Tragic Mind Of ShenCongwen's Novels

ShenCongwen, a very productive writer who is controversial in the history of contemporary literature has a particular position in the history of literature.Analyzing the characters in ShenCongwen's novels , I probe the tragedy of them and the tragic mind of the writer. I also probe his novels, the essential features of his tragic mind as well as his special significance in modern humanism.ShenCongwen observed the world of Chinese city and countryside of Xiangxi in the view of a"villager". In a special feeling he searched for the secret of human nature and studied the significance of life.He seemed to have found a"perfect life"in the world of Xiangxi. But there were a permanent tragic atmosphere over them. The characters in his novel ___from ladies and gentleman in the city to villagers in Xiangxi, most of their fate were tragic . In his novel, he described an ideal pure artistic world: There were wonderful legends, fantastic natural scenery, simple and thick custom, tranquil and harmonious style. In the spirit of the people there was a natural personality that was beauty and loyalty. It's really an ideal world.However, the ideal life and world in Shencongwen's novels were abstract, it was out of reality. Shen emphasized the"phenomenon"that refers to the moral meaning. In fact, it has a far-reaching meaning in his"phenomenon". He constructed his abstract ideal artistic realm, meanwhile he must apply it to the real world. Compared to the ideal world he made in the novel, the reality was quite different. And the man-made ideal world was doomed to be invaded and even destroyed. These were the characters in Shen's novels, they are doomed to a tragedy fate. Firstly, the up-class people in the city suffered their tragic fate with lacking the nature of human beings and life energy. In Shen's notion of art, the perfect life style failed to realize in big cities. The villages'life style was ideal. But on the other hand, there was still something to be worried about: they were completely illiterate as if being exiled to a desolate island in terms of spirit. They could not take their fate in hold at all.On another kind of characters the writer added some wisdom and culture in them. Made them have ideal human nature: simple, natural, loyal, beautiful, healthy and harmonious. But they also had something to be worried. Take The Border Town for example, in their personality of the characters there was always something to be allergic, gloom and lonely.This was the writer's thought about the tragedy of people who belonged to different section of Xiangxi and city and embodied the writer's tragic mind in it. And he developed it into tragic aesthetics spirit. Why did it so? We can find some reasons from the writer himself. That is the tragic mind of the writer and his sticking to the tragedy spirit, including the nature as village, the feeling of family losing, nation realization and hundreds years of loneliness.In the writer's mind, the saint of life and human nature were the only thing to show. But they were hard to get their perfection, and thus made the writer to make choice when there is no choice. And eventually, the pursuit of perfection is that of tragedy. But his tragedy doesn't lead to pessimism. He looks forward to the future.The writer's tragic character and tragic aesthetic spirit are intuitive. And they will impel the modern people strongly. Whenever in modern time or in the future, they are significant in building human feelings. Shen wrote the novels to develop the human nature. This was his main purpose. It is not only to make people outside Xiangxi to know it , moreover, he wanted to rebuild the human nature through it.