A Study On The Initiation Novels Of Female In The Recent Three Decades In China

The literati in modern China has witnessed a vast amount of initiation novels of female. Contrary to the prosperity of works, the criticism on initiation novels of female lags behind relatively. This thesis starts with an academic combing and definition about the concept, initiation novels of female, which refers to the novels, with a heroine as the subject, revealing the heroine’s resistance and rebellion against the traditional patriarchal society and the initiation process of the constructing and self-actualization of female subjectivity during the heroine’s gradual growth physiologically and psychologically. This thesis, based on the constructing of female subjectivity, through a systematic study on the initiation novels of female in the recent three decades, aims at the goals to explore the physiological and psychological development of females in their growing up, and furthermore, to examine the evolution how female subjects get rid of the signifiers representing otherness, break out of the power structure of male/female dualism and achieve self subjectivity, and to probe into the intrinsic characteristics and aesthetic features of initiation novels of female.The thesis is divided into four chapters.The first chapter combs the thematic development of the initiation novels of female in the recent three decades. This chapter gives an overall view of the characteristics of initiation novels of female by close reading of the initiation novels of female in the recent three decades in China in the Narratologic and Feminist perspectives. After analyzing the initiation novels of female from various aspects, such as gender relations, ways of initiation, guide or companion during the initiation, initiation mentality, etc. in relation to specific works, main themes are drawn out of the initiation novels of female in the recent three decades, which include initiation experience in childhood, physiological development, irritations of adolescence, confusion of maturation, positioning of self identity, the development of self subjectivity, the satisfaction of self-actualization, the constructing of gender consciousness, the maturation of mentality. The private gender experience of the female is considered while the female gender difference is represented. The depictions of sex, death, walkout, love and marriage, etc. reveal the spiritual journey of females and present the interrelation of thematic development and the time change.The second chapter examines the gender poetics of the initiation novels of female in the recent three decades. Starting with the complex relations of gender politics and public politics, and with "body","reflection" and "subjectivity constructing" being the key words, the chapter tries to explore the uniqueness of initiation novels of female in dealing with initiation issues and the underlying social-cultural-mental mechanism, and examines the value of initiation novels of female from the theoretical aspect of resisting patriarchy. The setbacks of and survival threats facing the female derive from the social gender context. Initiation narration depicts and represents a wide range of issues, including the predicament, wandering, confusion, anxiety and the sense of split self of the female, the impulse of practice of seeking freedom of the female, and the setbacks and spiritual breakthrough. The gender experience and gender meaning of the narration of female initiation will be much more than the female initiation itself.The third chapter attempts at a symptom analysis of the initiation novels of female in the recent three decades. The term symptom is used to analyze "the phenomena of textual paradox, vagueness, abnormality and difficulty", aiming to probe into the creative motivation and narrative blind spots and assess the surpassing value and theoretical meaning of initiation novels of female over gender existence. The discussion is carried out from three aspects:the war between the sexes, the homosexual affection and the everlasting gender gap. and focuses on how to dialectically treat the problems during the writing of initiation novels of female, such as the inclination of dealing with the sharp hostility by exiling the male in the father-daughter relation and husband-wife relation, the survival strategy of replacing sexuality with homosexual affection. Thinking about how to construct harmonious male-female relations and achieve human’s healthy development is given in relation to the gender role and gender expression in the female initiation.The forth chapter treats the aesthetic value of the initiation novels of female in the recent three decades. The chapter adopts the comparative approach, to seek the the aesthetic value of the initiation novels of female in the recent three decades, in comparison with the contemporary initiation novels of male and the initiation novels of female in the West. Compared to the contemporary initiation novels of male, initiation novels of female is more of an autobiography, with a more conscious gender consciousness of the female subjects and more complex experience of the female of the development space, especially the private space. Compared to the initiation novels of female in the West, the initiation novels of female in the recent three decades display remarkable Chinese spirit and Chinese style:regarding the environment of the growth of the subject, the regional feature is unique; from the Feminist perspective, the liberation and growth of Chinese females is interwoven with specific social ideologies, thus the historical characteristics of initiation narration from stage to stage and from generation to generation, as well as the Chinese feature of the resistance against patriarchy.