The Trace Of Power

The school of the Warring-states strategy is a cultural and academic group emerging in the "main rear area" in the early 1940s. Its literary creation and thought is more eminent during the Sino-Japan war. However, under the social circumstance of the national crisis and the party strife during World War II, the literature of the school is indicated as "the Fascist literature" by the leftists, which is preserved in the Chinese contemporary literature. Based on Foucault's power-discourse theory, this thesis, on the one hand, endeavors to shake off the ideological interference in order to reveal the aesthetic value and academic significance of the Warring-states strategy school. On the other hand, this study places its literature in the field of power, aiming at unearthing the concealed relation between literature production system and authority mechanism.Part One: This part focuses on the peripheral clearing of the literature of the Warring-states strategy school. The school makes "the will of power" as its kernel thought, and deduces its force advocacy and martial idea. Under the background of the war, however, Nietzsche's doctrine has been generally regarded as the source of the Fascist ideology, which is responsible for the school's being considered as "the Fascist literature".Part Two: "The National Literature Movement" advocated by Chen Quan is intended to enhance the nation's consciousness to confront the enemy, but it criticizes the individualism of April-Fourth Literature and the class idea of proletarian. This is one important reason for the Warring-states strategy school's annihilation by the leftists.Part Three: "Words to Chinese Artists" is regarded as the manifesto of the thought of the Warring-states strategy school. "The Three Motifs" in the works possesses a higher aesthetic value and cultural connotation. However, under the revolutionary literature discourse, it is misread even demonized, which refracts a strong deterrent of ideology to literature criticism.Part Four: The controversy around "The Wild Rose" is a famous case in contemporary literature. As Chen Quan's representative works, "The Wild Rose" interprets the political idea and aesthetic pursuit of the Warring-states strategy school. But it incurs the leftists' censure in plots and characters. Thus, the natural literature argument is developed as a literature discourse combat on the setting of party government.Since the 1940s, the literature criticisms around the Warring-states strategy school are imprinted marks of power by the revolutionary discourse. Until the late 90's, the literature of the Warring-states strategy school is gradually extricated from the ideological criticism and achieves a new approval. When emphasizing its significance, we should also realize its deficiency so as to obtain a more objective and just conclusion.