On the Relationship between Lyric and Other Literary Forms: A Case Study Centered on Kuang Zhouyi

Abstract

Throughout its development course, lyric has developed complex relationships with other literary forms, such as classical prose, poetry, and rhapsody, from an objective point of view. Kuang Zhouyi 况周颐 attached great importance to exploring the relationship between lyric and other literary forms when investigating the history of lyric and constructing theories for lyric studies. He introduced the idea that “lyric is a subcategory of prose” from the perspective that lyric has a logical thread. He made detailed analyses regarding the differences and commonalities between lyric and song and the practice of writing operas and songs based on lyric stories in the Jin and Yuan dynasties. Starting from the narrative feature of lyric, he revealed the basic fact that new lyrics are derived from stories, and stories are presented in the form of lyrics. Furthermore, he examined “The Story of Nur al-Din Ali Ibn Bakkar and the Slave-Girl Shams al-Nahar” from The Arabian Nights to analyze the writing techniques used in foreign literature to express the tender feelings between men and women. Based on this analysis, he argued that fiction and lyric share commonalities. As a scholar who committed the most enthusiasm to lyric studies from the late Qing to the early Republican periods, Kuang Zhouyi made many pioneering arguments on the relationships between lyric and parallel prose, lyric writing and zaju 杂剧 opera, lyric and fiction, reflecting the new characteristics of lyric studies in the early Republican period.

Keywords

lyric / Kuang Zhouyi / literary forms

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2024 Higher Education Press