Mao Dun Myth Thoughts

Mao Dun is the first scholar who systematically researched myth and published myth monograph since the establishment of Chinese mythology. Various unique insights on Chinese mythology are put forward in a series of MaoDun's works; his study also pointed out the tasks and directions of Chinese myth research. All of these made contributions to the establishment and development of Chinese mythology, at the same time lay down his important status in the history of Chinese mythology.This paper analyzes the formation and the development of Mao Dun's myth thinking, and the characteristics of the methodology which Mao Dun used. The thesis also introduces the basic theory content of Mao Dun's thought, and analyzes Mao Dun's contributions and influences to the Chinese mythology. From these, we can see the far-reaching significance of Mao Dun's myth thinking in the development of contemporary mythology. Meanwhile, it tries to draw the basic outline of Mao Dun's myth thinking, and underlines its rich historical connotation and unique theoretical value. The article discusses from the three aspects: Mao Dun's psychological journey on mythical research; Mao Dun's mythical research with a global vision and the theoretical construction of the Chinese mythology; Mao Dun's theoretical contributions to Chinese mythology, and the limitation of it.The full text is divided into five parts:The first section is an introduction, outlines the research object, research actuality and research purposes, briefly expounds the process of Mythology's emergence in China, Mao Dun's status, theoretical contributions and impacts on the establishment in the Chinese mythology and so on.The second section concentrates on the reasons why Mao Dun embarked on myth study. To himself of Mao Dun, the living environment of Mao Dun's childhood and the social work experience cultivated his interest in myth, formed his cultural personality, and also made a far-reaching impact on his subsequent study of myth; to the entire society, Mythology, as a part of the New Cultural Movement, mounted the stage of history and attracted a large number of academics, including Mao Dun. They utilized the western advanced method as a theoretical weapon for the study of China's own myth, and made a pioneering study of Chinese mythology. Compared Mao Dun with other contemporary scholars such as Lu Xun, GuXie Gang, we can draw a conclusion that there are the sameness and the individuality in their studies. In a word, there exists some consistency, but Mao Dun's study is more thorough.The third section focuses on Mao Dun's global vision in his research and his theoretical construction of the Chinese mythology. This is the body of the paper. In this part, we discussed the following issues: (a) the methodology of Mao Dun's myth study. The principal method applied to the works of Mao Dun is the anthropologic method, comparative method, the ways of exegesis and evidential learning, and so forth. He put Chinese myth into the world myth system, made overall comparative study. With "bold hypothesis, careful confirmation" he finally comes to his own conclusions on the Chinese mythology. (b) The construction of Chinese myth system should pay attention to several theoretical issues. For example, about the relationships between the creation of myth and the primitive man's world view; about the preservation and revision of Chinese mythical data-- historical or immortal; about the historical and social factors'analysis to the reasons why the ancient Chinese mythology wane; and about the theoretical innovation on the specific issues of the Chinese myths and theories, such as the view on Chiyou who is one of the giant nation and so forth. By analyzing these issues, Mao Dun brought forward three steps of building the Chinese mythology: firstly established a correct world view of myth, in concrete ways, we should not only attach the significance to ancient book, but also go to the field operations to find the original mythical elements.The fourth section centralizes in Mao Dun's contributions to the study of Chinese Mythology and also points out the flaws of his viewpoints. The contribution of Mao Dun is his study which had laid the foundation for the development of Chinese mythology, pointed out the direction, and simultaneously inspired the younger mythicist. However, there are also some shortcomings, such as some of his views marked the ideological attitude due to the limits of his times, still including the imperfectness of his theory caused by the weakness of the method itself used.The Conclusion summarizes the statement of Mao Dun's studying, and hoping that the contemporary mythicists can make a further study to Mao Dun's myth thinking.