On Ma Yuan’s Avant-garde Fiction

Ma Yuan, one of the most important avant-garde novelists of the contemporary literature in China, has made a valuable contribution to the development of modernist literature in the 1980 s.He leads the avant-garde fiction trend and his experimental works have completely overthrown the narrative concept of Chinese contemporary literature. Ma Yuan’s pioneering novels are based on the western meta-fiction and show the Chinese writer’s self-consciousness and the stylistic awareness. The avant-garde fiction, a clear and unique style of pioneering novel trend leaded by Ma Yuan, overturns the traditional realism literary paradigm and notions. Since Ma Yuan started consciously to focus on the literary form, the Chinese contemporary literature transformed from“what to write” to “how to write” and entered an era of aesthetics. Because of his technological literary creation ideas, artistic skills play a top priority in Ma Yuan’s novel writing. Therefore,Ma Yuan has produced many stylistic and experimental works which strongly influenced other writers. But Ma Yuan is not satisfied with the experiment of literary forms in his creation, and he continues to explore the ultimate problems inquiry such as the meaning of life and the existence.The mysticism tendency in terms of themes and connotation for Ma Yuan is both a writing strategy and a mirror of the writer’s mental confusion in the 1980 s. With regard to the form and contents, Ma Yuan’s novels are complex and rich, and his writings provide a panorama of Chinese literary sharp change in the mid-1980 s.Focusing on Ma Yuan’s experimental novels in the 1980 s from the perspective of modernity,this dissertation studies Ma Yuan’s fictional texts and his creation practice with the western meta-fiction theory and conclude his Meta fiction narrative style and technology. Meanwhile, the paper notices the spirit of mysticism in Ma Yuan’s novels and analyzes their philosophical causes and the historical context. Moreover, the paper studies the conflicts and dilemma among Ma Yuan’s creation ideas, writing style and text performance. Hopefully, these studies will help to better understand Ma Yuan’s avant-garde fiction and his historical experiment of Chinese modern literature.This dissertation consists of nine parts. The first is about an overview of the significance of Ma Yuan’s pioneering novels and their influences in Chinese modernist literature, and also introduces a comprehensive review of research on Ma Yuan’s fiction at home and abroad.Secondly, the paper summarizes the concept of modernity, aesthetic modernity and other related cultural concepts. The third part discusses the development and shift of Ma Yuan’s novels in the1980 s, and also the growth and the image construction of Ma Yuan as a pioneer novelist are studied in this part. The fourth part studies the history of the western Meta fiction and pays more attention to its impact on Ma Yuan’s creation, and the practice and the features of Ma Yuan’s meta-fiction are demonstrated in this part. The fifth part focuses on the innovation of Ma Yuan’s meta-fiction experiment and his creation theory. The sixth part traces the relationship between mysticism and the Chinese modern literature, and also studies the representation of the mysticism in Ma Yuan’s novels and their philosophical causes. In the seventh part, the emphasis is placed on the conflicts and paradox in Ma Yuan’s writing practice and its causes. The eighth part summarizes and demonstrates Ma Yuan’s significant literary contributions, and his influences on the Chinese contemporary literature and his shortage. By studying Ma Yuan’s novels in the 1980 s, the last part concludes the significance of Ma Yuan’s literary experiment and its implication. Chinese writers should not only focus on the literary form but also take the social reality as their main target. Thus they can improve the modern quality of their works and further promote the process of the modernity of the Chinese contemporary literature.