Postmodernity Of "The Third Generation" Poetry

As a rebellious spirit of the new era,postmodernity demands everyone to think,feel and take actions with a new thinking and acting mode,which means to criticize modernity,subvert the reasoning thinking mode of uniform and wholeness,and pursue those critical thinking mode such as differences and diversity.Late 1980 s is an era belonging to “the Third Generation” poetry,for “the third generation” poets have firstly felt,experienced and expressed the spiritual change of this era.It is historically necessary that Misty Poetry falls and “the Third Generation” poetry rises as a result,which is a symphony of the changing spirit of the time displayed by the two different poetical discourses in that historical context.Using postmodernity as a means of analysis,this doctoral dissertation takes “the Third Generation” poetry as the main subject,exploring “the Third Generation” poets' attitudes on traditional Chinese culture,their transcending on Misty Poetry and their acceptance of rebellious spirit of Western postmodern poetry with their own understanding so as to explain how “the Third Generation” poets,based on Chinese special historical and social context at that time,expressed their own experience and feelings with their special postmodern poems.Except of Introduction,Ending and an appendix,this doctoral dissertation has 5 chapters.Firstly discussing what are validity and limitation of postmodernism when using it as a theoretical means to explain Chinese new poetry,Introduction highlights the key point of postmodernist research of “the Third Generation” poetry is to analyze on what context “the Third Generation” poets,based on their own experience and feeling,express their own understanding of the new era spirit,how they display the spirit and what the specific meanings of the display are.Next,classify and comment briefly numerous books and papers on postmodernist research of “the Third Generation” poetry and then point out the necessity and feasibility of further systematizing this research.Lastly,define the scope of “the Third Generation” poetry,introduce two research methods and point out the research goals.Based on historical and social context on that time,Chapter One mainly discusses the transcendence of “the Third Generation” poetry on Misty Poetry and the postmodernist turning of Chinese new poetry.The author thinks that the difference between modernity and postmodernity stem from the turning of the spirit of the new era and it is because of “the Third Generation” poets first nosing out the postmodern atmosphere out of the turning of the spirit of the new era that they as a group launch a swift and widespread movement of Chinese postmodernist poetry.The first part is about the background of the turning of the spirit of the new era.The second part discusses the important role on inheriting the modernist tradition of Chinese new poetry as well as its limitation.The third part points out the transcendence of “the Third Generation” poetry on Misty Poetry and its initial significance on the postmodernist turning of Chinese new poetry.Chapter Two and Chapter Three discusses the cultural resources of “the Third Generation” poetry.Taking Chinese Zen as an example,Chapter Two discusses the relationship between “the Third Generation” poetry and Chinese traditional cultures.“Anti-culture” is one of the most important slogans claimed by “the Third Generation” poets;Chinese Zen is the most rebellious Chinese traditional culture.From the point of view of Chinese Zen's output and backflow,the Chapter focuses on how Chinese Zen became one of most important resources of “the Third Generation” poetry.Chinese classical poetry has related closely with Chinese Zen and Chinese modern poetry has also gotten great influence from Chinese Zen.But these influences have little connection with “the Third Generation” poetry.There are many same points between Chinese Zen and postmodernism.The idea of Sunyata and the thinking mode of “balancing both sides” in Chinese Zen have given great influence to “the Beat” poets when they need help to set up their own rebellious spirit.Nearly in the same way,“the Third Generation” poets repressed or ignored,under the influence and inspiration of the rebellious spirit of Western postmodernist poetry(especially “the Beat” poetry),lifts up a rebellious flag in initiating the movement of Chinese postmodernist poetry.Through accepting the influence of the rebellious spirit of Western postmodernist poetry which has been greatly influenced by Chinese Zen,“the Third Generation” indirectly absorbs and recreates the ideas of Chinese Zen.Taking “the Beat” poetry as an example,Chapter Three focuses on subjective acceptance of Western postmodernist poetry.On one hand,“the Third Generation” poets have been greatly wakened by the rebellious spirit of American postmodernist poetry.On the other hand,the main rebellious characters of “the Third Generation” poets are basically Chinese;what “the Third Generation” poetry expresses is “the Third Generation” poets own life experience and feeling in the special Chinese historical spot and time.The first part surveys the criticism of mainstream ideology on “the Beat” poetry from 1950 s up to 1980 s and the positive significance of this criticism to “the Third Generation” poet with a rebellious spirit.The second part discusses what influence “the Beat” poets' rebellious spirit has given to “the Third Generation” poetry.Through analyzing the difference between anti-hero and no-hero and the elements of “the Great Cultural Revolution” in “the Third Generation” poetry,the last part focuses on “the Third Generation” poets' subjective acceptance of Western postmodernist poetry.Taking a deconstructionist perspective from deconstructions on literal form,arrangement and language,Chapter Four focuses on the rebellious postmodernity of “the Third Generation” poetry.Based on dramatic and prose-like elements in “the Third Generation” poetry,Part One discusses the deconstruction on literal form.Based on visually non-poetic elements in “the Third Generation” poetry,Part Two discusses the deconstruction on traditional poetic arrangement.Based on generally using oral language in “the Third Generation” poetry,Part Three discusses the deconstruction on traditional poetic language.Chapter Five focuses on the construction of “the Third Generation” poetry.Part One explains the construction of its life poetics with sound as its expression center.Through unofficiality of history,de-metaphorization and spatial time,Part Two emphasizes “the Third Generation” poets' writing principle of “aesthetics of everyday life,” which surpasses modernist poem-writing principle focusing on integrality and universality in order to construct a new spirit expressed through common people's life experience and feeling.Conclusion further highlights that “the Third Generation” poets' deconstructive posture displayed in a kind of playful and disorder non-poetic language is only a tactic,with which “the Third Generation” poets construct life poetics and writing principle of “aesthetics of everyday life.” “The Third Generation” poets lay much emphasis on sound of life so as to express “aesthetics of everyday life,” which,out of the mainstream ideological discourse,takes non-metaphoric original oral language as the speech mode to highlight common people's everyday life.Anyway,“the Third Generation” poetic creation has postmodernist deconstruction tactic which deconstructs modernist integrality and universality;at the same time,it also pays much attention on expressing “aesthetics of everyday life” and constructing difference and diversity in poetic creation.The appendix is an important part of the paper.As a kind of reference,the appendix,according to the clue of analyzing the postmodernity of “the Third Generation” poetry in the main part,makes a briefly contrasting analysis on the background of “the Beat” poetry as well as its' oral language,sound and music,formal style and so on.In this way,the paper wants to prove that,as “the Third Generation” poets' and “the Beat” poets' different,native,poetic expressions based on their own special life experience in a special historical time and space,postmodernities of “the Third Generation” poetry and “the Beat” poetry are different and hard to be unified.