Literature/West China: Image And Vision

Since the New-Era, West-China-Prose has been an important part of Contemporary Chinese Literature, and shown its literary excellence in the "Prose Fever" in the 1990s. The authors, such as ZHOU Tao, MA Li-hua, ZHANG Cheng-zhi, JIA Ping-wa, LIU Liang-cheng, and so on, have become household. Their prose, to some degree, can be regarded as classics in the History of Contemporary Chinese Prose. But as a prominent phenomenon, West-China-Prose has not gained its position it deserves in the Contemporary Chinese World. And there is no exception in the studies of West-China-Prose. This paper attempts to study West-China-Prose creation and critique from the view point of culture study all-sidedly and wholly. Concretely, Chapter One focuses on outlining the current situation of the studies of West-China-Prose and pointing out the problems. Chapter Two lays particular emphasis on four kinds of Images of West China presented in the texts of West-China-Prose, and showing the readers how the Images of West China were constructed and in what way people imagine West China. Chapter Three mainly analyzes some special literary terms in the texts of West-China-Prose and show their cultural meaning. Chapter Four reflects on the way the authors quote and surpass the historic materials in their works; thus, showing the cultural relationships between West China and East China and West China and the West. And Chapter Five, the last chapter, will dig out the profound meaning of West-China-Prose, and the perplexity and paradox we have to face when we are expounding our views. To a large extend, this paper can correct the previous comprehension of West-China-Prose, West China and West China Culture, display the position of West-China-Prose in the Contemporary Chinese Literature World, demonstrate the standing of the West China Culture/Border Areas Culture/Chinese Ethnic Group Culture in the setup of Chinese Culture, and reveal the complicated cultural relationships between them.