The Art Of Dialogue And Integration

Lingering on the borders of two cultures, which are very different, yet somehow similar, Cheng Baoyi (Francois Cheng) spares no effort in seeking an interspace between them in the aspects of language, thought and art. With an approach of close reading, this dissertation gives a detailed analysis on the theme and literary techniques of Cheng's works and tries to explore his traits and intricate thinking, thus enters his inner world to examine how he has made himself a peculiar blend of Sino-Western Cultures.This paper falls into three chapters. Chapter one makes a panoramic review of Cheng's literary activities and those academic researches on him both home and abroad. And then this part mainly discusses the cross-language and cross-culture perspectives in his works.Chapter two concentrates upon his novel writing and the cross-cultural integration reflected in his works. Le dit de Tianyi, a poly-thematic novel, manifests Cheng's artistic creation and his conceptions on tribulation and tragedy. Inspired by Li Shangyin's poetry and Bourbon Busset's ideas, L' Eternite n'est pas de trop, with eternal love as its theme, demonstrates a dual horizon, which even made talks of wisdom between a Taoist and a Christian.The third chapter gives an exhaustive interpretation of Cheng's poetry composed in French and tries to explore the poet's idealistic and theoretical roots. "Dialogue" remains the motif of all his poetry. Conversing with lives in nature and with his inner self, the poet gets increasingly closer to the universe. Meditations on night and odes to love and human passion can also be seen in his poetry. The artistic features are examined in terms of the influence of ideogram, the musicality of diction, the innovation of French words, the image hybrid etc. The poet utters the "Tao" in his own mind, and makes meaningful exploration in world, poet's mission and cultural communication.