The writings of a poet-warrior: Hu Feng's vision of realism in China (1928-1948)

Since the early 1930's, Chinese writers have found their position in constant upheaval, leaving unresolved the role of literary freedom in a socialist society.;Nowhere has this problem been more clearly demonstrated than in the case of the poet and critic, Hu Feng. Although Hu Feng was a Marxist, he nevertheless differed with the Communist leadership on the question of literary expression. Since the 1930's, Hu contended with the literary theorist Zhou Yang on the role of realism in art and the importance of the subjective viewpoint of the writer. As a vehicle for his views, he established independent literary journals, fostering through them a new generation of realist writers. In the midst of pressures exerted against him, Hu addressed the Party in 1954 in a report calling for a reform of bureaucratic tendencies in the literary world. As a consequence, he and his followers were the victims of a nationwide campaign in 1955 for which Hu was subsequently imprisoned for twenty-five years.;Despite Hu Feng's importance in Chinese literary history, few studies have been done on him either in English or Chinese. As part of this research in China, the writer conducted several interviews with Hu Feng as well as interviews with prominent literary figures who knew Hu Feng. In addition to these interviews, the writer utilized primary source material in order to reconstruct a literary history of Hu Feng's work during the two decades of the 1930's and 1940's.;This research compels the reader to examine and appreciate Hu Feng's work in the broader context of the realist tradition which originated in the May Fourth and New Culture movements (1915-1921). Hu Feng challenged the politically influenced trend toward abstract or"conceptualized" literature. Using such phrases as the "flesh and blood of real life" and the "subjective struggling spirit," he brought forth the views that literature convey a complex view of life and that it be the product of the individual writer. Hu Feng's legacy as a writer and proponent for literary realism--a poet-warrior--is a continuation of the tradition of realism in modern China.