For Whom The Bell Tolls?

Both William Faulkner and Jia Pingwa are great writers, each possibly one of the finest novelists in America and contemporary China. Based on their own native soil, theyconstructed world-famous mythical kingdoms-"Yoknapatawpha" and "Shangzhou".Their central theme, however, was not Oxford and Shangzhou, or Mississippi and northwest of China, or even America and China. It was, as Faulkner put it, the universal theme of "the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself." Through the comparison between Faulkner's The Bear and Jia Pingwa's Missing the Wolf, this dissertation is to explore that though Faulkner and Jia Pingwa share different times, cultural and family backgrounds, they have much in common in theme, that is, paying much attention to man' destiny and the harmony between man and nature, contemplating the spiritual wasteland and being nostalgic of the past.This dissertation is depicted through a six-chapter study. The first chapter is the introduction in which a rough idea of Faulkner's yoknapatawpapha mythology and Jia Pingwa's Shangzhou series. The second chapter tries to explore the similar theme shared by Faulkner's The Bear and Jia Pingwa's Missing the Wolf such as the harmonious relationship between man and nature. The next chapter analyzes both writers' different backgrounds that are reflected and penetrated in their works and eventually embodied in their central theme and the styles of language and structure. Chapter four is about the styles of language and structure of the two novels. Chapter five tries to analyze the characteristics and symbolization of main characters such as Ike McCaslin, Old Ben andFushan. In the last chapter, chapter six, I will argue that, although men have different times and cultural backgrounds, they are all concerned about men's destiny. Meanwhile, men should not always pine for the past, but take active actions and change the society.