Correspondence And Conflict Between Rationality And Poetics

Among important features of modern literature is the surge of cultural prose in the 1990s, which gradually developed into a relatively mature genre of prose after a period of exploration. Critics are much concerned about cultural prose, with certain success achieved and difference maintained. This thesis views cultural prose as a interdisciplinary (borderline) genre, which draws on the experiences of other genres' characteristics and artistic representing methods, and reflects creative integrity to some extent, thus endowing prose with more profound, complex implications as well as vigorous, meaningful artistic features. After a review of the appearance of cultural prose and its influence on modern prose, the thesis tries to make a comprehensive observation on and systematic analysis of cultural prose's ideological inherent essence and artistic features, focusing on the works of Yu Qiuyu, one of its representative writers. Cultural prose's inherent implications and aesthetic merits are studied from two perspectives: rationality and poetics that shine through Yu's writings. In his efforts to conform the conflicts between his two roles: as a writer and as a scholar, Yu has accumulated some experiences and confronted such problems as the internal textual split and the conflict between rationality and poetics. The thesis tries to probe further into the issue of some general laws in cultural prose. The 25000-word thesis includes five parts: Introduction, Rationality in Yu's Works, Poetics in Yu's Works, Agreement and Conflict Between Rationality and Poetics, and Conclusion. The introducing part reviews briefly the historical background of cultural prose's surge and development, generalizes its literary features and narrows down the topic to focus on Yu Qiuyu's cultural prose. Chapter One mainly studies rationality in Yu's works, by giving a definition of rationality as the beginning. The article then discusses the features of cultural prose writers as humanists who bring their rationality into the prose organizing process, reflect them throughout their historical introspection and cultural criticism, and offer a chance for rationality's regression. Yu, as a scholar, brought rationality into his prose, which is seen in his ability to use reason and achievements based on the historical and cultural environments. The article describes the representation of rationality in Yu's prose from several aspects and points out his limitation. Chapter Two focuses on the poetics in Yu's works. Viewing the aesthetic features of cultural prose from the angle of poetics, the author defines the poetic implications of cultural prose, probes into the inherent mechanism of the poetic development, and explains the artistic merits of cultural prose by analyzing textual features. Next follows Chapter Three: Agreement and Conflict Between Rationality and Poetics. This chapter explores the agreement and conflict between rationality and poetics in cultural prose, from three angles: the infiltration of academic elements, relationship between passion and reason, relationship between historical description and subject; and further studies the internal mechanism of Yu's prose where exists paradox that is likely to be introjected. The concluding remarks points out the dilemma of Yu's prose and the inherent paradox of cultural prose, as well as the possible solution and prospects to surpass itself.