李漁의 劇作法의 原理와 原則 小考 ― 結構第一을 중심으로

Abstract

Li Yu was an important drama theorist and writer in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties. Learning from the experience of his predecessors and combining it with his own writing experience, his drama theory has it unique features. Based on his structural theory(結構論), this paper extracted the drama writing method. Li Yu recognized that creating a play is really creating something new, and he practiced this perception himself. He wrote the principles and laws of script creation for the development of plays, This paper analyzed the play writing’s method in three areas: theme, conflict, and story. Theme can be said to be a topic, and it is thought to have been used as a proposition(命題). A proposition in a play, it can be interpreted as a short sentence that explains the content of a work. Setting up a proposition is a process of embodying the abstract ideas that the author has in his head into a sentence, and it is thought that if the proposition is established, he can enter the stage of creation of the play to a certain extent. This is because the proposition includes characters, conflicts, and endings. Li Yu realized that plays are the determinants of conflict. The play proceeds as conflicts arise, are resolved, and converted, then another conflict is created, resolved, and converted. He then set up a main force(主腦), whether it is the backbone of the so-called conflict, to make the main character act, and highlighted the conflict so that the plot can be developed with a connection. This is something unique that he created. Then It would be really hard to discover and create new materials and story. The creation of a play has become an inevitable factor in the success or failure of a drama creation. In this sense, LI Yu’s search and encouragement for new story are like map, which guides play writing on the path of new creation. The principles of Li Yu’s drama creation law are valuable and can still apply today.