line of the reality.”
History is like a tree; time has ruthlessly ripped it of its foliage with only the trunk remaining. Historical figures have been given cursory conclusions only after their deaths (in fact, it is hard to verify due to the changing of times and falsehood of historical records). If we regard a historical figure as a system, we would be able to draw the outline of the internal structure of history. It is not an enclosed, self-contained system, but a complicated network of innumerable relationships with the society. It has been accumulated along with the growth and enriching experiences of the subject. And then, if we pick out an important period in life of this historical figure as a sub-system that can be divided into a number of structural layers: events symptomatic of the times, social motives, people involved, degrees of impact, scope of influence, etc., one of which can be further separated into sub-subsystems so as to uncover the true nature of an event.
The question is how to grasp the internal structure of historical life in the creation of biographical literature?
“[For] all objective things are actually interconnected and are governed by inner laws.” (On Contradiction, Mao Tse Tung) The internal relations between objective things and objective facts are the basis for determining the organizational structure and the key to unlocking the door of the internal structure of history.
Firstly, a bird’s-eye view of history is needed to straighten out the diachronic lines, location, and links the “points.” The combination of points and lines are one of aesthetic principles of traditional Chinese art. Bu Yantu 布颜图, a painter and art critic in the Qing Dynasty, pointed out emphatically that “the conception of nature must be formed before the brushwork. The landscape, far and near, high and low, with zigzaging lines and varying shades, should be recreated and arranged so that they are all in their right places. Only then can the structural composition be set.”[6] Similarly, the merits and demerits of historical figures should be evaluated on the plane of historical materialism. The development of history in a society is a process in which the past is connected to the present and various quarters are related and interact with one another. A general judgment or evaluation can only be made when they are considered as a system and understood as a whole. A historical stage of development should be analyzed in a broad and open manner, instead of badgering about the trivial details. Besides, the origins of historical personalities and their relations with others should also be taken into consideration, for “[…]the development of an individual is determined by the development of all the others with whom he is directly or indirectly associated with, and that the different generations of individuals entering into a relation with one another are connected with each other, that the physical existence of the later generations are determined by that of their predecessors, and that these later generations inherit the productive forces and forms of intercourse accumulated by their predecessors, their own mutual relations being determined thereby. In short, it is clear that the development takes place and that the history of a single individual cannot possibly be separated from the history of preceding or contemporary individuals, but is determined by this history.”[7] Hence the internal structure of history takes on a panoramic view. The rhythm of vertical development and the fluctuating structure of the subject can be grasped in the vertical and horizontal networks of history.
Secondly, to keep thinking of “an ex post factum study,” i.e., to start with the spatial relations that have obtained fixed forms from the real world and trace the origin or development of history so as to reveal the laws and objective tendencies of historical development. It is a scientific method advocated and insisted by Karl Marx, for it “definitely includes the points for historical examination.”[8] If we compare the subject’s life history to a river, the writing of biographies is like “tracing the stream to seek the source.” Only by following the river from its mouth and going against the current; making a survey of its path, width, depth, flow velocity/rate and the condition of its source, that we can draw in the details of its distribution map. Agnes Smedley made a conscious use of this method in her writing of The Great Road: The Life and Times of Chu Teh. She began to spend time with Chu from Jan. 1937 and collected materials via talks and interviews. Starting from the birth of Chu in 1886, she traced the 51 years of his life history. Then she made classifications of the massive materials according to different periods and categories. The employment of a structure with interviews interposing the narrations contributes to a biography of Chu Teh with great historiographical value. This is a “tracing back and decomposing” way of examining history.
