New (1976-1989), "people's Literature" And "people's Literature"

The thesis intends to study the relationship between People's Literature,the mostimportant literature magazine in China,and"people's literature"(as a literary term) soas to make an intensive research of the development of the Chinese New Era literature,and also to reveal its inner relationship with the national literature and art policy aswell as the literary media in the same period.The thesis argues that the research of People's Literature in the New Era must betraced all the way back to the history,the characteristic patterns of the"people'sliterature"so as to check its background information of putting out the first issue andits role positioning.The modem efforts made by the contemporary Chineseintellectuals and the revolutionary explorations by Chinese Communist Party alongwith the Russian experience form the ideology sources of"people's literature."Itscharacteristic patterns were made through the literary practice done in therevolutionary base and liberated areas.The 17 years of interactivities betweenPeople's Literature and"people's literature"not only promoted the governmentcontrol over and reconstruction of the literature,but also left some experience andlessons.Only by looking closely into the publication-resuming of People's Literatureat the end of the"Cultural Revolution",the power struggle and the situation ofliterature and periodicals at the time can it be possible to tell the differences of the twoadjustments of literature and art policy made respectively in the 60s and 70s.Ipersonally assume the policy adjustment made in 1975 was nothing but the directinterference from the top leader in the literary and art circles rather than a completereconstruction of the theory,ideology and system.Hence it neither involved everydomain nor brought about any valuable and important works.Thepublication-resuming of People's Literature was just a minor part in the big picture ofthe changes made in the national policies.The first year after its publication wasbeing restarted,it did not bring Chinese literature back to revival as was expected.Itwas only when the"Cultural Revolution"came to an end and Zhang Guangnian wasmade the editor-in-chief that the magazine got the second chance and was like to bereborn.The tradition of Chinese contemporary literature was resumed and further developed.Besides,it also demonstrated great influence over and offered a lot ofprogressive ideas and public support for the Chinese reform and opening-up in theNew Era.The thesis intends to make a detailed study of the significance of People'sLiterature to the development of Chinese literature,especially the"people'sliterature",the mainstream of the New Era literature by examining the workspublished by the New Era People's Literature,namely how they were published,whatimpact they may have on and in what way did they influence the society.The thesistraces the line of the development of scar literature,introspection literature and reformliterature as well as the growth of native literature,townspeople literature andexploration literature in the magazine.The thesis also summarizes the achievementthe magazine has made in launching and fostering"people's literature"and whatimportant impact it may have had on the further development of Chinese literature.The thesis holds the view that Chinese literature entered multi-development stagein the middle of 80s of the last century when the idea of subject-orientation in literaryworks was prevailing.People's Literature responded actively and embraced the newliterary trend wholeheartedly.It made great efforts,especially at the beginning of thedevelopment of the roots literature and avant-garde literature,to launch and then leadthe new trend.Based on the works of these two genres published by the magazine,thethesis carries out a research of the changes that took place in their perspective andliterary tendency,and how these two new genres thus came into being and becamestronger."People's literature,"under the impact of this new trend,gradually changedinto a single element rather than the main stream it used to be.This transformationwas like a double-edge sword for the magazine.While People's Literature was launching a new literary trend,Chinese socialstructure at the time was undergoing great changes and people's ideology was alsoexperiencing a subversive transformation.These elements,along with the divisionthat took place within the contemporary literature,form a resultant force,which led to"people's literature"being less influential and condescending.Besides,not only astronger control over literature and art,especially the management over periodicalswas beefed up at the time,but literature and art towards a market-oriented transitionwas promoted,which resulted in the new changes that took place in people'sexpenditure on cultural products and the fierce competition among a variety ofliterature periodicals.All these combined made the already traumatized magazine no longer being in a leading position.The last chapter of the thesis deals with the literature-related activities organizedby the magazine in the New Era,which proved to be very effective in advancing thedevelopment of literary and art trend at the time.It's justifiable to say that,by helpingestablish the self-directed framework for the New Era literature,they hold significantimportance for the further development of future Chinese literature.The award-givingsystem,created by People's Literature,greatly promoted the growth of contemporaryChinese literature,and set up long-lasting models and outstanding tradition for theup-coming contest of literary works.The thesis also makes a detailed study of ZhangGuangnian,a key figure to the magazine as well as the literature in the New Era.Itresearches into the development of his thoughts,the contributions he made to Chineseliterature and his ideas over the management of literature periodicals.It eventuallycomes to the conclusion that such determined and broad-minded senior writers asZhang Guangnian proved to be one of the most important guarantees for the sounddevelopment of the New Era literature.