The Imagined Itinerary In Red Territory

Through re-reading many rural-life novels from 1949 to 1966 from the viewpoint of revolutionary narration, the author tries to probe into their special roles in the process of China's modernization. At this point, the literary historians shouldn't neglect the literature from 1949 to 1966 at random when they are determined to construct the modern and contemporary literature of China.The dissertation consists of six parts. The main contents are as follows:The introduction reveals that rural-life novels from 1949 to 1966 have been in an awkward position when faced with the tide of Reconstructing Literary History of China since the middle of the 1980s. On such basis their rationality is approached. At first, it is pointed out that rural image in all rural-life novels of China in the 20^th century is an imaginary fiction in the language contexts of Chinese modernity. Rural-life novels from 1949 to 1966 deal with rural narration concerning national imagination, and the process in which the imagined community of China's Image was constructed. After the founding of New China, the socialist imagined community has become the ultimate appeal to Chinese modernity. Next, the author explains the problem areas with regard to researches on rural-life novels from 1949 to 1966. Probably, it is of most importance that the visual threshold of totality has been adopted and the research conclusions shall be reserved to some extent. In addition the author proposes the re-evaluation of the process in which the new socialist men are portrayed and shaped in rural-life novels from 1949 to 1966. At last, it is pointed out that the significance of the research just lies in the fact that the rural-life novels from 1949 to 1966 have become one component of the connotation of China's modernity. The review of the imaginary itinerary of the socialist community is made as a consequence.Chapter One explores the creative cause and implication of rural-life novels from 1949 to 1966. In my opinion these novels that passionately depict the great changes of rural life after the founding of New China meet the urgent need of constructing a new pattern of rural life order, which is the imaginary process of the socialist community. The relatively perfect system of revolutionary discourse has to be formed so as to make the socialism enter deeply into people's minds, which depends on the propagation of revolutionary terms and the establishment of the power of revolutionary discourse. The former presupposes essentially the founding of the socialist community, and the latter conforms to the inner logic of such founding. Revolutionization of reality and realization of revolution are two narrative ways to make the socialist imagined community consolidate. Rural-life novels from 1949 to 1966 usually have their setting in agricultural production and class struggle. With the development of the rules in the system of revolutionary discourse, the connotation of the new rural order has been shaped. What is the most obvious transformation is from the native space to the revolutionary one and from the individual identity of peasant to the collective one in the revolutionary space. Thus the substance of the construction of the new rural order is actually the imagination and recognition of the socialist country, and that is to say, amounts to the construction of the new cultural order. Chapter Two explores the scenes of everyday rural life in rural-life novels from 1949 to 1966, which contain peasants' material dream, emotional network and local conditions and social customs. The everyday narration is integrated by the revolutionary ideology in all levels including material. human and customs so that the socialist ideology can infiltrate into every corner of rural areas.Chapter Three analyzes the image of the new socialist men in rural-life novels from 1949 to 1966. In my opinion the reason that the portrayal of new men are attached great importance is that to some extent, new men are often the ideal code of personalization of the modern nation and the connection point with the socialist cultural practice. On the basis of the portrayal of new men the subject of the modern nation can be constructed and the order of rural life can be established. However, the process of portraying is infused with a special symptom of anxiety, which results in a pattern of interpellation of heroes being entangled with anxiety about heroes. That is to say, on the one hand, heroes have been strived to portray; on the other hand, unsatisfaction is expressed with the portrait of heroes.Chapter Four interprets the characteristics of socialist national imagination through the exploration of narrative style of rural-life novels from 1949 to 1966. There is no doubt that in rural-life novels from 1949 to 1966 which assume the responsibilities of socialist revolution, ideology of epics has profound expounding function. It is exactly the expounding function that agrees with the grand imagination of the socialist country and the construction of the socialist culture. So nothing is better for the revolutionary ideology than narrative style of epics to determine the ideal character of the socialist community. However, the connotation of socialist revolution is narrowly defined as class struggle in the language contexts of continuing the Revolution. So the class ideology contained in the revolutionary epics plays a leading role instead of the national spirit. The novelists were thus bound down by the special class model so that a special pattern of thought and literature was taking shape. From the viewpoint of real life, it results in a kind of imaginary crisis which exerts a harmful influence on the socialist imagined community.The conclusion not only points out the characteristics and shortcomings of rural-life novels from 1949 to 1966 by setting these novels in the coordinate of the world literature, but also illustrates how rural-life novels from 1949 to 1966 have still exercised influence on the rural imagination of novelists since the 1980s.