The Extended Aesthetics

Under the concept of anti-essentialism or anti-foundationalism,this doctorate dissertation will mainly focus on the novels in Mainland China since the 1980 s,explore the state,dispositions and the interactions or relationships between the creative writing and writers and re-evaluate these nearly 40 years' structural changes,its expansion and influence of the Chinese Contemporary Literature,especially in the dimension of literary aesthetics.So in the Introduction,we will reflect on these following questions: What is the anti-essentialism? How about the relationship between literary aesthetics and the anti-essentialism? And through examining the current discourse and the process of its vicissitude,we will ask why we choose this literary form--the novel,as the center of our topic? From these questions,this part try to establish the basic scopes and logical starting point for this whole dissertation.Combined with the achievements from both domestic and overseas scholars,the first chapter will systematically deal with these relevant theories and discuss how the theory of the anti-essentialism presents its fresh opinions and the principle of the aesthetics.In the second chapter,we turn to talk about the essentialism and its deep influence on the contemporary Chinese novels,especially during the year from 1940 s to 1980 s.But more importantly,this part will mostly represent how these writers chase for freedom of expression and reconsider the absurdity of the world through their works even under such a oppressive circumstance.Around the year of 1985,we can see the apparent change in the narrative forms of the novels.As a result,the third chapter will analyse the reasons of this structural change and above all,we search for the hidden views behind it,such as viewpoints of history,the principle of the aesthetics,the nature of human beings,etc.According to this thought patterns,the fourth chapter has firstly questioned and re-valued the historical views with the essentialism thoughts in former novels,especially for the ones from 1942 to 1980 s.But no matter how much we will discuss in our topic,we should not forget the fundamental standpoint: Literature represents the human nature.So in the last chapter,we handle the issue that after the 1980 s,how the Chinese writers investigate the soul,mindset and even the secretes of our mankind.