The Time, Life Experience And Works

In the first half of 20th century, Zhang Henshui, a great writer of demotic fiction, and his works of novels received people's universal attention. Most of his novels, once published, have sparked a reading upsurge among common people.His works were comprehended in various aspects, and the different commentaries emerged one after another incessantly, which has formed "Zhang Henshui phenomenon" in the history of Chinese modern literature. Taking his improvement in the Chinese traditional novel pattern as the symbol, the Chinese popular literature gradually broke away from the limit of the traditional narrative pattern, distinguished from the narrative pattern of"Saturday School", and took root in the soil of life, stepping into the open horizon and the new phase. In virtue of that, Zhang Henshui is considered as a peak of the popular literature creation in the first half of 20th century.Zhang Henshui's novels were mostly published on the newspaper, which becomes the important mainstay of the newspaper supplement. On account of that, he was also the successful reporter writer of fiction. His works displayed the overall portrayal of his outstanding litterateur talent, the newspaper profession, the creation experience, the patriotic action and the life experience. His literature life was progressive continuously, indomitable and finally coming to fruition, which was worth carefully studying. This article is divided into four chapters to carry on the discussion:The first chapter synthetically discusses Zhang Henshui's unique experience in life and literature. Zhang Henshui(1895-1967) witnesses the transference of the Chinese government, from the late of the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China to the People's Republic of China, looking on several great events that had far-reaching significance to the intellects. Although Zhang Henshui was influenced by those great events, he didn't have the direct participation. Never studying abroad or in any institution of higher learning like Peking University, he didn't join any party, group or association. The unattached and adventureless experience composed his seemingly common life. He had his moment after 1930s, but was not mentioned for many a year after that in the literature history, not obtaining the evaluation and study he deserved, which was due to his choice in the creation of popular literature and"revolution"free life. Compared with many romantic Chinese modern litterateurs, Zhang Henshui, in those active years. His love and marriage, his literature sentiment, and his occupations played important roles in his creation. had a relatively watery life, which is the focus of this chapter.The second chapter analyzes the influence of the modern academic transformation and the literature ideological trend on Zhang Henshui's creating motivation and social context. Zhang Henshui did not reject the traditional culture, but kept the conservative and mild attitude to the concept and mode of Chinese traditional aesthetics and improved the Chinese traditional novel pattern on condition of meeting the social demands. His literature creation performed like a bridge connecting the tradition and modern civilization, which didn't attempt to change the traditional culture on the basis of the western culture. Zhang Henshui is the unity of the collision, combination and contradiction of the Chinese traditional ideology and the Western modern civilization."He exists as a paradox in the history of Chinese modern literature.""He may be regard as a reforming model from traditional literature to the modern civilization.The third chapter elaborates on Zhang Henshui's popular literature theory. His improvement of the Chinese traditional novel pattern was the major element of his popular literature theory, which stresses on serving readers and modernity, aiming to the elegance of creation. His blending application of various representation techniques displayed the high flexibility and the genius at creation. This chapter probes into the profound connotation of "Zhang Henshui phenomenon" in the course of the development and transformation of Chinese modern literature to reveal the its significance as a kind of literature and literature phenomenon better, so as to understand the development of Chinese literature comprehensively.The fourth chapter discusses the newspaper text of Zhang Henshui's novels from the journalism aspect. The conscious and unconscious interaction of media and literature is the characteristic of the 20th century China literature. Media sparked impact on the creation and development of literature, and at the same time, it would bring its own development and transformation by spreading the literature concept and works. In the course of the interaction, the value orientation of media and literature met and depart at times. The literature newspaper made direct influence on the literature ideology and modes, that was to focus on the popular and socialized styles of literature ideology. Thus emerged the literature styles which were adaptive to the characteristic of newspaper, such as scribbles, essays, reportages, serials and so on, among which the newspaper supplement made direct and special influence on the creation of modern scribbles and essays. As a typical representative of the newspaper text, Zhang Henshui's serials showed the media concept and the influence of regulation on writing. Meanwhile, his success has enriched the experience of newspaper text creation, and has the significance of enlightenment to the development of contemporary literature.