A Review of the Term "Style" as Applied in Liu's Literary Mind and Carved Dragon

Author: Lee Yueh-Kang(Department of Chinese College of Liberal Arts)

Abstract：

The term "style" refers to the particular kind of writing characteristic of a person, group, or period. During the North Chou Period, in Yen Tse Tui' essay, style was described as signifying manners and features. In our time, this term has been misinterpreted as "characteristics" due to the practice of generalization. In English, it is called style, in Japanese it is called "pattern and shape". Moreover, style is sometimes confused with genere. This misnomer began in South Sung Dynasty by Chang Chiao. This misnaming, unfortunately, tends to enjoy increasing acceptance among less knowledgeable groups- The author of this paper considers it is time now to correct (rectify) the mistaken application of this term. Illustrated in this paper are the three dimensional meanings of style-those of structure, of substance, of form, and the eight fundamental patterns, and their origin. Divided into 5 sections, this paper deals with the following subjects/issues:
(1) The relation between the formation of style and the personality/disposi-tion of a writer,
(2) The ideal style of writing of Liu Shieh,
(3) An analysis of the spirit and style of the writers' works of different periods.

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