Epic motifs in the legends of the heroes of the Three Kingdoms

The article by Boris Lvovich Riftin (1932–2012), the largest Russian sinologist, is devoted to the analysis of epic motifs in medieval Chinese literature, primarily in Sanguozhi Pinghua or Records of the Three Kingdoms in Plain Language (18th century). Based on his research, the author comes to the following conclusions. A certain number of epic motifs are used in the analysed literary relic, and many of them have been preserved in oral traditions till the present, while others have not yet been discovered in living existence (a false rumor about the death of the hero, the hero’s battle with the demon king, etc.); some motifs in a transformed form are used only at the beginning of the narrative (for example, the hero’s visit to the underworld). Most of the epic motifs found in the Pinghua text appear in a diluted form and play no significant role in the plot. It is quite possible that the author did not use some epic motifs of folk tales from the Song–Yuan eras, because he created a work in which folk legends and history were combined. A hundred years will pass, and Luo Guanzhong will develop this direction, strengthen the connection of his narrative with the historical chronicle and thereby further distance himself from the folk epic.

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