晚明与晚清是小说理论最为繁荣的两个时期,为提高一向被视为"末技"的小说的地位,两时期的小说理论家们都不遗余力,并分别喊出了小说为"天下之至文"和"小说为文学之最上乘"的口号.晚明更多的是借手中之笔,抒己胸中之垒块;晚清则不仅更多地着眼于反映社会,而且试图通过小说来改变社会现有状况.小说的地位在晚明虽然与前代相比也有一定程度的提高,但是真正成为文学的主流样式却是在晚清.
Late Ming Dynasty and late Qing Dynasty are two periods when novel theory is the most flourishing.In order to improve the status of novel which is considered to be nonessentials,novelists in these two periods all spare no efforts to work and put forward two slogans: novel is the best in the world and novel is the most excellent literature.Novelists in late Ming Dynasty,for the most part,express their views through writing;however,novelists in late Qing Dynasty not only focus on reflecting the society,but al...