Lastly, an in-depth understanding of history and historical figures. Everything entails the relationship between the surface and nature. While the surface structure reflects the external side of objects, the deep structure reveals the very nature. The relationship between the two, however, is never mechanical and simple but a composition, pluralistic, multi-layered and all-directionally one. The internal structure of historical life is also a coherent whole (system). The subject of a biography is not isolated from the society. The social system, the trending of the times, the family background, morals and ethics of the subject have an overall impact on his personality development and self-improvement. The course of his life is not an enclosed and self-sufficient system. When it extends forward as a series of things, the impetus for such an extension comes not from the interior of the structure, but from its close relationship with the changing times. The “deep structure” here: one is a synchronic and diachronic understanding of the objective history, namely, an understanding of the cause and effect of historical events (the origin and inheritance) and the broad aspects of a particular part of history (the interaction and extension) in order to grasp the nature of law governing history; the other is a synchronic and diachronic study of a certain historical figure, namely, a study of his relationship with the whole historical process and the latter’s impact upon him as well as his active and pushing effect on history itself and his relationship with other individuals. A combination of these two is supposed to reflect a three-dimensional and panoramic view of the true nature of historical characters. The structure of Liao Jingwen’s The Life of Xu Beihong, a biographical memoir that took him 30 years to complete, follows that of a historical life itself. It is not only a portrayal of the profound contradictions and changes in Xu’s life and times, but also an exploration of the various individuals who have had direct or indirect relations with, and influences on his thinking, artistic accomplishment and moral characters. The employment of a structure with interposed narrations, descriptions and commentaries provides the book with a consistent line and enchanting side issues, bringing drama and rhythm to its structure.
The internal structure of history alone can hardly be called an “artistic structure.” However voluminous a work may be, it can only depict a limited part of life. However typical a historical personality may be, s/he is unable to represent the entire humanity. Therefore, the internal structure of history needs to be elevated into a higher plane through artistic sublimation, which is a condensation or epitomization of history itself. The work, as an observable aesthetic object, seems less of a reproduction and more of a product and a true reflection of life itself.
Each art form has its own governing rules as well as unique advantages. Biographical literature is no exception. On the one hand, it is strictly restricted by the reality of the internal structure of history. The passage of time, the changing spaces and the characters coming into and out of the scenes cannot be fabricated. On the other hand, emphasis can be given to actions, events and psychological states that have great historical significance and necessary curtailment be made to highlight the thoughts and sentiments, personality development, and historical influences of the subject. Sima Qian 司马迁’s ‘Biography of Xiang Yu项羽本记’, a masterpiece in his Records of the Grand Historian (Shi Ji 史记), has a large-scale structure with complicate events, but it was written with such ease and grace. The reason lies in the fact that he discarded all the inconsequential details and concentrated on the delineation of Xiang Yu himself. With the advance and retreat in military operations as a constant thread and the major battles and political events as the focal point, important historical facts such as the Battle of Julu, Hongmen Banquet, the Siege of Gaixia, etc. are portrayed most vividly. A clear hierarchy of importance and a dramatic turn of events contribute to a structure with a single thread running through mingled with twists of fate. This is a structural technique worth pondering over.
III. ‘Like the spring torrent flowing eastward’
The Rhythm of Biographical Structures
The days of our lives are either spent at a quick and speedy or slow and leisurely pace; they are closely interconnected with the changing of times. The general tendency is to speed-up the pace of life. The rhythm of structure is a topic that cannot be avoided, for biography is a branch of literature that reflects a specific domain of life history. It is ‘like the spring torrent flowing eastward’, running day and night along a definite course, sluggish in wide sections and swift when it becomes narrow, and always different at each point. The profound philosophical phrase that ‘No man ever steps in the same river twice’ indicates that everything is in a constant state of flux. It is the same with the biographical structure. Its rhythm has a direct impact on the artistic function of a biography. The ever-changing ‘Space’ and ‘time’ are the two factors that play decisive roles. The rhythm of structure comes through in time period selections and space divisions. The New Encyclopedia Britannica designates the capability to reflect the scope and span of the times as a prerequisite for biographical writing.
The chronological order of the subject’s life experiences makes it necessary for biographical literature to follow a time sequence, which constitutes the basic framework of biographical structures– linear and vertical. However, if one sticks to this stereotype without classifying the subject’s life into different time periods, it will inevitably weaken the literariness of a biography. The contradiction appears, but the fundamental mission of literature is to deal with contradictions coming forth ceaselessly in life. It can be further noticed that with the passage of time, the spaces are also changing with the subject. Time and space thus integrate into a complicated and subtle unity and it is for the same reason that the greater freedom is allowed for the “basic framework” of biographical structure, which are very much like “dancing on ropes with fettered legs.”
