| The1980s is generally considered as the “Golden Age” of contemporary Chinese literature,and during this period, a large number of historical novels were emerged. Compare with thecreation of historical novel in the “Seventeen Years” period and the “Cultural Revolution” period,it is a great leap forward both in quantity and quality, and it was rated as another summit of thecreation of historical literature after the “May4th Movement” period. The historical novels ofthis period inherited the tradition of historical narration during thousands of years in Chinesehistory. The themes were selected from the history books, and they were reviewed and cogitatedwith modern consciousness. Some consciousnesses of the Chinese intellectuals in the end of thetwentieth Century were referenced, such as the relationship between the history and the reality,the subjectivity of the writers as intellectuals, and the consideration of “historic reality” and“artistic reality”. Especially influenced by the context of the1980’s,“Modernity” and “nationalimagination” were included in the historical novel creations by the writers, and new featureswere showed at the same time.In this thesis,“Back to the1980s”(also called “Return to the1980s”), a productiveparadigm in the research field of the1980’s Chinese literature was used, and the purpose was toresearch and inspect the creation and acceptance of the1980’s historical novels. The specificresearch method is to select several writers and their works which have a unique style ofhistorical novels but were neglected by the readers, the researchers and the history of literature,make a detailed study of the development of historical novel creation, and strive to embody the“synchronicity” and “tension” between the writers and the main trend of the times.Introduction of this thesis mainly summarized a brief synopsis of the development ofChinese historical novels from the origin to the mid twentieth Century (the “Seventeen Years”period), then introduced the creation of historical novels in the1980s briefly, and summarizedthe research status. At last,“Back to the1980s” paradigm (also called “Return to the1980s”paradigm) was analyzed, especially the development, feature and the specific method of theparadigm. The thesis pointed out that it was very meaningful to use this paradigm in the search of the1980’s Chinese literature, including the historical novels.The first chapter chose the writer Xiao Jun and his novel “A Historiette of Wu and Yue”, ahistorical novel written in the1950s but published in the early1980s as the main study object.This novel was written after a long time of soul torture. The writer saw “the spirit of Lu Xun” ashis guiding ideology, strove to encourage the subjectivity of intellectuals, insisted on the freedomand independence of art, persisted in the freedom and independence of the writers. Although heparticipated in activities of revolutionary art and literature actively, but there was a greatdivergence between the guiding ideology of the CCP and the writer, so he was criticizedfrequently in the1940s and the1950s. He was not convinced, and created the novel. In the novel,he told the stories of the ancients two thousands ago, described the experiences and soul torturesof the ancients, and the conclusion of interpersonal relationship was including. At that time, XiaoJun was not a writer but a “historist”, for the purpose of publishing, he chose a strange form totell the stories, not as a novel, but not as a treatise either. It was a “popular history book”. Therewas a similar standpoint as the writer Chen Xianghe and his historical fictions in the early1960s,it was to stress the subjectivity of intellectuals. And it was very different from the popularhistorical dramas such as “Gallbladder and Sword” by Cao Yu, which was similar in the theme. Itwas a contemporaneous misfit, whether in the period of composition or in the period ofpublishment. The novel was regarded as an offbeat work or an exception.The second chapter chose the woman writer Yang Mo and her late creations (“OrientalDawn”,“Song of Fragrant Flowers”, and “Song of Beautiful Flowers”) as representative worksof “the Revolutionary Historical Novels” in the1980s. Based on the analysis on the creativemotivation and process, especially the textual analysis, the thesis concluded that Yang Mo is atypical example of the writers who belongs to the emotional pattern in the history ofcontemporary Chinese literature. Their creative processes were influenced by the waves ofemotion and psychology evidently, and they always put their emotive waves into their worksconsciously or unconsciously. With the increase of age, the influences by various factors weremore and more obvious, and they could not devote all their energies into the creative process. Soher last three novels were not as