Writer Going Through 'The Anxiety Of Self-influence' ——Eileen Chang's Creation-changes And Self-contradictions

This dissertation studies a phenomenon of "the anxiety of self-influence" of writers.The phenomenon is that,in the entire creative process of a writer,his works in different periods are not unrelated.Instead,they may influence each other.This peculiar kind of influence would affect the writer's creative consciousness.It may arouse the writer's anxiety while doing creation.Transformations of works that may occur in a certain writer's whole creative process,are caused not only by the changes in external environments of different periods,but also by the constantly changing thoughts and emotional experiences of the writer himself.The differences between the writer's early and late works,not only reflect this peculiar kind of self-influence,but also reflect the writer's efforts to eliminate the anxiety through his creation.First,the dissertation proposes the concept.Bringing up the concept,"the anxiety of self-influence",is inspired by Bloom's concept of "the anxiety of influence".These two concepts are related but different.The proposal of the concept makes it possible to transcend the limitations of the existing theory.A way of interpreting the writer's works is proposed,by changing the research object and research scope.The intension of the concept "the anxiety of self-influence" has two dimensions: diachronic and synchronic.On the perspective of diachronic dimension,the transformations in the writer's creative process stem from the influence of changes in the external environment and internal elements in different periods on the creation.On the perspective of synchronic dimension,the differences and contradictions among different works of the same writer come from the internal contradictions,divisions and contradictions of the writer himself.These two dimensions are inherently united.It is necessary to comprehensively explore the changes in the external environment and the writer's own experience,as well as how the writer's own internal factors have affected the creation.When studying a specific writer's works,we should choose appropriate objects to research and pay attention to the applicability and inapplicability of the concept.Second,the dissertation studies the works of a specific writer.In order to prove the existence of the phenomenon of "the anxiety of self-influence" in literary creation activities,this research takes Eileen Chang's works and her creative experience as examples.Through the interpretations of the works,the analyses of biographical materials,and the explorations of the writer's psychology and internal contradictions,this research investigates the turning point in her life experience and her inherently contradictory factors.On a diachronic perspective,Eileen Chang had gone through a complicated creative process in her whole life,leaving behind a creative sequence with significant transformations and changes.On a synchronic perspective,her selfindependence and personal inclination had created conditions for the generation and intensification of various contradictions and divisions within her.By combining the investigation of the writer's life and the comparisons,analyses,and interpretations of the texts of works,this research proves that the writer Eileen Chang went through "the anxiety of self-influence".As her life experience and creative process had advanced,her own internal contradictions had constantly externalized into texts,manifested in the differences and transformations between the early and later works.We see the confrontations and mutual confrontations between the writer's selves in different periods,as well as her tentative behavior to get rid of the "anxieties".