A Study On Indigenization And Evaluation History Of Hao Ran's Writing

Hao Ran is a unique writer in the history of Chinese contemporary literature and his writing has been through three different stages, namely Seventeen Years, Cultural Revolution and New Period. Hao Ran's writing covers prose and children's literature besides long and short novels and has aroused extensive interest and exerted great influence among readers home and abroad. At the same time, however, due to his close relationship with mainstream ideology during the Cultural Revolution, he was also highly controversial in almost 30 years.This dissertation intends to study Hao Ran and his writing basically using the theory of social and historical criticism. The approach of cultural criticism, biography criticism, comparative study and text analysis will also be used as supplements. The dissertation argues that indigenization is a prominent feature in Hao Ran's writing, which is displayed in his loyalty to the literary theory of Mao Zedong, the narrative of class struggle and the depiction of rural life and customs. Hao Ran's writing is deeply rooted in political context in China in the late half of 20th century. On the other hand, his understanding of literature, his temperament and disposition also have great impacts on his career as a writer.The dissertation consists of five chapters between an introduction and a conclusion. The first three chapters mainly study the indigenization feature in Hao Ran's writing, and the last two chapters attempt to make an objective and thorough evaluation on Hao Ran and his writing based on previous studies.The introduction first divides Hao Ran's writing into four periods. Following a brief review of Hao Ran study in the past years, some potential problems are raised, and based on which, the dissertation proposes that as a literary and cultural phenomenon, Hao Ran and his writing is still of great research value.The first chapter investigates the practice of the literary theory of Mao Zedong in Hao Ran's writing, which is demonstrated in the three prominent concepts in his art creation: writing for propaganda, forever eulogizing and writing about and for the farmers. Considering the writer's life experience and his way to fame, the loyalty to Mao's literary theory is rational and understandable.The second chapter analyzes the discourse of class struggle in Hao Ran's writing taking Sunny Days and Golden Road as samples. First of all, the depiction of class struggle emerges and develops with the appearance of Agrarian Revolution and Agricultural Cooperation Movement. Ding Ling and other writers established the modes of such novels and with their works the authorative ideology completed its rewriting of land and farmers in Chinese literature. In Hao Ran's writing, the discourse of class struggle gradually grows and finally attains a dominent position, which can be seen clearly through a study of changes in heroes, people in the middle and details in daily life in Sunny Days and Golden Road.The third chapter looks at the inheritance of local literature tradition in Hao Ran's writing from four aspects: the depiction of rural life, human relations, rural culture and the use of vernacular language. Hao Ran vividly depicts the country life in north China in his works. The dramatic conflicts in Sunny Days and Golden Road are both related with class struggle, but it's the warm human relationship that moves readers and leaves them a deep impression. Besides, the use of nickname, vernacular and spoken language of farmers in Hao Ran's novels adds local characteristics to his writing.The fourth chapter sums up the evaluation of Hao Ran and his writing in the past fifty years. With new period as a divide, the evaluation is separated into two parts. However, in these two totally different periods, critics used the same standard in their criticism, political standpoint, to be specific. It gives rise to some problems. First of all, criticism should be partly responsible for the artistic decline in Hao Ran's writing; secondly, to a degree it neglects some authenticity in Hao Ran's writing: Hao Ran keeps a vivid record of the farmer's revolutionary spirit with his pen and has exerted great influence on readers in that era.The fifth chapter studies the growth of Hao Ran as a writer and his literary concepts. His success not only results from his own efforts but also has an indispensable relationship with the political context then, especially with the cultivation of writers among workers, farmers and soldiers. His creative approach bears striking similarities with other writers in that era. He himself, however, should also hold responsibility for the problems in his writing. It is preconceived ideas instead of life experience that guide his writing, which can be seen clearly from a comparison with Zhao Shuli. And it also accounts for the fact that Hao Ran was able to completely merge himself in mainstream ideology discourse. This chapter also probes into Hao Ran's personality and this investigation helps to present a more colorful and comprehensive image of the writer. The last section in this chapter summarizes and analyzes new achievements in Hao Ran study during the past 11years in the new century.The conclusion of the study is that Hao Ran's writing is strongly related with politics. Politics served as a major motive and impetus for his devotion to writing, but at the same time it limited and hampered his career as a writer for some time. On the other hand, Hao Ran's identification with the mainstream ideology discourse, his unconditional acceptance of popular social thoughts and his overt expression of political idea in literature also deserves reflection. Only by combining the two aspects can we gain a proper and thorough understanding of Hao Ran and his writing.