Journey To Nowhere

The name of Su Tong appeared in the field of Chinese literature in 1980s and then became well-known for the pioneering writing style of this great writer. In 1990s Su Tong changed his typical pioneering style to the representation of reality. This paper concentrates on his changes of writing style from pioneering to reality during his 20 years' writing as a whole. It is elaborated from two aspects: the first part is about the main ideas of Su Tong's fiction which reflect his pursuing for spiritual homeland and escaping from the reality almost with the end of the hero's confusion and loss in belief; the second one is discussing about the non-pioneering writing style—the typical traditional style, or the "potential" escaping from the pioneering which has brought up the excluding achievements of the great writer and his changing to reality at the same time.In the first part, the author discusses about the cultural origin and the representation of the escapement as far as all his works are concerned. Then this paper gives us the reasons and the process of Su Tong's constant pursuing for spiritual homeland and escaping from it at the time when most of the modern people have lost their faith, in terms of Su Tong's escaping from the village of Maple and Poplar, from country and cities, from the earthly world and eventually from the spiritual world.In the second part, the author adopts the comparative method to discuss about Su Tong's escapement from the pioneering writing style in terms of the artistic skill and the aesthetic appreciation on cultures. On the one hand, it concentrates on the "noticeable" escapement .namely the works are being changed gradually from the pioneering style to the reality for the reasons of literature and non-literature. On the other hand, it puts emphasis on the "potential" escapement, that is the non-pioneering style or the typical traditional style, which is unfolded in terms of the plot sense, the cyclic pattern and the poetic stories.