Sartre And Indivdual "Existence" Inquiry In Neo-Era Chinese Literature

Jean-Paul Sartre, French Existentialist philosopher and writer, is one of world's greatest thinkers. His Existentialist ideal and literature have imposed great influence on Chinese Neo-Era literature. Sartre's acceptance and influence in China have experienced three stages: the initial introduction, translation and interpretation by foreign literature researchers, the later melting with Chinese modern social situation in Chinese contemporary writings, and the eventual transformation to a neo-humanism acceptable to current China. Those stages essentially indicate that Chinese Neo-Era literature, under the influence of Sartre, has opened up a fresh sphere of human existence research,; which is characterised by a^4isejpvery玘Dd re-construction of "Human Being".This dissertation mainly deals with Sartre's influence and its transformation in some of the works by Zhang Xin-xin, Liu Suo-la, Chen Rong, Liu zhen-yun, Zhang Wei and Pan Jun. The six authors have displayed, in their own ways, a panorama of modem Chinese social life. Zhan Xin-xin expresses the anxiety and lost self of Chinese people at the beginning of main current political culture breakdown and materialistic flooding immediately after the Great Cultural Revolution. Liu Suo-la exposes the anti-classic and pro-individualistic radicalism of young college students facing an opening-up and multi-cultural age. Chen-Rong, in transcendence of historical rationalism, proposes human spiritual emancipation and subjective revelation in order to oppose traditional feudalistic stereotypes. Liu Zhen-yun in his typical cool-minded description, discloses the routine spiritual enslavement, oppression and murder, as well as men's helplessness, hopelessness and distortedness "in familiar daily life affairs. Zhang Wei attaches importance to a heart-felt emotional and conscientious expression, thinking that the only things that may combine one's individual subjective options with his personal moral responsibility towards world and others are his inner authentic feelings and conscience. Pan Jun, from the angle ofrecovering self and preserving personal dignity, promotes human's desires to the high level of psychological experience and emotional communication which is so purely individualistic and spiritual as to transcend worldly ethics and morals. No matter themes of above writers: pursuing self, revealing personality, liberating spirit, or attacking servility, expressing true feelings, calling for dignity, they are all created on the foundation of constructing individual subjective consciousness of the Neo-Era Chinese nationals. Therefore, these writers' writing activities and efforts not only signify an assiduous pursuit and research of setting up modern Chinese subjective mind by contemporary Chinese men of letters, but also mark the establishment of a kind of new humanistic spirit in Neo-Era Chinese literature.Seen from the stance of modern comparative literature, Sartre's reception and influence in China is not a mono-dimensional evolution process, since the writing activities of Neo-era writers and modern Chinese social historical contexts have also encouraged the discovery, understanding and reception of Sartre, as well as the naturalization of Sartre's humanism in China, hi that sense, Sartre-Chinese literature relationship has been in a very good interaction, which remarkably indicates that Chinese literature is going towards the world.