Unsuccessful Literary Salvation

Jue Qing was one of the writers who were active during the period of the puppet regime of Manchukuo. This thesis attempted to explore his mentality and ways in living in the period of Manchukuo as both a novelist who was far away from politics and the writer who"betrayed the country".The primary and essential characteristic of the world in Jue Qing's novels was tribulation. It was originated from Jue Qing's fears of the ruthlessness of the society, the unpredictability of the destiny and the dark abyss of human nature that the tribulation became the background color of Jue Qing's novels. On the other hand, in most of his novels Jue Qing depicted the seamy sides of"the paradise with benevolent policies"puffed by Manchukuo government. His sympathy and sorrow for the unfortunate people did not die out. He did not turn a blind eye to the miseries of the social reality or dare not to write about them. However, it was not the society that aroused Jue Qing's intense fear and urged him to use literature as a way to resist the"evil of the mortal world". The tribulation of specific person in specific society became a narrative method of the"human tribulation". The"human tribulation"had nothing to do with the injustice of the regime and the form of the government organization. Even in his novels, Jue Qing intentionally or unintentionally manifested his approval for the regime without hesitation. He did not take the injustice of Manchukuo into consideration.The"evil of the mortal world"in Jue Qing's mind was the human sacrilege of the"inherent meaning of life"compelled by the human society. In his opinion, the uncertainty of destiny meant that everybody might lose anything at any time, including one's life. Under such condition, the inherent meaning of life became the most precious spiritual prop. But all the time, the people were unable to stick to this spiritual prop. Nobody knew when they would lose it forever, as a result of the temptation of becoming"the winner of the society"or the weariness of being"the loser of the society". The inherent meaning of life was the sole consolation to Jue Qing for his fear of the uncertainty of destiny, but it was precisely for this reason that Jue Qing's fear of the gloominess of the human nature became stronger.In Jue Qing's mind, the"evil of the mortal world"was realistic and could not be changed. Therefore, the salvation could only be spiritual. The real problem lay in what was the"inherent meaning of life". Jue Qing was able to realize that he and other people had desecrated the inherent meaning of life, but did not know how to adhere to the inherent meaning of life. As soon as he entered the society, he found that he could not recognized the inherent meaning of life and the valuable spiritual prop was worn and torn , and even disappearing gradually. Only in the world of literature was he not tempted by the outside environment and not afraid of his own fragile human nature. Consequently, Jue Qing took his own experience and observance of the"evil of the mortal world"as the object to resist by literature, and took literature as his hope to redeem himself from the"evil of the mortal world". All his literary activities were the practices of his fantasy in literary salvation.However, Jue qing's literature in no sense completed the mission of"salvation"in which he believed. After he embraced the"evil of the mortal world"as a writer, he was obsessed with the"evil of the mortal world". Tremendous changes happened to his understanding of the"inherent meaning of life". The realization of the inherent meaning of life was based on one's capability of making money or being rich."The losers of the society"became the blasphemers of the"inherent meaning of life", whom Jue Qing exaggerated in his novels as the real"pariahs". His literature became his covenant to make peace with the"evil of the mortal world"and dispersed as dust ultimately.Jue Qing was not the person who was engaged in literature for fame and fortune. But when the literature offered him the opportunity to promote his social status, he did not reject it. His concept about the"evil of the mortal world"was too general, which deprived him of the ability to resist the seduction granted by the government. He thought that he had already embraced the"evil of the mortal world", but when the real evil of the mortal world did befall him he was unaware of it. Unexpectedly, it was his embrace with the evil of the mortal world that altered Jue Qing completely, and led to the change and ruin of his literature in the end.After Jue Qing's social status had changed, he was closely fixed with the identity as a"writer"by sorts of labels given by the government. Under such condition, it was impossible for him to have the same free state of mind as in those days when he was infatuated with literature. The life of being"the official writer"also stimulated the weak and gloomy aspects of Jue Qing's nature, which were exactly the human aspects that Jue Qing feared deeply in the past. In those days as the"official writer", Jue Qing deserted his perseverance in the joy of becoming"the winner of the society"little by little, but he was still unable to escape from the great fear.Finally, his identity as"the official writer"made it impossible for him to write. His literature was destroyed by the evil of the mortal world. What was left to him was merely the exposure of his ugly performance contradictory to his original intension. As a gifted writer who once tensely persisted in the"inherent meaning of the life", his tragic choice is worthy of being pondered upon all the time.