According to historical materialism, any object can be analyzed and examined by both statically and dynamically. Static analysis (or static description in literature) is an attempt to investigate the subject mainly in terms of spatial relations without the respect to factors of time. For example, historical events can be grasped through the changing circumstances in a subject’s life, that is to say, temporarily leaving out the time factor when considering other factors such as place, figure, event, cause and effect (but only in the relative sense, for events can hardly develop without a time). Dynamic analysis (or dynamic description in literature) aims at observing the object in the continuous development process by associating it with the time factor. That is to say, the historical development of characters and events should be represented in biographies.
Owing to the law of artistic creation, the relationship between space and time in real life is vastly different from that in a literary work, for the latter is subjected to the psychological states and personality development of the characters. A chronological timeline and redundant static descriptions can be avoided in the treatment of the rhythm of biographical structures, which will inevitably result in a structure containing recollections of the past (which has been used in quite a few biographies) or even multi-layered memories. In her biography The Great Road: The Life and Times of Chu Teh 朱德, Agnes Smedley (1890-1950) wrote in Chapter 2 about Chu Teh’s recollection of his childhood: “The Old Weaver” came to his home every winter. He looked with great fascination with “The Old Weaver” moving the shuttle quickly back and forth. And he often squatted down beside the loom, begging the old weaver to tell him stories. The Old Weaver recalled with great affection the time when he fought alongside with Shi Dakai, one of the outstanding leaders in the Taiping Rebellion. The expressions on Zhu’s face were also depicted when he was listening to the stories, which in turn changes the rhythm of the structure. Like any system (including sub-systems), these multi-layered memories are clearly purposeful. His recollection of that particular story reveals one of the major factors that have shaped his personality. In his conversation with the author, General Chu said, “Shih Shi Dakai did surrender with his troops to the Qing Government and he was executed by slow slicing in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. His unarmed men, though originally promised to be released, were executed too. Had we surrendered to Chiang Kai Shek 蒋介石, my troops and I would suffer the same fate. ” Then the author consulted the diaries written by Luo Bingzhang 骆秉章, Governor of Sichuan Province, in the 1860s to verify the authenticity of The Old Weaver’s memories in Chu’s recollection, which changes and propels the rhythm of the structure forward.
The rhythm of biographical structures are also shown in the density of the writing style, the blankness and fullness in composition, and the overall balance of the text, all reflecting the movement of objects, the development tendency as well as the author’s aesthetic mentality. But these are an issue that requires special discussions and are not necessary to go into details here.
IV. Giving Prominence to the Portrayal of Characters and Bringing the Structure into the Background
The Charm of Biographical Structures
In his critique of Hegel’s philosophy, Friedrich Engels said, “when he It is self-evident that owing to the needs of the ‘system’ he very often had to resort to those forced constructions about which his pigmy opponents make such a terrible fuss even today. But these constructions are only the frame and scaffolding of his work. If one does not loiter here needlessly, but presses on farther into the immense building, one finds innumerable treasures which today still possess undiminished value.”[9] Here Engels analyzed the structure and great value of the abstract thinking system. Unlike the artistic structure (visual thinking system) that combines content and form, it is an inseparable part of the work itself, providing images and emotions to the structure. It has the magic power to let “his pigmy opponents make such a terrible fuss even today.” It can thus be concluded that albeit different from abstract-thinking structures, the artistic structure has a captivating charm of its own.
Traditional Chinese aesthetics holds that the true beauty of artistic form lies not in accentuating the charm of the artistic form itself but in bringing out the artistic mood and typical characters into prominence through a particular artistic form. As far as biographical literature is concerned, the ultimate goal of creating an artistic structure is not to show off the structure itself but to make the historical figures stand out. As a profound dialectical theory of art, it can be dated back to ancient times when it first showed its philosophical depth as early as in the Spring, Autumn, and Warring States Periods (770-221 BC).
