The "Small-town Complex" Of Sherwood Anderson And Shen Congwen

Sherwood Anderson and Shen Congwen play a very important role respectively in modern American and Chinese literature. Both of them have become the widely acknowledged famous writer after long period of being neglected. Born in small towns, they changed their way of life by leaving home for big cities, and then chose to be writers by themselves. They left home when they were young, and went into prosperous cities. However, life there had provided them with nothing they expected. On the contrary, they were not used to their life in the city. At that time, only their memory about the small town could help them out of the disappointment and confusion in the city. Therefore, in their works, they had the "Small-town Complex". The small town became the background of their stories, and their feelings and ideas about the small town were expressed through the description of the life, the culture and the beauty there.Although many researches have been made on Anderson and Shen, few have probed into the "Small-town Complex" of them, for most of the studies are on the themes. The "Small-town Complex" is implied in their works, and is the feature of their writings. Therefore, in order to better understand their "Small-town Complex", and the two writers' tendency to write about the small town stories, we should pay our attention to their psychological journey back to their small town.The first part of this thesis is the introduction of the "Small-town Complex". It is firstly pointed out that both of the two writers had experienced "the revolt from the village" by leaving their hometown and going into the city. On this basis, their tendency to write about small town things is further pointed out. This tendency can be proved in the book Winesburg, Ohio and Bian Cheng. These two books were written in the city; however, they used the small town as the background of their stories. They began their psychological journey back to the small town.The second part is about the reasons and different stages of the "Small-town Complex". By detailed explanation, we hope the understanding of the "Small-town Complex" could be made clear. Three reasons are provided for the formation of the complex. Firstly, their unique education experience from the "big book" to the "small book" gave them a deep impression on their small town life. Secondly, their small town memories were the outlet for their frustrations in the city. Then lastly, the small town was used to show their pity towards the tremendous changes in people's life and humanity brought about by the transitional society.On this basis, three stages of the "Small-town Complex" are pointed out. The first stage is "the joyous paradise". In this stage, the small town was created as a perfect one and was described as the opposite side of the city. It was beautiful and harmonious, and people there were primitive and kind. The small town in this stage was rather an imaginative one than a real one. The second stage is "the unbalanced conflict". In this stage, the two writers were influenced by the rational sense in the city. Under the separate influence of Chicago Renaissance and New Culture Movement, Anderson and Shen began to change from the intuitive world to the rational world. Moreover, the changes in people's life and humanity brought about by the industrial society were also responsible for the unbalance. Then, they became more realistic in their understanding of the small town. The last stage is "the critical retrospect". In this stage, they came to known that the small town was also influenced by the modern industrialization, and it was imperfect. The degeneration of humanity also existed in the small town people. The "Small-town Complex" in this stage became more rational and realistic.The third part is the comparison between the "Small-town Complex" of the two writers. The comparison is made from three different perspectives. On their struggle between the intuitive world and the rational world, the similarity is that both of them described rather than prescribed, and the difference is that Anderson's theme was the loss of love while Shen's theme was the presence of love. Then on the attitudes towards humanity, both of them were against the evil side of humanity and touched upon the truth of life, and the difference is that Anderson wrote with Freud ideas, especially on sex, while Shen's ideas were more intuitive, and he extended his small town virtues to all kinds of people in the town. Then lastly, on their literary pursuit, both of them advocated spiritual freedom and independent thinking, and differences are that they had different cultural heritages and as Chinese intellectuals, Shen Congwen had to fight against political utilitarian in literary writings.The forth part is the analysis of the some contradictory elements in their works. Under the influence of the "Small-town Complex", pessimism and optimism, nostalgias and realism, coincidence and inevitability, all of these elements mingled together. Firstly, pessimism and optimism were implied in their attitudes towards life and death and towards material fulfillment. Then, secondly, their nostalgias were implied in their description of the scenic beauty, of different cultures and customs, and at the same time, they were realistic towards changes in the small town. Then lastly, the coexistence of coincidence and inevitability can be proved in their treatment of the destinies of their characters.The conclusion is that the "Small-town Complex" of Anderson and Shen Congwen is the consequence of their special feelings towards the small town. The small towns in their writings are not individualized; rather, they reflect the development of the whole society.