The Study On The Discourse Of The Journal New Youth

The main objective of this dissertation is to unfold the journal New Youth by observing its discourses. In order to achieve this objective, the dissertation will discuss and analysis this discourse paradigm from three perspectives: why and how these discourses come to be, what practical functions they have and what discourse reproduction they expand. And, this discourse research of the New Youth starting from this paradigm tries to provide a new field of vision for all the researches about the New Youth, and deepens it.The New Youth is not only the 'May 4' magazine in the history, but also a multilayer and multi-subject discourse system. Therefore, based on the historical and research significance, choosing the New Youth as the studying object would be a good try. The most innovative and interesting point of this paper lies on the method that used to study. Specifically, I select the most important and significant thoughts and literature discourses as the starting points to discuss that how two different discourses (i.e. thoughts discourses and literature discourses) bring up the rupture between the old traditional culture and literature, and the new ones; how the New Youth is created by these two discourses and the "new literature" and "new culture" that are different from the traditional ones and how to legislate the Chinese new literature and new culture which will be deepened in this paper. The main purpose of studying the New Youth is to re-explore a particular moment of the history and discuss how the New Youth influence the development of Chinese new literature and new culture.This paper will be divided into 6 parts as following: The introduction illustrates the significance of choosing this topic and current situation of research. As the origin of modern thoughts and literature, the New Youth opens up the perspectives differing from the traditional ones, especially the thoughts and literature. There is no doubt that the crucial role that The New Youth plays in the development of new literature cannot be overlooked. Its classic statement has emerged from The Collection of Chinese New Literature.The first chapter will mainly introduce the method used in the research (i.e. the definition of discourse and what the paradigm of discourse study is) and discuss all the discourses of the New Youth and their relations to discourse study.Discourse is a new paradigm emerged as the turning of the 'language studies' in western philosophy. It is a speech that expressed by certain terms, concepts and categories. However, it is not only a pure language, but embodies thoughts and relevant history.The attachment between the New Youth and discourse is based on its nature of being thoughts-literature-literature magazines. Firstly, the New Youth itself is a big narrative, the establishment and development of which is the big component of the process of the cultural and thoughts discourses practices at that time. As a rising magazine, it provides the Chinese intellectuals a good place for exchanging thoughts and creative ideas. Secondly, the discourse of the New Youth also can be understood from discourses of both thoughts and literature. The discourse of thoughts mainly includes national discourse, individualism, citizenship, science and democracy discourse and so on, giving rise to Chinese wave of fighting against Confucianism, family and autocracy and therefore bringing the rupture from the tradition. In this case, these discourses create the 'new culture' together that is different from the traditional culture. With regard to literature discourse, it includes new literature historical discourse and stylistic system discourse, which also makes the literature of the New Youth different from the traditional. And the 'new' literature beginning from the New Youth gives birth to the basic paradigm for "new literature" and "new culture".The second chapter discusses the strategy of the discourse of thoughts in the circle of the New Youth, that is, "to solve problems through thinking and culture", which is the start of the research about the discourse of thoughts and the discourse of literature. From the Xinhai Revolution, the reform emphasis of Chinese intellectuals changes from material aspect to thoughts. And we can see the calling-up of the circle of the New Youth plays a role in it. All these added up to the prominence of the discourse of thoughts of the New Youth. The New Youth which relies on the universities and the most prominent intellectuals advocates enlightenment, which on the one hand meets the cultural needs that new era of the nation needs new citizens and uses "new culture" to fill this main body on the other hand.And the common discourses came from the common linear evolutional time conception of the New Youth, which is the stereotype thinking of the Orient -unenlightened / the Occident - enlightened, or the radical attitude of "All or Nothing", especially in the discourse of thoughts. This makes the New Youth bring the movement for thoughts, spirit movement in such a short time and become the battlefields of calling for modernism.It is not difficult to found that the New Youth is not unalterable but has the great changes from "emphasizing on thoughts and culture" to "having special features". With the improvement of linear evolutional time, the New Youth regards 'revolution' as the inevitable result of the evolution and this theory brings special feature for the New Youth.The third chapter discusses the discourses of thoughts of the New Youth. The discourses of thoughts of the New Youth