The Fate Of The Call

Yan'an literature, which was essentially an ideologicalized literature, had become more of a literature of the communist party or party literature after the Rectification Movement. Therefore, this dissertation maintains that the exploration of the formation of its ideology should be an important point of departure and breakthrough for the study of Yan'an literature. It can be examined from at least three inter-related aspects, i.e., the formation of the notion of Yan'an literature, the organic development of the minds of Yan'an literati and the writing practice and meaning construction of Yan'an literature. The complexity of the formation of Yan'an literature lies in the fact that "Lu Xun tradition" has also been involved and played an undeniable role in it. For this reason, apart from introduction and conclusion, this dissertation is composed of four corresponding chapters concerning the issues mentioned above.The first chapter mainly explores the formation of the notion of Yan'an literature. It points out that: first, nationalism, as an overwhelming ideology in the 1940s, was the intrinsic driving force and logical starting point for the initial formation of the notion of Yan'an literature; second, the proposal of "national form" in literature and art was an explicit expression of the nationalistic style of speaking in literature theories and criticism; third, the transformation from nationalism to class-nationalism was an important turning point for the shift of Yan'an literature towards "party literature"; fourth, "party literature" was the core of Yan'an literature as well as its vital existing form; fifth, quite a few concepts of Yan'an literature depend on the core notion of "party literature" with a basic and unsurpassable value. As a result, the modernism of Yan'an literature underwent an important transformation from the national modernism in the disputable period of "national form" to class-national modernism, or further into party's class-national modernism. That was an intrinsic evidence of "party literature" and a unique representation of Yan'an literature after the Rectification Movement.Chapter Two mainly discusses the organic development of the minds of Yan'an literati. It is held that Yan'an literati experienced a process of psychological change, from the acquisition of liberal mind, disappointment at the liberal mind, the end of the liberal writing mind to the formation of the: authoritative worship ideology. Finally, Yan'an literati transformed from petty bourgeois intellectuals to organic intellectuals accepted by the new ideology. However, this process of transformation was rather complicated. It is pointed out that: first, the move of "criticism and self-criticism" advocated by Mao Zedong was not only a reference to the method of shaping the young, but also was closely related to the ancient way of learning both sound in theory and practice; second, Yan'an literati experienced a special psychological change in compromising between truth and lie; third, to a large extent, the literary and art criticism during the Rectification Movement in Yan'an developed into a supervising and punitive mechanism of the political ideology, which led to the end ofthe liberal writing mind of Yan'an literati together with the workings of the increasingly regularized cultural control and check-up system; fourth, heroes' style of speaking could not be the terminal style. The praise of labor heroes and the respect for them were converted naturally into the praise and worship of Mao Zedong. It was under such circumstances that a kind of authoritative worship ideology came into being among Yan'an literati.Chapter Three states that once highly ideologicalized "Lu Xun tradition" was established during Yan'an period. Its formation underwent the following process. In Yan'an, Lun Xun was increasingly endowed with the ideologicalized function of moral codes, so "Lu Xun tradition" was faced with the need to be adjusted to the new ideology style of speaking: Yan'an literati began to put the Lu Xun style of speak...