A Study Of Charles Johnson's Literary Thoughts Of "Whole Sight"

This dissertation is intended to discuss Charles Johnson's(1948-)literary thoughts of "whole sight" from three aspects,namely,creative techniques,cultural elements,and worldly caring.The literary thoughts of "whole sight" run through Johnson's opus,including his four novels,several of his short stories,and some essays.As a renowned contemporary American black writer,and the one who has an intense feeling of social responsibility and universal love,Johnson is always aiming to lift American black literature out of its predicament of creation through breaking all restrictions,suspending all presuppositions,and liberating writers' perception.It is in this way that Johnson tries to achieve his creative goal of "whole sight" as well as heal the chronic diseases of the thinking modes of dualism and division in western culture.At the same time,"whole sight"also means the writer should draw a variety of ideas and elements from both eastern and western cultural sources.This "whole sight" ideal is none but what Johnson advocates and practices all through his literary career.This dissertation will first discuss two key concepts,one is "whole sight",the other is"philosophical black fiction",by focusing on how Charles Johnson understands and interprets their origin,function,and the relationship between them.Based upon this,it will try to define the concept of "whole sight".After which,it will analyze in detail two of the main creative techniques employed by Johnson in his novels and other genre,namely,the phenomenological "epoche" and the intertextual writing.Through such analysis,this dissertation points out that writers could really break their prejudices and go beyond their narrow selves to approach the goal of "whole sight"through the employment of such literary techniques.But this is certainly not enough to achieve the goal of "whole sight".This dissertation thus goes on analyzing how Johnson fuses into his novels various traditions of both eastern and western literature and culture,making them contribute in a great way to the destruction of harmful thinking modes of dualism and thought division.Owing to the aforementioned creative thoughts,not only has Johnson found a way out of the calcification and formulation of traditional black fiction,achieving richness and diversity in his literary creation,but also infused his intense care for the world in it,which,doubtless to say,will provide any people,especially the black Americans,a way to eliminate conflicts and division on the way to fulfilling their dreams of spiritual freedom and liberty,and to rebuilding a healthy and harmonious world.Hence this dissertation claims in its conclusion that while the literary thoughts of "whole sight" are a core subject in Johnson's writing,liberating people's perception and achieving "whole sight" is both the highest goal of Johnson's literary creation and his greatest expectations of the real world.Johnson is devoted to the creation of "philosophical black fiction" all his life in order to help the American black fiction get rid of its condition of narrowness,calcification and one-dimension.By means of this,he not only helps to bring the concealed tradition of "philosophical black fiction" into light but also inherit and develop it,which has propelled the American black literature and culture into an era of diversity and pluralism to a great extent.Therefore,it can be safely said that the exploration on Johnson's literary thoughts of "whole sight" could,in some sense,enrich the American black literature and American literature studies as well,and,in Johnson's words,could fulfill the goal of "whole sight" in Johnson studies both at home and abroad.In addition,this research could also provide some idea for us to maintain and strengthen the harmonious existence between different ethnic groups in China.The innovation of this dissertation could be listed as follows:The first is that its study objects are different from those of other scholars.Having probed into a range of Johnson's important ideas,this dissertation is the first systematic and comprehensive study of Charles Johnson's literary creation.As a writer with remarkable achievements,Johnson has created plenty of literary works and developed a unique writing style.It is a pity,however,that few has be done about his works in China.Thus this dissertation not only avoids the unfavorable situation that too many scholars have fixed their attention on the same famous black writers such as Richard Wright,Ralph Ellison and Tony Morrison,but also helps to broaden the horizon of American black studies in China.The second is that it helps to expand the themes of Johnson studies.This dissertation explores some of the new themes in Johnson's works,such as his ideas of "whole sight" and "the second front",the themes on christianity,rebuilding the world,and "the Drum Major Instinct",and the like.In addition,it also explores the role the blending culture of east and west plays in his works in solving the thorny problems in western culture and human thinking.The third is that it opens up a new study perspective in Johnson studies.What Johnson pursues for in his life and literary career is the undermining of presuppositions and restrictions of human experiences in order to fulfill his creative goal of "whole sight".The pity lies in the fact that scholars both in China and abroad have largely focused their studies of Johnson either on race and identity,or on freedom and slavery.Few has probed into his works from the viewpoint of"whole sight",although it has been referred to occasionally by some.Thus this dissertation could,to some degree,make up for this shortage in Johnson studies.The fourth is that it tries to give a definition to the concept of "whole sight" for the first time."Whole sight" is a core concept in Johnson studies.However,no one has defined it up to now.Therefore,based on the understanding and interpretation of Johnson and other scholars',this dissertation tries to give a clear definition to the concept of "whole sight" and clarify its connotations.