War Literature And Humanism

War is a one of the most common elements in Human history, it is an experience that is shared by all of humanity, however the interpretation of war varies greatly from culture to culture. Different cultures inevitably have different interpretations of wars, even of the same war, what is more, this difference greatly influences the literature of each culture, especially the literature pertaining to war. For example, looking back upon the Chinese and American war literature from the1950's and 1960's the difference between these two cultures and their conception of war is overtly manifest. What is important to notice is that this difference, namely the way that war is portrayed in these works of literature as well as their understanding of conflict, not only reflects the difference between the effects of war on these two cultures during this period, but also reflects fundamental differences between the way these two cultures perceived the relationship between individuals and also between the individual and society; they, the war literature of this period, manifest the differences values and norms of these two cultures. At the same time Chinese and American war novels of the 1950's and 1960's also reflect a fundamental link between these two immensely disparate kinds of war novels, they reflect that despite the influences of political and economic ideology during this period in history the fundamental tenants of Humanism still form the basis for the values embodied by Chinese and American war novels.This thesis explores the differences and similarities of the value systems represented by American and Chinese war novels of this period by comparing two representative works from this period, Wu Qiang's Red Sun and Joseph Heller's Catch 22, focusing especially on Heller and Wu Qiang's depiction of characters and events, and how they relate to the tenants of traditional Humanism.