On The Female Predicament In Zhang Jie 's Works

Jie Zhang is a unique and distinctive writer within Chinese modern and contemporary literary world. She started her career as a writer at age thirty-seven. Since the beginning of 1980s, she had contributed plenty works to Chinese literary world. Jie Zhang is the first writer who received separate national awards for short story, novelette, and novel. She is also the first writer who had received Maodun Literary Award twice. Reading Jie Zhang’s work, you would discover her uniqueness comparing with other writers. First of all, she does not restrict herself to one stream of styles. The most significant characteristic of Jie Zhang’s work is the contrast between her earlier and later works in terms of distinctive literary manners and fluid artistic techniques. Such characteristic of Jie Zhang’s work reflects her paradoxical and willful consciousness, portrays a world inside of her mind. She residents in her mind, surrounds by loneliness, screams of her emotions. In Jie Zhang’s later works, she passionately stands up as a woman and speaks for women. They are highly subjectively orientated. Her works reveal and fiercely criticize the three obstacles that limit women’s potential:history, society and sexuality.This paper will focus on Jie Zhang’s later pieces, combining with the author’s personal experience, in order to interrogate women’s predicaments in history, society and sexuality. Through such interrogation, the author intents to affirm Jie Zhang’s contribution in the process of female liberation at the same time to discuss the insufficient representation of women’s living situation in Jie’s works, and attempts to further understand Jie Zhang’s believes and values. Finally, this paper will examine female protagonist’s characteristics and sexualities in Jie Zhang’s works in order to reflect on women’s actual situation and possible improvements in contemporary society and provide author’s own analysis and insights.