On the Features of the Novels in the Six Dynasties

The novels in the Six Dynasties are grouped into two categories: tales of mystery and the supernatural,and tales of speeches and anecdotes of scholar-officials.But in Suizhi,the former were recorded in the history as the second of the four divisions of ancient Chinese library collection,while the latter were in philosophical works(third of the four traditional categories of Chinese writings).This classification shows two stylistic similarities and differences of both.To Sou Shen Chi,and Shi Shuo Xin Yu,for example,the former has the nature of history books mixing them with a lot of fictitious elements.Shi Shuo Xin Yu is fiction,but also has the historical elements.The integration of history and literature is their common cultural identity,and both of them differ in their structure,plot,style,and so on.