Chuang Tzu 庄子 said, “A trap is for fish: when you've got the fish, you can forget the trap. A snare is for rabbits: when you've got the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words are for meaning: when you've got the meaning, you can forget the words. ” (XXVI External Things 外物) Wang Bi 王弼 (226-249), a philosopher in the Wei (220-265) and Jin (265-420) dynasties, developed his predecessor’s thoughts in his Brief Remarks on the Zhouyi: Illuminating the Images 周易略例·明象, saying that “The ideas are fully captured by the images and the images made clear by the words. Therefore, the words are intended to explain the images; once you have captured the images, you can forget the words. The images are intended to explore the ideas; once you have captured the ideas, you can forget the images. […] Therefore, when ideas are fully captured by images, you can forget the images. When emotions are fully expressed through paintings, you can forget the paintings.” Hence the structure of biographical literature should be natural, understated and with little embellishments. It is supposed to combine the content and form in such a way that it can reproduce the life history of the subject vividly, naturally and rhythmically. It is supposed to tug at the strings of the heart of readers with vividly-drawn characters and have enduring artistic appeal.
Romain Rolland: The Man and His Work (1921), a biography about the life of a French novelist of the same name published by the Austrian writer Stefan Zweig, is a masterpiece that boasts its distinct charm in structure. Based on the fact that the subject is a worldly renowned writer, the author adopts a vertical structure with special emphasis on the crucial turning points in Rolland’s life and finishes Part One the Biographical with thirteen sections. The journey of his life, including his educational history, the great impact of Tolstoy’s wring back to him, the peculiar response of the reading public to his writings and his reticence as well as his reputation brought on by the times, all give vivid depiction of Rolland’s rising above hardships and his struggle against fate. Then a horizontal and parallel structure is adopted to introduce the man and his work at different stages; the rest of the book falls into the following parts: Early Work as a Dramatist, The Heroic Biographies, Jean Christophe, Intermezzo Scherzo (Colas Breugnon) and The Conscience of Europe. Rolland’s motives for writing, the significance of the characters in his works, his achievements and influences are analyzed and evaluated on the vertical and horizontal planes in these chapters. Rolland’s works are mentioned one by one and they correspond as a whole to Part one the Biographical. Even though we cannot touch Rolland with our hands, the same way we do with a sculpture, we are captivated by the author’s enlightening description of him. When we marvel at Rolland’s great achievements, we forget to consider why this biography adopted a vertical structure first and later a horizontal one and then a combination of both the vertical and the horizontal. The structure is thus hidden and therein lies its charm.
If the structure of a literary work distracts readers from the content, it is bound to stray onto the path of formalism. Dante’s The Divine Comedy has played a series of tricks in terms of structure. This epic poem is divided into three parts wherein the number ‘three’ symbolizes “the Trinity” in Christian theology – each consisting of 33 cantos. The initial two cantos ahead of Inferno (Hell) serve as a unitary prologue to the entire epic, bringing the total number of cantos to 100. The structure follows a common numerical pattern of 9 plus 1, for a total of 10, which symbolizes “perfection,” and 10 multiplying by 10 equals 100, signifying “the perfection of perfection.” The sins in Inferno (Hell), the evils in Purgatorio (Purgatory), and virtues in Paradiso (Paradise) are all classified according to the numbers three, seven, nine, and ten. Due to this complicated structure, the content is fraught with unintelligible things. While the structure is distinctively recognizable, the content is nonetheless obscured. This is an extreme example.
The artistic appeal of biographical structures goes beyond the aesthetic significance shown by the fading in and fading out of the structure. Jin Shengtan 金圣叹 and Mao Zonggang 毛宗岗 have made highly quotable commentaries on structural artistry in visual, tactual and acoustic terms from the perspective of the reader’s aesthetic mentality.
Visually: “like floating clouds obstructing a mountain views or a bridge crossing over a stream.”
