A Critical Analysis Of The Psychoanalytic Discourse In 20～(th) Century Chinese Female Literature

Starting from the perspective of psychoanalysis, the dissertation aims to conduct a systematic study of the theme and tendency of 20th century Chinese female literature.This dissertation consists of an Introduction and the Main Body. The Introduction is a brief exposition of the dissertation's theme, logic and critical approache. The Main Body of the ten chapters, following a vertical line of how psychoanalysis affects the development and evolvement of Chinese female literature and a horizontal line of how it forms its own unique characteristics under the influence of psychoanalysis, probes the internal linkage between psychoanalysis and the Chinese female writers' works, explores the influence of psychoanalysis on the development and evolvement of Chinese female litearture and exposes the formation of its unique features under the influence of psychoanalysis. The tentative purpose of the dissertation is to promote a typological study and comparative study of 20th century Chinese female literature.The thesis starts with an introduction to the features of psychoanalysis and its dissemination in China as well as its influence on Chinese literature of the 20th century. The focus is mainly put on the May 4th period, 1940s (Zhang Ailing as the representative female writer) as well as the New Period, when psychoanalysis had its greatest influence on Chinese female literature of the 20th century.In the first half of the 20th century, Chinese female literature highlighted a unique feature of psychoanalysis. The May 4th period witnessed the first appearance of this characteristics in the literary works of the first generation of Chinese female writers, including Yuan Changying, Ling Shuhua and Ding Ling, who, by employing various psychoanalytic techniques, made the first attempt to unfold the psychology of their sub-conscious and explore the sexual repression. In the 1940s, Zhang Ailing, overshadowed by the literary tradition of psychoanalysis during the May 4th period, centered her writing on the Oedipus complex, perverted sexual psychology, split personality as wellas the conflict between individual instinct and social civilization, thus bringing to a new peak female literature of psychoanalysis characterized by the unique revelation of female psychology.The female literature of Taiwan in the 1960s demonstrated the same explicit psychoanalytic characteristics. Li Ang made a bold exposure of the conflict between love and sexuality, the twisted sex as well as the power relations between men and women, while Ouyang Zi took advantage of the concepts of psychoanalysis to explore the deep perverted complex of the characters through long monologues. His true and in-depth descriptions of the female split souls and self-struggle indicated a big step forward of the female literature characterized by psychoanalysis.The 1980s saw the return of psychoanalysis to Chinese female literature and great achievements made the female writers. In this period more attention was paid to the awakening of gender awareness and psychoanalysis was taken as their theoretical sources by many female writers, among whom were Wang Anyi who made a perfect elaboration of the three-tiered personality theory and the tragedy self, ego and super-ego, Tie Ning who directed more attention to the female psychology and the literary phenomena of the so-called "writing of body", Can Xue who presented a vivid description of the dreams by using various psychoanalytic images and Chen Ran who depicted the hidden female psychology and psychological complex of various kinds.Reviewing the development of Chinese female literature of the 20th century, we find an active interaction between psychoanalysis and female literature, the consequence of which is the formation of the three general features of the psychoanalytic female literature: the change of sexual concept, the focus on the perverted psychology as well as psychoanalytic feature embodied in the literary techniques. This psychoanalytic feature of Chinese female literature of the 20th century not only equi...