The Style And The Character Of Jiangnan Literati: A Cultural Choice Of The Contemporary Chinese Prose

The style and the character of Jiangnan literati --- the cultural image of Jiangnan literati is a form of culture which plays a special and significant role on the stage of Chinese culture, in and out in the stream of Chinese cultural tradition. If it is examined against the background of traditional Chinese culture, in which Confucianism is regarded as the mainstream and orthodoxy, we will be more deeply impressed by its charms because of its particular characteristics and disparity. It may be taken for granted that Jiangnan literati and culture is based on the mainstream culture while maintaining some distance from it. Like a lateral branch of the tree of mainstream culture, the style and the character of Jiangnan literati is of deconstructive significance to the mainstream culture and style. Moreover, the attitude of Jiangnan literati has great influence on the literary creation, especially the prose writing. From the perspective of the style and the character of Jiangnan literati, by dealing with the contemporary Chinese prose, this thesis attempts to clarify the spirit and the characteristics of Jiangnan literati conveyed in the prose writing over the past 50 years and more.The introduction mainly defines the concept and the scope of"Jingnan"from the cultural perspective. Since Confucianism is regarded as a spiritual pursuit as well as a yardstick for measuring in the mainstream literati, the style and the character of Jiangnan literati specially displays its cultural charms. Setting for a long-distance shot at the style and the character of Jiangnan literati and its essay writing in the late Ming Dynasty, and setting for a close short at the style and the character of Jiangnan literati and its prose writing during the May 4th Movement, A chronological record enables us to have a better understanding of the historical background of the style and the character of contemporary Jiangnan literati and the origin and succession of its prose works. Accepted in the contemporary period, the style and the character of contemporary Jiangnan literati spontaneously and consciously, initiatively and passively shows its diversity in cultural forms, which is closely bound up with the cultural surroundings in which the writers live.Chapter One: 30 years after the founding of the PRC saw the phase that the political culture and mainstream ideology dominated the cultural stage. During this period of time, odes on red times ranked high in prose writing. Seeking hard to survive in the crack between such political culture and mainstream ideology, Jiangnan literati and its prose writing were unavoidably imprinted with the mark of political culture. The proses of Ye Shentao, Zhou Shoujuan, Ai Xuan, etc. were the representatives of that time. However, Further Essay Writing in Yuanyuan Chamber by Feng Zikai, who was on behalf of the prose writing during Cultural Revolution, existed in the so called"potential manner"and became a continuation of the style and the character of Jiangnan Literati.Chapter Two: the 1980s saw the multi-development of the contemporary culture and prose writing, as well as the transition of the culture of Jiangnan literati from back to front and from spontaneity to consciousness. The writers in this decade, such as Wang Zengqi, Yi Mingzhu, Lu Wenfu, and Ai Xuan, worked hard to be free from the limitation of the political culture and the mainstream ideology. However, compared with the literati in the 1990s, they were so deeply influenced by the political culture that their proses converted little to the culture of Jiangnan literati. Nevertheless, this was still an age to be reckoned with for it functioned as a connecting link between the preceding and the following.Chapter Three: in the 1990s, the Jiangnan literati spontaneously gained its cultural ego. Gradually walking out of the shadow of political culture, Fei Zhengzhong, Ye Zhayan, Chen Qianzi and the like not only criticized political culture but also kept a critical eye on the culture of Jiangnan literati. As a matter of fact, there are both embarrassment and fate existing in their cultural constitution: on one hand, they criticized the dross of the culture of Jiangnan literati; on the other hand, as the delegates of the culture of Jiangnan literati, they inherited various characteristics of such culture. In other words, Jiangnan literati of this age critically inherited the culture of Jiangnan literati. However, they had to face an unavoidable problem---the great impact of market economy on the traditional culture, including the culture of Jiangnan literati.The last part is a brief evaluation of the style and the character of Jiangnan literati and its prose writing. Although there exists some negative factors, as a cultural form, the style and the character of Jiangnan literati is of great value and significance for it enriches the cultural constitution, activates the mental state of literary creation , as well as greatly influences literature creation, especially the style orientation of prose creation.