In his How to Read the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Mao Zonggang 毛宗岗 (1632-1709) pointed out that “some writings are supposed to have a continuous flow with no interruptions while others are suitable to have suspensions. A short piece of writing will not be consistent and coherent if it is not narrated continuously while long pieces will be unbearably lengthy if there are no interposed narratives. Therefore, a narration must be interspersed with other accounts to make it more complex, intricate, and richer.”[10] This commentary is made from the perspective of the reader’s psychological mentality. On one hand, the structure of biology has to comply with the strict rule of reflecting the reality and be grounded on the structure of historical life. On the other, the psychological mentality of the readers should also be taken into consideration and be dealt with in an artistic manner. Smedley attached great importance to the psychological factors in structures in The Great Road. In her depiction of the extraordinary and glorious life of Chu Teh, the author has examined his various paths that he has treaded. What is worth noting is that her accounts are carried out in interviews. She constantly interposes Chu’s memories by assuming the position of an interviewer, “like floating clouds obstructing a mountain views or a bridge crossing over a stream.” It is very much the same with the brush techniques employed in traditional Chinese painting, creating stylistic variations and consistency that resemble Chu’s own journey through life and bring intricate and rich beauty to the structure of the book.
Tactually: “Like ice cooling down the body or a chilly breeze sweeping away dust.”
This indicates a balance of “hot” and “cold”. When unfolding the scroll of history and revealing the life of historical figures, the biographical structure will constantly switch from atmospheres of steeliness, chill, thrill to fervor, warmth, jubilation with the changes in historical life. In order to meet the expectations of the reader’s aesthetic mentality, the atmospheres should not remain invariable; otherwise the emotions within a structure will be wooden and rigid. Instead, they are supposed to be “like ice cooling down the body or a chilly breeze sweeping away dust” to enable an adjustment of the reader’s feelings and to give them constant aesthetic pleasures. In the biography The Life of Xu Beihong, sheer desperation intermingles with the ecstasy of Xu’s holding exhibitions abroad, the leisure of his travels in Guilin and the lofty sentiments that he had when signing on the Remonstrations of the Intellectual circles in the Auxiliary Capital[u1] ...It is a combination in one side of the life structure. Xu Beihong left for Shanghai after the funeral of his father, suffering from cold and hunger. Then hope crept in through a window. Yun Tie-qiao, an editor of Fiction Monthly 小说月报, helped him to find a job and kept his paintings. “A sudden surge of warm feelings welled up in Xu’s heart.” He felt his blood began to flow more smoothly. But a quick knock on the door brought him back to despair. Yun Tieqiao brought along a note from Zhuang Yu, saying that “Xu Bei-hong’s paintings are not suitable.” These words “broke his heart instantly and sent him trembling all over.” He became sober-minded when he realized that life was not for the faint of hearts and that he had to rise above adversity. Due to the varying atmospheres created by the author, readers would be overwhelmed by the mixed feelings and captivated by the artistic arrangement of the structure.
Acoustically: “like the sweet sound of harps and lutes and lyres accompanied by the powerful chime of bells and the banging of drums.”
This is another aesthetic requirement for structuring. The structure of biography is supposed to have the cheerful and short beat of drums and the loud peals of bells amid the melodious flowing of harps and lutes and lyres. The pleasant blends of sweetness and majesty in the structure of biography will give perfect expression to all the aspects of personality of a historical figure. While concentrating on the ardent patriotism of the predominant sentiments that the poet nourishes through his life, Prof. Zhu Rundong’s A Biography of Lu You (陆游传) portrays the “imminence of the great storm” and “the climax of his life and poetry” as well as his leisurely mood and a sense of inner restlessness when he was cloistering himself in his hometown Shanyin (Today’s Shaoxing in Zhejiang Province). The bold and unconstrained are tinted with tenderness; a life of ease and comfort is mixed with a tingle of disquiet. It presents a true and artistic portrait of the poet’s complex and multi-layered inner world. The aesthetic principle of “the combination of softness and strength” is the requirement for the artistic arrangements of biographical structures.
In short, the charm of biographical structures is endowed by historical life, which shines brightly like a star, lending perpetual radiance to biographical literature and shedding light on the human souls from generation to generation.
[1] Xie, H.,1959,古画品录 [The Record of the Classification of Old Painters]. Beijing: People's Fine Arts Press.
[2]Li,Y.,1985,闲情偶寄•词典部‘结构笫一[the structure should be given top priority’ in The Leisure Life of Li Yu],Hangzhou:Zhejiang Ancient Books Press.
[3]Li,Y.,1985,《闲情偶寄•词典部.结构笫一》[the structure should be given top priority’ in The Leisure Life of Li Yu],Op,cit.
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