Simple & Honest Life Brilliant & Elegant Style

The local novels written by Shen Congwen fly his own colors in Chinese literature. In his works, the countrymen are those ordinary people in the west of Hunan province. Shen Congwen uses the word "countryman" not only to sing high praise of and show great concern about people in the west of Hunan province, but also to identify himself with them. As a matter of fact, he often calls himself a countryman. In his works, He stands from the viewpoint of the countrymen to elaborate on the conflict between the traditional civilization and the modern civilization in Western Hunan, creating the well-known Western Hunan culture. In his novels, he shows the local people's character, appearance, various feelings as well as the local customs. His works should not be considered as purely local literature but a literary creation about human nature and humanity. In his works, he expresses his ideal for life and love for the Western Hunan. What he advocates is an ideal life style! One of his masterpieces is The Country, a poetic novel most loved by readers. They either admire the natural life style of the country, or are amazed by the beauty and innocence of Cuicui. However, only when we come to know Shen Congwen well do we really know the purpose of his writing this novel. The country was written in 1934, when he returned to his long missing hometown, which he found had lost the original simple and honest look and was going ahead into a new culture with conflict and compatibility of the old and the new coexisting. He sharply sensed the impact and influence of the violent social changes on different parts of China and the people there. These changes made him think of China's situation at that time, and the past, present, and future of the Chinese nation. He attempted to arouse the people and courageously probed into the tragedy of this nation, trying to find a way out by rebuilding the national virtues, which is his prime purpose of writing The Country, and is also the study subject of this thesis.In this novel, Shen Congwen has created various characters with rich personalities. From the old boatman, we can see Chinese people's diligence, simplicity, honesty and strong will. From the chief crewman Shunshun and Yang Mabing, we can see the demeanor of chivalry and sympathy. And Brother Nuosong is the symbol of sincerity and kindness while Cuicui is pure, beautiful, loyal to love and conscientious at work, an image Shen Congwen sings high praise of. Moreover, Shen Congwen, in this novel, thinks highly of such harmonious relationships between the old and the young, the peers, the male and the female, and man and nature. Between the lines, the local complex and spiritual trend in The Country can be clearly found out. In addition, the artistic style is also worth studying. Shen Congwen reveals to the reader the ups and downs of the whole story in a concise and calm pattern narration. The psychological description is simple but vivid; the language is vulgar but elegant; and the beauty is mild but far off. This thesis will probe into the aspects mentioned above in order to provide a new viewpoint into the study of The Country.