On The Textual Tension And Production Mechanism Of "Red Canon"

This dissertation focuses on The Song of Youth as a case study on the"Red Canon". From the perspective of the development of Chinese Contemporary Literature history, it tries to illustrate the profound connotation and the producting process which was effected by many factors, so that to show the deep social and cultural motivation and connotations behind the phenomenon of"Red Canon". Taking the view of the poetics of culture, this thesis bases on the case study of The Song of Youth, revealed the relationship between the product and the backgrounds in the historical contexts.The introduction includes the objectives, scope, and methodology of the thesis, and summarizing the research recourses. The reason to select The Song of Youth for"Red Canon"is that the text characterizes the contemporary society. The sophistication and complexity of the text embody the productive feature of the contemporary literature.Chapter One reviews the creation of the work in the period of 1949-1966, from the view of the author's creative motivation, the complexity and the textual tension, the individual creation is influenced by the dominant ideology. On the basis of the previous research on The Song of Youth or"Red Canon", it finds that the overlapping motivation of creation leads to textual tension, which implies the creative mind of the author who is in the pressure of historical contexts.Chapter Two focuses on the creation in publishing of the work, The Song of Youth: it published very hard, being transferred from The China Youth Press to The Writers Publishing House that reveal the complex production status quoante of the"Red Canon"which was affected by various factors under the then social-cultural conditions. The editor in the press was not only the Gatekeeper, the agent of reads, but also an individual. These multiple identities were reflected on the editor's ideas and publishing suggestions with tensions and contradictions. In order to discover the"Red Canon"creation influenced by the mainstream, the elite and the masses, the editor's reviews are read and studies carefully.Chapter Three analyzes the discussions on The Song of Youth and its influence on"Red Canon", the critics have different literature ideas and value systems which plays vital role in the production. From the discussions, the thesis will emphatically analyze Mao Dun's and He Qifang's commentaries to declare the opinions and proposals from the representatives of the officials and intellectuals which effected on the creation.Chapter Four expresses the"Red Canon"reproduction of the day, in the consumerism contexts, the revision of the"Red Canon"is the field where the dominant discourse, the intellectual elite discourse and the popular discourse are competing.This dissertation illustrates that one of the essential features in The Song of Youth is the textual tension; meanwhile, the"Red Canon"is not only red, and also canonical. The production of the"Red Canon"is the one influenced by the dominant, the elite and the masses and the demand of marketing that is why the text is so wonderful and forceful. The impact and conflict between the subjectivist, dogmatic literary conception and the historicist, aesthetic literary conceptions are reflected the interaction with multiple factors in the production process.