include the discourse of enlightenment and the discourse of nation-state. The discourses such as individualism, the discourse of sciences, citizenship, anarchism and socialism and so on are all included in the discourses of enlightenment and nation-state due to the fact that all their purposes are to enlighten and save the nation from extinction.Before getting these discourses any further, the Vernacular Movement should be mentioned first. The Vernacular Movement of the New Youth differs from the character revolution in the late Qing period, opening up the modern language system. It brings new concept, term and discourse style, new thoughts and new ways of thinking and embodying double missions, which are enlightenment, and saving the nation. The discourse of enlightenment mainly illustrates the discourses of individualism and science. Individualism in the New Youth was not only an intrinsic concept but also a series of transformations of the western humanism thoughts in China. As an important revolution in the ideology realm, individualism especially in the prophase of the New Youth has a deep influence on the intellectuals of 'May 4'because of it strong pertinence to the old thoughts. And science was a general accepted thing not from the meaning of natural science, but from its role in the social science, almost as the Truth.As to the discourse of nation-state, I review the thinking of nation-state from late-Qing to the time of the New Youth. In late-Qing, there is a climax of patriotism, succeeding from which the circle of the New Youth keeps on the theoretical thinking of the nation, and also reflects on it. Especially in the late period, influenced by the First World War, they start to surpass the nationalism and open the door of the new imagination of human and cosmopolitism. This thesis reviews the discourse of the Esperanto in the New Youth, which is seldom discussed. As discuss of the Esperanto goes on, cosmopolitism behind it is paid more regard, which is connected with the exceeding and reflecting of the nation-state. Through the case of the discourse of nationality, we can find the cross-existence of the discourse of nation-state and enlightenment. And we can see that nation-state was still the border of the imagination of the discourse of enlightenment and cosmopolitism.The Fourth chapter focuses on the discourse of literature of the New Youth. Holding a strong position in new Cultural Movement, the New Youth witnesses the formation of literature discourses in this period. This chapter will explain the basic theory and knowledge framework began from the New Youth by analyzing the various discourses within new literature discourses."New Youth" promotes with great effort the literary revolution, molding the new history of literature words. It introduces the western "literature" concept, namely by novel, prose, play and poetry primarily "pure literature" concept, forming a new literature idea and the literature practice outside the Chinese classical literature, which has become the mainstream of modern literature era. At the same time, the revolution of literature discourse considers the western literature discourses as standards and the concept of literature history also comes from western evolution idea. Moreover, New youth positively advocated the "literature for the life" as well as the realism creation idea. In creation activities of the New Youth, we can often see the complicated cultural situation that the nation was facing, which indicates that literature is not only about literature itself but also embodies the nation. Further more, the writers of the New Youth bring forward the idea of realism that fits for the direction for development of Chinese new literature (i.e. how to use literature to find and understand the current situation of china) by combining western literature and the experiences of the literature development in undeveloped countries.This chapter also investigates the theory and practice of four styles f literatures that are poetry, novels, essays, and drama. It is these styles in the New Youth and their development that provide the valuable contents that we can learn from and use for reference. At last, the discourses that are sheltered and marginalized by the New Youth due to their irrelevance will be presented. As Guliyagawa maintained in his Artistic Evolution that according to the literature evolution, the emotional and subjective literature is the mainstream. However, due to the fact that they are not fit for the realism discourse, what is retrained is the argument about evolution while its essential contents are ignored. Moreover, another kind of discourse in the New Youth emphasizing the relative independence of literary discourse is also marginalized from the mainstream.The fifth chapter mainly concentrates on the studies of modernism in the New Youth, "the fashion of returning to 80's," as well as literary significance for the future. The discourse investigation of the New Youth is a re-cognition of itself, the clarification of the 1980s and the present understanding of these words. The New Youth has done a large number of literary discourse narratives, among which it also has the "pure literature" and the role of the study of literature. Although in the new century, literatures there have been many new physiognomies, its discourses can give us some revelations for studying literary phenomenon. Therefore, this chapter will explains the significance of the New Youth from the aspiration of studying modernism, fashion of returning to 1980s, the current situation of literature and its future development.