The Relationship Of 'people' And 'city' In Consumption Age

Since the 80 s of last century,the study of urban literature has been a hot topic in the research field of modern and contemporary Chinese literature,various types of paradigms have made remarkable achievements,among them,the research findings on ‘Modernity' and ‘Regionalism' were especially conspicuous.‘Modernity' and ‘Regionalism' were the characteristics of urban literature from different point of views,considering the urban literature is in the complex content of cultural transformation,any sole property regulations would obscure the abundance of the spiritual connotation of urban literature.Literature is the study of human,human nature and its relation to the world is the core of literary expression,specifically to urban literature,the relationship of‘people' and ‘city' is the core of city literature,since 1990 s the city transformation and the rise of consumer culture contributed to the rupture and reconstruction of human and city relations,the tension among the individuals,the society and the times has been highlighted,and the complexity of human nature was fully demonstrated in this process.The paper believed that,in the face of such a complex life writing,compared with the research on the cultural attributes of urban literature,investigating how urban literature presented the living conditions and life care and exploring the human nature and depth and breadth of urban culture it revealed are much closer to the original meaning of urban literature,and it could also uncover the values and significance of urban literature.In consideration of the above characteristics of city literature and city literature study,the thesis believed that‘human nature' is the most important entrance to the understanding of urban literature,and it is also the focus of improving the spirit of urban literature,therefore,the paper is based on the study of urban literature(mainly City Novels)since 1990 s,establishing spiritual view from the perspective of human nature,building the structure of the thesis on the basis of the relationship between ‘people and city',borrowing and applying the theory and critical methods of ‘narrative ethics',‘consumerism' and ‘space narrative',focusing on the transformation of city people ‘be' and ‘how to be' problems.The main content of the paper can be summarized into two parts: ‘what to write' and ‘how to write'.Personal narrative is not only the narrative of urban literature,but also the spiritual standpoint,this is the premise of the study of‘human nature' as the basis of research.In 1990 s,the establishment and development of the socialist market economy and the rise of the consumption culture were the external factors of the rise of urban literature,the transformation of urban culture eventually led to the transformation of the relationship between literature and the times,great changes have taken place in the writers' literary views,narrative standpoints and perspectives,the individualized narrative broke through the personal experience and affirmed the personal and emotional life experience.This was closer to the view of human nature,and the understanding and expression of human nature should also be more spiritual.Therefore,the new urban experience,the relationship between people and city and the spiritual appeal of people have been conveyed,which contributed to the rise of urban literature.However,the permeation of the consumerism values in urban literature also made the personal narration the distortion of desire and nihilism.The way and position of narration directly affected the aesthetic style and spiritual implication of urban literature.Therefore,the analysis of narrative methods and positions has been run through the analysis of the relationship between ‘people' and ‘city'.The urban transformation and the rise of consumer culture have created a new relationship between the new urban population and the new ‘people' and ‘city'.The paper can be generalized into four types: the first one is the wanderers and the cities of landscape;the second one is the intruders and the cities of the others;the third one is the the desire chasers and the material cities;the fourth one is the breakthroughs of desire and the pursuit of urban homelands.The ‘wanderers',‘intruders' and ‘desire chasers' in the city interpreted the distortion and alienation of human nature in the materialized cities---desire expansion,emotional indifference,subject fragmentation and lost homelands.The wanderers was the most rebellious temperament of the city crowd,from Wang Shuo's ‘Wanzhu' to the marginal literati under the new ghostwriters,then to Wei Hui and Mianmian's‘new-new generation',this kind of city population has been keeping a distance from the mainstream values and the masses,they also showed a strong modern temperaments and self-consciousness,but they didn't construct an independent meaning world.The significance of the wandering behaviors was given by their opposites,the spiritual subject,from suspicion to nihilism,finally dissipated in the consumer culture.In the city literature since 1990 s,the ‘intruder' image had not only a large number but also the most sympathetic and metaphorical meanings.In the transition period society,they were the groups in the two civilizations,who followed the modern urban civilization characterized by business culture and consumer culture in the choice of rationality and behavior,but in the meantime they recognized traditional rural civilization in terms of psychology and emotion.This was an inevitable spiritual pain in the period of cultural transformation,symbolizing the journey of our nation from the local civilization to the modern city civilization.In the consumer culture since 1990 s,‘desire' became the identity of people,so it has also become the most important theme of urban literature.This kind of city writing recorded and witnessed the joy and anxiety of the people in the age of consumption,even though it tended to indulge in the show of the desire in the narrative,it had the aesthetic meaning that cannot be ignored in itself because it and the present life were related by flesh and blood,and it eventually explored the harmony and freedom of the spirit and soul of the people in the materialized cities.That the desire broke through the narrative discovered and expressed another living experience of the city,which is daily,permanent,aesthetic and tender.Instead of regarding substance and money as an irresistible forces,it entered the city's daily lives and details,with understanding and tolerance of the world,seeking a lasting and warm side of modern urban life.The narrative viewpoint realized the transformation for the external ‘materialized city',‘desire city' to the internal ‘spiritual city',narration penetrated into the complex inner world of the characters,conveying a profound understanding of human nature,desire and ethics and the deep spiritual relationship between people and city.The conclusion of the thesis has summarized the characteristics of human care in urban literature since 1990 s.First of all,taking human nature as a yardstick in narration,though it showed all kinds of influence of consumerism values,it didn't take place of caring for people's spiritual demands;secondly,it revealed the respect and concern for individual lives,and had the characteristics of liberal narrative ethics;in addition,urban literature is the‘on the road' literature,the exploration of human freedom and harmonious development was the greatest significance of urban literature.