On Chinese Contemporary Literature System (1949-1976)

This paper mainly investigates the forming, manifestation and the meaning function of the Chinese Contemporary Literature system between 1949 and 1976 so as to examine the ways of the emergence, development and production of the Chinese contemporary literature.The study of the thesis bases on the two considerations. First of all, in the current study of the Contemporary Literature, the literature meanings and form discussions are the leading research mode. Whether the explanation of the literature ideal and theme world, the analysis of a writer's works, or the cultural hold of the tradition and modern, the relation between the west influence and the native characteristics, the meaning of literature and the study of form have been all the time the main starting point, and consequently shaped into the basic frames in the study of contemporary literature.Secondly, while discussing the meaning and form of contemporary literature, the interdynamic relation between the contemporary social history and the contemporary literature has been established. But as to how to transform and interact between the "self-independence" of literature and the "disciplining by others" of contemporary society (mainly political ideology ), it needs to continue probing into the matter of the literature system. Between the literature ideal and social history, the literature system plays a important intermediary role, and is the indispensable social mechanism and the literatural field of literature production, circulation and process of consumption.As to the modern literature, the political and economic environment of the contemporary society has already changed remarkably, accordingly, the corresponding change has taken place in the production , circulation and evaluating mechanism of literature. The contemporary Literature system, with the aid of the change of writer's identity, formulation of literature activity, domination of literature activity and the ways of literature producing and spreading, has actualized the policalizational and unificational control mode for literature, between literature and society, writer and his works, and literature production and its evaluation.The paper consists of four chapters. Chapter one, " The Forming of the Chinese Contemporary Literature System ", discusses the historical background about the forming of the contemporary literature system with several respects mainly from the modern Chinese literature, Yanan literature, Soviet Union literature and Mao Zedong's literary theory.The paper admits that the literature system, formed from the mechanism of the modernprofessional writer's creation, the media mechanisms of newspapers and magazines, the readers' consumption mechanism, the organizational mechanism of the literature association and corporation, plays a dominant and leading role in the modern literature creation. However, this system has changed a great deal in Yanan literature, which regarded literature and art as a cultural army and managed in a military way. The character of "organization", "mass" and "unification" of the artistic work in the army became into the character of the whole Yanan literary system.Especially after 1942, with the development of the rectification movement in Yanan and the issuing of Mao Zedong's Speech at the Forum on Literature and Art in Yanan, the administrative management and the thought controlling to literature were further tightly. The publications and fellowships of literature and art in Yanan and other base areas were totally put into the propaganda departments of the Party Committee at all levels, Luxun Art Institute led by Zhou Yang and the literature and art associations in border area. After the "rectification" movement, the tradition of the writer's self-criticism and self-remoulding came into being and Mao Zedong's literary theory has consequently become a literature policy after liberation.The Chinese contemporary literature has followed the Soviet Union literature system, especially that after the thirties the Soviet Union ended up the muliti ideology of literature and art, and, therefor, the literature fellowships and schools, the literature organizations and guiding principles, and the literature publications are all controlled by the unified ideology, and accordingly the literature fellowships administerialized, the literature idiology politicalized and the culture leadership centralized had appeared.They are also important resources that the Chinese contemporary literature system shaped into. In addition, the literary principles of the Communist Party and socialistic realism are two most important literary concepts that the the Soviet Union literature influences contemporary China. What the literature reflected and served, from the people to Class and then to Party, became more and more concrete, and the free space that literature survived was smaller and smaller. However, its sense of mission was stronger and stronger and its sense of tool was more and more distinct, and then literature has been eventually turned from literature of Party spirit into literature of the party.Chapter two, "Literature Organization and Writer's Identity", discusses how the literature to be organized and to become into an absolute power from the leading organs and administrative departments to the literature. The literature and art fellowships such as the literature federations and the writers associations in China are, on the surface, the non-governmental mass organizations to be considered combining voluntarily, but in fact they are still the peripheral political organizations, inwhich the leadership to the literature mainly adopted is to lead thought and organizations.In a society in which politics is paramount or political ideology isdominant, organization and system are a kind of enticement to writers and become their conscientious pursuit, for which they even did not hesitate to give up their creating personality and freedom. Such a convert to the systems would bring a great deal of advantages to all the writer's personal life , reputation and interests. Especially during the time when lacking of the material resources and self protection to the personal values and interests, the organization can be a kind of talisman for individuals.Writers were put into the state cadres, and therefor could enjoy quite high political position and economic resources , but their ideology and class attribute had been suspected, criticized and transformed all the time, which had also brought confusion and anxiety for their identity.Chapter three, "Literature Newspapers and Periodicals and Contemporary Literature", discusses the influence of the literature publications on the literary creation and criticism from the nationalization and hierarchizeation of the literature publications. In the early days of the country foundation, our country, through extensive socialist transformation, implemented omni-directional " nationalization" and stopped the existence of folk assets and private capital, and all the productive and living materials turn over to the state owned, which had, in fact, broken off the financial resources of so-called folk corporations, colonies, newspapers and periodicals not included those state plans.Under the planning systems that all depended on the financial allocations, the literary world had to cater for the taste of national ideology so as to run orderly under conducted by the state policies.Meanwhile, take People's Literature and Literature and Art Newspaper as examples, the paper discusses the complicated relations and their operating ways between the literature publications and an certain era.As a very influential publication in the history of contemporary literature, People's Literature restrained in the strong political environments, constantly adjusted and reformed its thought running a periodiacal, hedging from right to left, but finally it was still hard to carry on. Literature and Art Newspaper, almost the winding epitome of new China's art criticism, participated in and aroused some important ideological trends of literature, therefor its criticism approaches is worth studying too.Chapter four, "Developmental Mode of Literature Policy", maily discusses how the literature policy to develop from respects of the literature policy , literature meeting and the literary criticism. The literature policy is the basic demand to the literature put forward by certain class and political groups , state authority or the party in power, and therefor is the concrete embodiment of the will of the state and the political Party in the literature activity.In contemporary China, a heightly politicized country, the literature policy belongs to the important components of ideology, so to control ideology is the necessary requirement, naturally including the tight restraint and supervision to the literature, and the most direct and the simplest management way is to establish its policy.As to the contemporary writers, the policy develops into a kind of literature experiences and life styles. To make and fulfil the policy of contemporary literature goes from the central governments to the local ones and has formed a pyramidal structure of the policy, in which there are total policy , principle and goal, and also related documents and measures, all linked with one another.The literature policy is a standardized ideology and an operating strategy, and also the tool which strengthens the thought leading of literature, it has directly brought or aroused a movement of literature and art. As to the contemporary literature, the influence of the literature policy on the literature has two sides, it has positive influence and facilitation, and also has its negative restrain and restriction.The literature meeting is also a kind of form in which the Chinese contemporary literature policies are launched, the Party and state's literature and art principles are transmitted and fulfiled. It is the major measure to unify the understanding and thought, assign the present task, make literature plan for a regular period of future, and correct the mistakes and wrong that hapened in the past. There are different forms of such meetings.A policy of literature and art has confirmed at a meeting, it is probably revised at another one. In this way, the literature and art policy in China is continuously announced, carried out, and also is continuously modified and critized at meeting, that is, it is both structured and destructed in the meetings. Art criticism is one of the major measures that the Communist Party of China realizes its policy of literature and art and carrys on the work of them..Art criticism is not to interpret the meaning of literay works so as to become the bridge linking up the author and its readers, nor the object of the literature theory, but the embodiment of the policy of literature and art. Art criticism is very apt to develop into the struggle of the line in literature and art.