Artistic Sprite Walking Between Tradition And Modern

Zhang Ailing, the woman writer named as "maiden painter of foreign settlement society" in the 40s, as one of the founders and promoters for the development of China modern feminine literature, is just like poppy flower in full bloom in the 40s' Shanghai, relying on her unique writing style and artistic technique which results in forming her own new school. This thesis focuses on the influence the Chinese traditional literature on her writing, and discusses her artistic feature and artistic style from all of her novels so as to observe the individual characteristic—"new and old writing's kneading together, the context containing all meaningfully". The thesis will discuss Zhang's creation by stages; in horizontal we discuss "Chinese-western combined style, compact and loose structure, close psychological description and greatly elegant and vulgar appeal". In vertical perspective, the thesis is to probe into her whole way on the novel creation to analyze the gradually changing process , in which from her unconscious imitation of Chinese traditional old novel in the beginning to her attempt to get rid of the influence in the following long time. Therefore she presents derivation in artistic style and in fact the core of her novels approaches the Chinese old-style novels gradually. In her late life, Zhang preferred to reserved and natural Chinese traditional novel technique which makes her style return. It is her ordinary, plain, objective and calm attitude to life that makes Zhang Ailing have the different view on life compared with common people. Her novels separate from the mainstream ideological new literature; however these works have lasting and thorough influence in the following decades.