The Formation Of The World. "tears" - Xu Zhenya Novel Writing

In the early years of the Republican China,the most popular genre of novelsstarted changing from"the novel of denouncement"to the"the novel of sentiments".During this period,there was extensively a sad atmosphere which was"heart-breakingand eyes-saddening"in the love tales.Therefore,"novel of sad sentiments"became afashion in the literary circle in the early Republican years.The style displayed uniquecharacteristics in thoughts and artistic form,and it was also closely related to thesocial and cultural mentality at that time.As a typical writer of"sentimental novel",Xu Zhenya wrote a series of novels such as Yu Li Hun (Jade Pear Spirit) whicharoused strong response,and played an important role in the Chinese literary historyof early Republican time.At the same time,Xu's works were influenced by themutual impact of Chinese and Western ideas,the special historical context of theentanglement between rnodemity and tradition,the complicated life events of theauthor himself,the continuous yet changing life as an editor,the special status as amember of Nanshe (the Southern Society) and the author's close relationship with hiscontemporary writers who were also bom in Changshu.All these elements werereflected in Xu's works.In the polyphonic time of early Republican years,suchelements characterized a typical traditional"literati"writer and made him distinctfrom his contemporary"intelligentsia"writers and the next generation of"popularliterature"writers.Therefore,with study on the writing fashion of Xu Zhenya's novels,it is to explore the distinction and relation between Xu's works and theircontemporary novels and Xu's significance in the literary history of early-modem andmodem China.The thesis studies Xu Zhenya's novels,and mainly the"novels of sentiments",and relates them with the changing trends of culture and literature in late-Qing andearly Republican periods.Meanwhile,through extensive close reading of texts,it is tograsp,in a better and more comprehensive way,how Xu's novel followed tradition and make innovations in a time of transition from the old into the new.The thesis consists of six chapters:The first chapter describes Xu Zhenya's track as a writer.It mainly accounts ofXu Zhenya's life and the literary schools and societies to which he belonged.Xu'sZhenya's life and writing can be divided into four periods,the adolescence,the timewhen he taught in Wuxi,the time when he worked for Minquanbao (the Newspapersfor People's Rights),the peak period of his writing,and the decline period.Theschools and societies which were closely related to Xu include the group of Changshuwriters,the group of Nanshe (the Southem Society) literati,and the early-time Schoolof Mandarin Ducks and Butterflies.The social networks of Xu Zhenya gave him acomplicated cultural identity which combined a member of traditional literati,aleamer of new thoughts,a professional newspapers editor and a professional writer.This identity influenced his output of literature.Chapter Two investigates the social cultural background and Xu Zhenya'spersonality characteristics.Firstly,it points out the three kinds of social culturalbackground which had important influence on Xu's writing,the social cultural trendsof thoughts in early Republican period,the cultural features of Jiangnan (region southof the Yangtze River) and the old-fashioned literati's tradition of moaning sorrows andgrievances.Secondly,in light of the historical background,it reveals the origins andexpression of Xu Zhenya's witty but bitter-mood,sorrowful character,.Chapter Three explores Xu Zhenya's theory of novel writing.It begins withthe introduction to Xu's theory.In his theory,Xu emphasized the function of"sentiments"in novels,especially preferred the"sad sentimental"atmosphere ofspiritual purity.He also commented that"sentiments"and"rationality"should beconsistent,so that the social effect and aesthetic function can be unified.He assertedthat the character and life experience of an author will be fully reflected in his writingstyle.He placed importance on portrayal of realm of sensibility,in order to refute thetendency of over-emphasis on social effect in the late-Qing novels.Influenced bycommercialization in the market of modern newspapers and magazines,he also paidmuch attention to readers' mentality.With analysis of Xu Zhenya's theory of novels,it is to discover the real face of"refined artistic literature"disguised by the"popular"mask,and accordingly explore Xu's connection to and difference from the notion of"literature as leisure and entertainment"advocated by the later School of MandarinDucks and Butterflies.Chapter Four analyses the characteristics of narration of Xu Zhenya's novels.In the aspects of narrative structure,narrative viewpoints and narrative language,XuZhenya's novel narration demonstrated the blend of old-fashioned and newcharacteristics.On narrative structure,while he copied the traditional casual-noting,objective narration and"gentlemen and fair ladies"format,he also adopted themodem format of letters,diaries and flashbacks.On narrative point of views,thenovels used alternately omniscient and limited viewpoints,and changed from the"story-teller to audience"mode in classical"Shuohua"(telling tales) into the"authorto reader"mode after the rise of modem newspapers and magazines.On narrativelanguage,Xu highly regarded the traditional genre"pianwen"(the prose of couplets)and manifested a possible way in the varied explorations about written language ofnovel writing before baihua (plain language) became the mainstream language usedin novels.Chapter Five explains the cultural implications of Xu Zhenya's novels.Firstly,Xu Zhenya's novels mainly focused on the subject matter of sad sentiments,and inthe aspect of imagery,constructed a"world of tears"which was full of sorrow.Secondly,Xu Zhenya's choice of sentimental love stories as subject matter actuallyelaborated the two big themes,"enlightenment"and"revolution"in a certain way.Especially,Yu Li Hun (Jade Pear Spirit) and Xue Hong Lei Shi (the Tearful History ofSnowy Wild Goose) broke new ground of the novels of"revolutionary and love".Chapter Six illustrates how Xu Zhenya's novels inherited and transformedtradition.As compared to the traditional novels which focused on narration,XuZhenya's novel made more effort to express feelings and explore personal experience.This approach of novel writing which placed importance on construction of asubjective world,began a way to establish modernity in modem Chinese novels,along with the new novels which aimed at"enlightening the intelligence of people"in late Qing,represented by Liang Qichao;and the novels which focused on reflectingdaily life,represented by Hai Shang Hua Lie Zhuan (A Biography of the Flower onthe Sea) and the later School of Mandarin Ducks and Butterflies.