The Undercurrent In Urban Writing

It was hard to ignore the existence of the Left-wing Literature for writers who played a role in the literature world in Shanghai in 1920’s to 1930’s. Even for Liu Naou, who was classified as a modernist, a member of “Neo-Sensationalism”, was also influenced by “the burgeoning literature” and “the cutting-edge literature”in the memoirs of his partner Shi Zhecun. In fact, If we looked into the relationship between these two different trends of literary thoughts, we could find that the skill of “the cutting-edge literature”was the best way to accomplish the ideal of “the burgeoning literature”, which combined these two trends. Meanwhile, Liu Naou translated a theoretical work < Aesthetic Sociology > which was written by a Marxist theorist Fritzsch( �'л.М.Фриче,1870-1929) from the Soviet Union and some papers belonged to Japanese progressive writers from 1929 to 1930. These work, as well as the progressive magazine < New Arts >, suggested that Liu Naou was adjusting his way of creation, which leaded to a phenomenon that the “Modern Girls” were described as inhuman goods or tools only to meet males’ need. This adjustment was due to Liu Naou’s attempt to reform his modernist novel with the help of the Left-wing Literature and the view that he could became a Left-wing writer if this transformation followed the rule of evolution by Plekhanov. But this endeavor was not appreciated by the members of the League of the Left-wing Literature. In the later debate about “The Third Group”, some members of the League of the Left-wing Literature criticized Hu Qiuyuan who shared a similar opinion about the literature with Liu Naou. These orthodox Marxists who regarded capitalist society as a unique stage refused to accept the theory about evolution by Plekhanov. Instead, they considered writers like Liu Naou as a “potential fifth column”. Besides, Liu Naou was reluctant to claim the social mobilization function of literature, which made the gap bigger. Their difference was put on the table in the year of 1932 after Liu Naou had engaged in the film creation. His theory about film inherited his opinion about literature, he put forward a theory called “Aesthetic Observation”, and called for the true humanity. In the other hand, the League of the Left-wing Literature asked for the truth of history. This dislocation eventually caused the open breach between Liu Naou and the League of the Left-wing Literature.