Surprised By Sister Carrie: Its Current Reception In China

It is a wonder indeed among the foreign novels that Sister Carrie has appealed to numerous readers of various levels at different stages since it was introduced to China. Plenty of researches about it have been done by the Chinese literary critics. And it seems that every stone has been turned up. However, most of the studies center on the text and the author, while the reader who plays an important role in making the novel meaningful is always neglected. This thesis will take the approach of reader-oriented theory to explore the current reception of Sister Carrie in China, and the problems in the reading process of general readers.There are a couple of schools in the theory, but the methodology of this thesis is primarily based on the reception aesthetics advocated by Hans Robert Jauss and Wolfgang Iser, and the reader-response theory put up by Stanley Fish. In addition to some other foreign scholars' opinions on the reader and reading activity, the Chinese traditional literary criticism on the reader, that is pragmatic theory is briefly mentioned, for the readers analyzed in this paper are Chinese.The whole thesis revolves around the reader and the reading activity. It is divided into four chapters. Chapter One is a brief review of the reader-oriented theory. Chapter Two mainly discusses the reasons for Sister Carrie's popularity in China from the reader's perspective. Chapter Three chiefly deals with the reading process of the Chinese readers, involving two parts: the text and the reader. Then the topic switches naturally from the reader's secondary creation to the misreading of the novel in Chapter Four. In this part, the problems in the current researches have been pointed out, for example, there are too many repetitions instead of creative criticisms; there is a lack of association between the general reader's activities and the literary criticisms; and the quantity and the quality of researches are out of proportion. When it comes to the correct reading, the repetitive reading is quite necessary. Sister Carrie is a classic that is worthy of constant explorations. In the end, the conclusion makes a comprehensive analysis of the realization of the literary value in China. The reader-oriented theory attaches great importance to the influence of the literary works on the reader. Sister Carrie is a true reflection of the flourishing material world and the confused modern people. The novel proves to be very useful for the Chinese young generation to gain a deep understanding of the modern society. Corresponding to the pragmatic tendency of the critics and authors, one of the main reading expectations of the Chinese readers is to seek guidance from the canons. Sister Carrie shares a lot with some Chinese classical works which are still popular nowadays. The Chinese reinterpretations of Sister Carrie will no doubt bring the young readers valuable reading experience. At the end of the thesis, it gives some suggestions for the future study on the novel. As a reader can see that Sister Carrie is full of everyday truth, of wonder, of wisdom, the study of it cannot rest merely on the traditional interpretations, or a couple of controversies. Otherwise, there will be a lot of repetitions in the study, and the literary criticism on Sister Carrie will not only fail to meet the need of the general young readers, but they are of no help for the realization of the values in the novel, which should be avoided in the future research.