求新求變乃文學創作的本質要求，否則，就名、實不符了。《文心雕龍》的主旨既在端正當時的寫作風尚、指導繼起的作家應該如何寫作，則什麼才是《文心雕龍》作者心目中的理想新變、如何能達到這種新變、新變落實在作品的什麼地方等等課題無疑即成為此書的核心。《文心雕龍》的作者雖然開列了〈通變〉專篇，陳述他在這方面的意見，但必須置諸此書的整個文論脈絡中，尤其得扣緊他在〈序志〉提出的「文之樞紐」上，並針對某些鑰節性的詞彙、觀念深密辨析，而非單據〈通變〉，浮面整理，輕率下斷語，或許如此方有可能較精確地掌握他通變論的全貌。

Seeking change and innovation is a fundamental aim of literary creation. Otherwise, the name will not match the reality. Since the primary purpose of the author of The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons was to rectify the writing custom of his time and to teach future writers how to write, then topics such as the nature of the ideal change and innovation in the mind of the author of The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons, the way to achieve this change and innovation, and which areas of a literary work this change and innovation should be applied to, should be the central focus of his work. Although the author wrote a specific chapter on “Variability from the original,” in which he stated his ideas on these topics, we must place this chapter in the context of the entire discussion on literature in the work, and pay special attention to the idea of “crucial factors of literature” in his preface. We must also carefully analyze and discuss certain key terms and ideas, and not just superficially deal with the chapter “Variability from the original” itself and then come up with rash conclusions. In this way, perhaps we can then have a more precise idea of his total discussion on “Variability from the original.”