Study Of Chinese Realistic Novels In The Newage

With the reflection, recognition and appeal to Realism in the new century, realisticnovels recurred in literature; most of the works of those writers who were active inliterature throughout generations were considered as works of Realism, especiallythose awardees of Luxun Literature Price and Maodun Literature Price. Under thegreat attack of Modernism and Post-Modernism, Realism tries to fight back and riseagain instead of sinking into the history. This phenomenon draws our attention: whywould Realism strive for existence despite the prosperity of various isms, theories andmethods? Where is the indispensable value of Realism stand? Has Realism gotenough improvement in China? Has Realism accomplished its mission? Under thecontext of the new era, how does Realism realize its return, and what’s the result? Andhow could Realism novels develop, innovate and regain its vitality? Apparently, theanalysis and answers to those questions would have great impact on the developmentof Realism novels and contemporary literature in the new century.In social context, China still maintains her position in the state of changing andrevolution on the new era, and the discourse of the country and capital make themarket-oriented economy the value standard which controls almost every aspects ofsocial life in China.“The new reality” is full of complicated conflicts, and the socialphenomenon is beyond the writers’ imagination: the problems of corruption,polarization, pollution and social inequality and injustice; listening to the people’sappeals, exploring the spiritual malnutrition of people and enlightening souls, thoseare all the realities that Realism novels have to reflect and consider.“The new reality”also provides Realism with an opportunity to rise again. Meanwhile, the culturalresources bore in Chinese writers have shown their preference of Realism, whereasamong the readers, Realism is also the acceptable and preferable style of writing. That is to say, in Chinese context, Realism has not exhausted its possibility, and it has a lotto discover and to explore; its possibility, legality and vitality are still worth studying.It means that it is necessary for us to put greater effort into Realism creation, and paymore attention to the subtle change and influence of Realism.So this paper targets on the realistic novellas and novels which are representative inthe new age in order to discover and answer questions about Realism throughconditions, changes, characteristics, gains, losses, historical background and futureprospects.Based on the study of Chinese contemporary literature, this topic takes its root onthe condition of realistic novels of new age, with the methods of dialectical analysis,close reading, embryology, comparative study, summery and the combination of thespecific and the general, and positive reflection and the awareness of question,historical problems in realistic novels of new age become the main focus. The studytries to analyze the problem through the interaction among Realism, Chinese history,society, politics, cultural tradition and literature itself, and make reasonable andunbiased explanation about Chinese realistic theory and novels.This paper is divided into six parts.Firstly, the introduction explains the reason and value of the chosen topic. Becauseof the expectation about realistic novels in the sphere of the critics and the closerelation between novels and Realism, interest is sparkled on the study of realisticnovels. Meanwhile, supporting evidence and inspiration are given through the theoryof close reading and solutions about puzzles of practice. Secondly, current results andstatistics about this topic are presented. Thirdly, the thoughts and methods used in thispaper are illustrated. Finally, the structure of this paper and the reason for this designare explained in detail.The first chapter is about the summery of Realism and realistic novels in new age.From the theory on Realism and the understanding about its concept, the summery isdivided into two parts. The first part starts from great historical changes of theconcept of Realism and its meaning, and different opinions are analyzed. Severalimportant issues such as broad definition of Realism, dialectical explanation of realistic theory, different interpretations of Realism according to different situations,replacement of the convincing “sense of reality”, the point about the relation betweenliterature and reality, the presenting method of literary reality, the dialectical existenceof realistic spirit and narrative, and the principles to recognize realistic novels, arediscussed in it. Based on this discussion, the second part is about the summery ofrealistic novels, issues such as the approval and appeal for realistic theory and writingin new age, the over-all performance of realistic novels, the typical types and contextsof realistic novels concerning their allusion to reality, are mentioned in this part.Finally, with the retrospection of the literary historical background in the last age,summery is given on the inheritance and surpass of realistic novels in new age.The second chapter talks about an obvious era symptom in realistic novels. Fromthe critical perspective, a typical problem, which is called “sub-Realism”, is analyzedand summarized. It is divided into three parts. The first part analyzes the thinking trapof realistic novels, drawing examples of novels about lower class, bureaucraticsituation, marriage and love. By doing this, the point is made that these works arerestricted to present superficial reality without strength and critical thinking. It showsthe lack of thinking and power of resistance when trapped in materialism. The secondpart discusses the aesthetics crisis in realistic novels. From the weaken characters andstrangeness of plot to the aesthetics about low taste of daily narration, this partsummarizes the changes on low taste of aesthetic presentation and perspective. Thethird part concludes all these symptoms to the lack of critical power, and calls it“sub-Realism”. Furthermore, the direct and indirect reasons about this symptom aredelved into from the perspective of historical background and cultural root.The third chapter focuses on the breakthrough of narrative strategy and themes insome realistic writers’works from the angle of general summery and specific analysis.The first two parts are summaries about the development about narrative strategy suchas division and change on narrative time and multi-dimensions of focalization andnarration. And the breakthrough about the themes on the pursuit of profoundmeanings, mutual understanding and loyalty in souls, hardship in women’s pursuit oflife, inheritance and destruction of love, and poetic living in lower class, are mentioned. The third part is specific analysis. Frog, written by Mo Yan, is illustratedfrom these aspects, namely, what to write about, how to write, and how the result is.The difficult part in this paper is the growth point of the realistic novels in the newage, which is discussed in the fourth chapter. Based on the era symptoms of this kindof novels concluded in advance, some solutions and strategies are put forward toovercome disadvantages, carry forward advantages, and seek further breakthrough ofthe realistic novels. There are five parts in this chapter. In the first part, realisticcriticalness and transcendence are further stressed. Based on criticism, it’s alsoindicated the significance of restoring the ideal and constructing meanings and theperfect combination between criticalness and artistry. In the second part, thesubjectivity of the author is rethought. It is pointed out that independent thinking andfree will are precious for writers in creation to improve comprehensive qualities andnarrative ability. In the third part,"people-oriented" theory is mentioned again.People’s various existential states and the secrets of soul are explored, throughshaping diverse images. In the fourth part, the individualized language is called on inthe realistic novels to express accurate and graceful meanings, which has the ability tosurpass and resistance. In the fifth part, advantages and disadvantages are analyzedand compared between grand narration and daily life narration to advocate breakingbinary opposition and constructing their complementation.In the conclusion part, the paper expresses the confidence and expectation toRealism. It demonstrates endless development of Realism from its indispensablevalue, possibility and growing-up feature. This also means that for Chinese newRealism in the new age, it should preserve its validity and growing-up feature indevelopment.