Research On The Modernization Of East Asian Literature

After the middle of the nineteenth Century, with the promotion of Western industrial revolution and capitalism, the Western spiritual culture and material culture was affecting the whole world gradually, whose power expanded widely and permeated deeply. The so-called "modernization" refers exactly to the process of Europeanization. However, South Korea, China and Japan, which are in the Northeast Asia are excluded from Western Civilization Society. When their state systems are in the process of transiting to a civilized society, the three country reached a decisive turning point of the mandatory Open Door Policy. However, North East Asia’s awareness of modernization and civilization couldn’t get rid of shackles of the "semi colony". As a consequence, the old feudal systems which still remain in the field of spiritual culture unavoidably leads to a variety of setbacks were made through the practice of modern culture.A comparative study of the modern culture of the three countries from Northeast Asia can be considered as one of the projects of western historical restoration. At present, to overcome the error appeared in the modern culture practices has become an important issue of all ethnic groups in the Northeast Asia. But so far, the three countries still cannot arrive at a consensus on the issue. One reason is that Japan firstly achieved the modernization alone, making Japan another model of modernization in the view of China and Korea. With the differences either in the ways of acceptance or in the political systems, it is not easy to see their "modernizations" as a whole. Thus there comes the conflict between two sides with the issue of modernization:one is in the position of outside influence, but the other insists it as a spontaneous behavior.In terms of history, culture and geography, South Korea, China and Japan maintain a very close relationship, and they provide each other with mutual support and promote common development. After entering the modern era, China and Korea with the remnants of feudalism were oppressed by the invasion of western powers led by Japan. At that time, literature directly reflected not only the reality and the ideology of the people, but the huge changes in the society and policy, and then, the transformation of literary thought had also been provoked. Based on the oriental philosophy, similarities still can be seen in the process of modern literature as well as the literature works of the three countries. Literature is a reflection of social reality, and those changes must be reflected in the field of literature, which led to the transformation of literary thought. In addition, only by the study of the history of modern literature, literature works as well as the writers, and the connection between the literature of the three countries, the literature of Northeast Asia and the literature of the world can be clarified. In terms of the development situation of the modern literary history, the popularity of modern consciousness, ethnic and national identity result in wide variations were caused in the modern literary history of the three countries.Lu Xun, Lee Kwang soo and Natsume Soseki’s literary creation make a significant contribution to the construction of native art of fiction, thus it is quite valuable and meaningful to investigate their works horizontally. Then, the concept of literature and the benefits of constructing a new literature style can be found out, and it is also useful to excavate a new way of studying the literature. All the above is the original intension of this thesis.This thesis consists of introduction and five main chapters.Introductionn:the original reason of the selection of the topic, the general background of the modernization and modern literature in Northeast Asia are introduced. And I make a brief introduction of the three writers(Lu Xun, Lee Kwang soo and Natsume Soseki), and the values and significance of this study are also presented.The five main chapters:Chapter1:Elaboration on how Lu Xun, Lee Kwang soo and Natsume Soseki accepted the modern cultures, and comparison among the three of them. Discussion on their growing experiences and the similarities and differences of their life stories. Analysis on the differences in such aspects as nationality, culture background, tradition and so on, and the differences they experienced when they studied abroad which made contribution to their awareness of literature.Chapter2:Elaboration on modern humanistic factors of the three writers’ novels and their comparison:comparative study of the anti-feudal ideology of Lu Xun and Lee Kwang soo and the anti-feudalistic thinking of Natsume Soseki’s comparative study on their consciousness of national transformation,thought of modernization and attitudes towards cultural criticism in their novels. Chapter3:Analysis on the portrayal of characters in their novels, namely farmers, Enlightenment intellectuals, intellectuals with no ambitions,and new type of female; discussion on the characteristics and some modern factors used in shaping those characters.Chapter4:Analysis on the three writers’modernization features in the narrative method, perspective of narration, the structure of’dialogue’ narration and spacing narration;to elaborate these three writers’contribution to the literature movements which happened after they entering the modernization era; to reveal their connections in art field at the same time. Chapter5:Statement on Lu Xun, Lee Kwang soo and Natsume Soseki’s leading position in the modernization of novels; stress on the writers’position in the intellectual history and literary history; comparative study on their influences on the literary history of the three countries of Northeast Asia.My thesis is based on the previous researches of Lu Xun, Lee Kwang soo and Natsume Soseki, and I adopted the method of overall grasp of the works’ modernization factors, and combined the methods which are called influence study and parallel study to analyse, thoroughly, in the end make a comprehensive, integrated and objective study and comment. I hope that this paper would make a little contribution to the study and development of the modern literature.