Study On The Hero Theme Of Chinese Contemporary Literature: Center On Novels

The paper studies the theme of hero in contemporary literature.In the Chinese contemporary literature heroic spirit, as one of the external subjects of literature, is not only emphasized and run though thoroughly but is formed under special history condition.With the theoretic framework of Greimas's semantic structural theory and the logical basis of Tao's "everlasting moving of morality," the thesis summarizes the forms of heroic subject in the four periods of Chinese contemporary literature as real hero, non-hero, in-hero, and non-in-hero. It examines the track along which the form of hero theme in Chinese contemporary literature has developed and changed, analyzes its internal basis, searches for its direction of development, and exposing the complicated course from a unique perspective.The thesis argues that the hero theme is not only important in the research of Chinese contemporary literature; it is also an index to the spirit of the age and social changes. The literature in the past seventeen years, as a beginning era of the contemporary literature, is still the succession of May 4^th Revolutionary Literature. Furthermore, under the transitional period from violent revolution to peaceful construction, and under the control of mainstream ideology, two main aspects of hero theme - revolutionary war and rural transformation both reflect the compulsory expression in contemporary literary creation. Although as to ten years of 'Cultural Revolution', critics hold two opposite opinions - some regard it as the succession of the past seventeen years, while others regard it as a backward movement - the main stream ideology has never changed. The relationship between the arts and politics remains the same. As a result, the theme of hero still puts much stress on the two main subjects of revolutionary history and the struggle in reality. However, the concept of hero has changed. Because of its extreme expression, it seems that we can only understand it as 'non-hero'. After the Cultural Revolution, order is restored, and presentation of hero theme in literature is characterized for its clinging to the tradition as well as its attempt at innovation and even rebellion. Between the two main themes of history and reality, the bandit hero created by Mo Yan and the ruffian hero created by Wang Shuo are the most striking. The special emphasis on the converse and the irony has been the symbol of in-hero phenomenon. After the 1990s, the presentation of hero theme shows its regression. One regression, in the tide of cultural goods, heads for the rationality, and the other is for the great events in the beginning of contemporary literature. For instance, the novels on emperors written by Eryuehe, the series of father subjects written by Shi Zhongshan are the representatives of non-in-heroes phenomenon. The theme clue which runs through the contemporary literature is very clear.The present thesis is divided into four chapters, each being devoted to the discussion of the phenomenon of hero theme in a different stage. The introduction chapter focuses exclusively on the hero, hero theme and hero theme in contemporary literature. The fifth chapter analyzes in detail the changes and transformation of hero theme in Chinese contemporary literature. The entire argument involves twelve aspects, such as meaning structure, background, cultural context, social psychology, transformation motivation, contradiction and tension, subject of creation, reader response, communication criticism, subject choice, type, and the development. The paper not only involves the overall analysis macroscopically but also the particular cases microcosmically. It includes not only the wrap of longitudinal study in different stages, but also the woof of horizontal analysis. With all of these, it develops a three-dimensional structure which is complicated yet highly applicable. Hopefully this structure will help the present thesis to accomplish its task.