Degrees. Autumn Sun Fangfei

The biographies of Chinese modern female writers have experienced three development stages: Initiation Time (1919-1949), Stop or Blank Time (1949-1980), and Restoring and Prosperous Time (1990- ). Until the end of 2005, nearly 300 biographical articles relating to the first, second, third generation of female writers since "May the 4^th" had been published in mainland China (autobiographies, biographies by others, diaries, letters, memoirs and so on). The diversified culture contents of these work resulted in multi-structure characteristics in the author group and the reader group. Because of the relationship between the biographies of writers and the articles of writers, and because of the fully independent form and the generous content of the biographies of female writers as research objects, it is very important to review, study and analysis the issues arose in these biographies. Such study and analysis will not only enrich and conform existing literature research results, but also provide new mentality and research directions for the development of biographical theory. At the same time, the rules summarized and issues discovered based on the analysis and study on the particular biographical text may provide more angles of view and method reference to biographical writing and criticism.For the convenience of discussion, five representative female writers, as the main characters in the biographies, were chosen in the present study. Some general issues in biographical writing were discussed through the study of their biographies and autobiographies.In the first chapter, the biographies of Ding Ling were analyzed. The topic on how to manage the description of the main character's life and literature narration in biographies of writers was studied. Techniques of proper handling the relationship between the fact that the main character is a person and the fact that the main character is a writer were discussed. A "double spiral" structural pattern in the biographies of writers is proposed. It is believed that writer biographies should efficiently achieve the bi-directional development in both personal life and individual history, and narrating ambition or professionalism. Ding Ling's career as a literature professional for several dozen years and her several dozen years' vicissitudinous life had always been closely associated with Chinese revolution and Chinese people's destiny. The strong spirit of the times could be deeply experienced through reading her articles in a chronological order. Ding Ling and her literature activities thus become typical objects for various topics. By analyzing the success and issues in the writing of tens of biographies of Ding Ling, it can be found that a biographical writing can be influenced by many factors in varying degrees, such as the author's political stand, the relationship between the author and the character, and the times of the author. Illustrating the difference between Ding Ling as a female writer and othermain characters in biographies, and organically combining the description of the main character's life and the literature activity narration is the key to a successful writing of biography of Ding Ling. Based on such standard, both The Life in Wind and Rain -Ding Ling's Biography by Cheng Zong and Ding Ling's Biographical Review by Guixin Yang are superior among published reading materials about Ding Ling's biographies. This is especially true to the former.In the second chapter, some very basic topics in biographical writing were explored based on the biographies of Xiao Hong, including historical evidence examination, the angle of view in writing, the degree of personal emotional involvement of the author, and so on. It is proposed that, when dealing with historical information, biography authors should understand sometimes also facts are buried in false. This principle is sometimes analogized as "completely removing the sand before reaching gold". The randomness of an event and the attribution of a fact relating to space and time can be comprehensively understood through reading and comparing the biographies of Xiao Hong, which consist of many controversial memories of different people at different times and different places, as well as different memories of the same person in different situations. Beyond the "real situation" of the story, they deduced different editions of the same "story", the environment of "the story", and how different kinds of "story tellers" told stories, et al. "The truth" hidden in an event could become clear only when the biographical author untangles the thought of the space and the times. Because the process of a biographical writing is a dialogue between a life and another life, it is natural that some personal emotion be orientated. However, too much personal involvement in writing will inevitably reduce readers' confidence on the related historical events, to which biographical writers should also pay attention. The angles of view of some biographies could be different due to the fact that different authors have different materials and have different relationships with the main character. It is believed that a biography intending to describe the integrated life of a main character should be based on facts other than personal sentiment, and start from a broad angle of view.In the third chapter, promotion and influence of historical data excavations and literary criticism to writing the biographies of writers was discussed. The biographies of Ailing Zhang were chosen in this study. Ailing Zhang's introverted characteristic and her isolated life style caused increasing curiosity of the outsiders to understand her life. This writer herself was a mystery who had an unbending nature and advocated a quiet life with freedom. Ailing Zhang's articles have endless charm. These facts, assisted by many other factors such as the fact that her early articles and late articles are continuously being discovered, have resulted that the biographies of Ailing Zhang have always been in a process of continuous improvement and optimization. Therefore, comparing to other biographies discussed in the present study, the tendency of focusing on historical information excavation and literary criticism, and promptly absorbing the results from relevant studies is very important to the writing of biographies of writers like Ailing Zhang.In the forth chapter, the focus was shifted to the relationship and comparison between autobiographies and biographies by others. At the same time, relevant background factors affecting the writing of biographies of modern writers were discussed. The biographies of Bingying Xie have provided useful research material in this aspect. Bingying Xie showed her talent for the first time through the magnificent Diary in Army which was written in "the great times and social background" with strong spirit of the times. She soon became "the godmother of female military writers in the History of Chinese New Literature" and "the first outstanding female writer in the fields of modern documentary literature and real-life literature". Hereafter, Bingying Xie's destiny had been closed associated with the times. But as a modern female writer who was the first to publish an autobiography, the only biography of Bingying Xie, From a Female Solder to a Professor, had not been published until May 2004. Biographical writing can be limited by many factors such as political stand and material shortage. The relationship and difference between autobiographies and biographies by others is also significant in comparing reading. Therefore, attention should be paid to balance the relationship between autobiographies and biographies by others.Considering the present situation and recent developing tendency in literature research, the lack of biographies of modern female writers was explored by analyzing the main characters of biographies, which was included in the fifth chapter. Here Mei Niang was chosen in order to express the concern and anxiety of the author of this work to the writing of biographies of some writers in literature history who are being explored. It is hoped that biographical writers should pay attention to those writers who were once forgotten and it is suggested that oral account history could move ahead if writing condition of writer autobiographies or biographies is not yet mature.