Herzen And China

Herzen enjoys a high reputation in the world of great thinkers and writers. As a long-exiled Russian revolutionist, he never gives up his claim about the Russian revolution, constructing his populism theory, writing many books and giving publicity to his theory. Since the 1860s, his works have been widespread in Western Europe. Early in 1893 a thesis about his philosophy was written in Germany. Along with the victory of the Russian Revolution and with the foundation of USSR as a powerful country, Herzen, as the founder of "populism" and the author of Past and Thoughts, is attracting more and more attention. From a variety of perspectives, researchers focus on his thoughts on society and his literary works. This dissertation studies the relationship between Herzen and Chinese culture from the perspective of acceptance and influence.The first part of this dissertation is an introduction, presenting Herzen's background and an overview of the Herzen study in Russia and Western countries. The Herzen study, though sometimes influenced by changes in delicate international relations, is always a topic that draws much research attention in Russia and the West. Accordingly this dissertation briefly introduces the acceptance of Herzen in China, pointing out its value in the Herzen study. In addition, this part presents the framework and the significance of the dissertation.Chapterâ… introduces Herzen's thoughts on society and his literary activities reflecting his populism. This chapter consists of three sections. The first section focuses on Herzen's thoughts on villages and individual freedom, the second one analyzes Herzen's literary activities consisting of his works and his literary thoughts; the third one, based on the original meaning of "populism" in Russian, analyzes Herzen's populism reflected in his literature in three aspects.Chapterâ…¡chronologically introduces Chinese acceptance of Herzen in four periods. It analyzes historical documents and then points out the different focuses in the four periods. Chinese acceptance of Herzen sometimes focuses on Herzen's thoughts on society and sometimes his literary works. The two focuses intertwine with one another and then ascend to a higher level. This phenomenon results from the influence of the times, translation and society. Chapterâ…¢discusses the relationship between the Chinese literature and Herzen. It concentrates on a case study of the influence of literary thoughts on a writer. The first section of this chapter analyzes Herzen's populism by means of a influence study and a parallel study, focusing on the similarities and differences between Herzen's populism and that reflected in Chinese literature; the second part, based on an analysis of Past and Thoughts in the light of acceptance, translation and influence, systematically discusses the literary relationship between Ba Jin and Herzen..The conclusion summarizes the relationship between Herzen and China, highlighting the importance of the Herzen study in this dissertation.