successful and acceptive as the famous novel “Song of Youth”.In the “Seventeen Years” period, the “Revolutionary Historical Novels” were excessivelyprosperous, and almost all the creative ideas, forms and skills were used up. Although the creation of this period provided abundant experiences to the posterity, innovation was verydifficult to make. The limited trial by Yang Mo could not make her success. On the other hand,the interests of the readers in the1980s were changed greatly. All the signs showed that thecreation of historical novel needed reforming imminently.The second chapter chose the writer and social activist Feng Jicai’s historical novel creationas the object of study. He began his literary creation with a historical novel “Boxer”, thendabbled in many theme fields such as historical novels,“trauma fictions” and reflection novels.After the novel “Boxer”, He wrote “A Prequel of the Red Lantern” and the series “StrangeAdventures”, including “The Magical Braid as A Whip”,“Lotus Feet, or Three Inch Feet” and“Yin and Yang”.“Boxer” was heavily influenced by the guiding ideology of the “CulturalRevolution”, the subject restricted the story, and that was the localization of the novel, and it wasat a low artistic level. The novel showed the history of “the Boxer Movement” to the readers, butthe writer’s starting point was to show the history of Chinese revolution several years later.“Boxer” was belong to “the Revolutionary Historical Novels” as Yang Mo’s “Song of Youth”.Because of the change of interest of Feng,“A Prequel of the Red Lantern” was unfinished, butsome new and significant reformations in writing style and technique of literary creation wereshowed in this novel, and the innovation was completed at last in the series “StrangeAdventures”. Feng Jicai introspected the disadvantages of traditional Chinese culture profoundly.He showed the disadvantages in his historical novels, and there were many reflections andcriticisms. However, due to the special way of expression, as well as differences in the treatmentof traditional culture standpoint, Feng Jicai’s historical novels caused great controversy. But ifwe could understand Fang’s theory of culture which was founded during the process ofprotecting the cultural heritage gradually, we can understand his creative mind better.The fourth chapter planed to reread the last three volumes of Yao Xueyin’ s monumentalwork “Li Zicheng”, and give a new interpret of the historical novel. There was an obvious gapbetween the creation and criticism of “Li Zicheng”. After the publishment of the third volume ofthe novel in the early1980s, Yao Xueyin’ s health condition turned worse, his creativity declined,and his attention was distracted by some arguments. The last two volumes of the novel could notbe finished in time, and it postponed the publishment. The enthusiasm of the readers and thecritics was dissipated. When the last two volumes were published, they were still first drafts. Meanwhile, as the guiding ideology of literary creation changed, the defects in the first twovolumes were overstated, and the evaluation of the artistic value was worse and worse. After theargument about Guo Moruo’ s “In Memory of1644” and the argument with Liu Zaifu, the writerbegan his reformation limitedly. In the last three volumes, the characters Li Zicheng, Li yan andLiu Zongmin were different from the first two volumes, they changed obviously. But somelimitations in the writer’ s mind made him overcautious, and there were many contradictions inthe novel. The writer’s attitude toward the leaders of the minorities was contradictory, too.Because the subject restricted the story, the writer wanted to build some images of reformers, butthere were too much shortcomings on these leaders. The facts of the images doesn’t square withthe original conception. A variety of reasons made the last three volumes of “Li Zicheng” onlymediocre.In the conclusion, the thesis point out that there are different levels of neglection and“forgotten” phenomenon of the four writers and their historical novels. The reason is that whetthese writers created historical novel in the early1980s, they could not emancipating the mindradically, could not extricate themselves from the harmful tendencies of creation during the thirtyyears after the founding of the PRC. In the face of challenges from the newcomers, some writerschanged actively. They transferred their direction of creation and style, and made newachievements. But there were also some writers still couldn’t get rid of bad influence completely.They only hoped to adapt the change of context of times and literary creation limitedly, andmodified the original conception, eventually led to the failure. It was worth pondering by thecurrent history novel writers. |
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