Elegy Of Rural Writers A Comparative Study Of Thomas Hardy's Tess Of The D'urbervilles And Jia Ping-Wa's Tumen(土门)

This thesis tends to make a comparative study between Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Tumen and it aims at the exploration of the conflicts between rural areas and industrialized cities during the process of modernization.Thomas Hardy's novel, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, is closely related to the historic period. Through reading this novel, readers may perceive the attitude of Hardy toward the decline of agrarian society. Jia Ping-wa created a village symbolized the traditional culture embodiment and also a heroic man who protected the village from being destroyed by the trend of urbanization. The novel Tumen is a mirror of the present conditions of Chinese society and it also reflects the agony and distress of the people living in rural and urban areas who seek the symbiosis of traditional culture and modern culture.Hardy and Jia, as rural or local writers, or we can say, son of Nature, are descendants of rustic tradition and culture. The places where they were raised are endowed with mysterious traits. Hardy's Wessex and Jia's Shangzhou have become symbols with peculiar attributes of rural culture.As for the novels, rural settings share the quality of being traditional and historic; female protagonists are daughters of Nature and descendants of ancient nobilities and male protagonists include intruders of agricultural society; fake descendants; savior of tradition and devoted rural protectors.This dissertation focuses on the topics mentioned above and through comparative study of the two novels to illustrate the importance of traditional culture to modern industrial society and the people of the modern world. Another purpose is to introduce writers from Northwest China to the world of literature.