Local Novels National Character Writing Brief

The famous statesman and educationalist Liang Qichao holds that:"To reform and modernize our country, the modernization of its people must be given top priority." This is the first exclamation called out by the elite class in China to reform the spirit of its people. The reason for modernizing the people is that there are some deep-rooted bad habits in Chinese people, accumulated since long ago, which hinder the development of history and the society. In view of this, Liang Qichao, in his article Lun Xiao Shuo Yu Oun Zhi Zhi Guan Xi published in 1902, explicitly points out:"To modernize the people in a country, the modernization of this country's novel must be done first." His enlightenment thought which makes use of literature especially novels to modernize Chinese people has a far-reaching impact on the writers of Novels of the Soil in the May fourth period. Lu Xun in particular. In his novel Mo Luo Shi Li Shuo written in 1907, Lu Xun puts forward the concept of "National Character" and makes further deliberation and criticization on it in his later novels of this type with very cold and sharp expressions. This particular writing practice of Lu Xun not only achieves great success but also shocks the Chinese people and the writers of novels of the soil in his period. Thereupon, the descriptions of national character present a splendid sight in the modern and contemporary period of Chinese novels of the soil. Yan Jiayan thinks that reforming the national spirit is the overall theme of the Chinese novels in the twentieth century. The author agrees on this idea and thinks that the descriptions of national character aiming to reform the national spirit in the novels of the soil in the new age also make a hit. In this thesis, with the novels of the soil in the May fourth period and the 1980s as its representatives, the author makes a study of the descriptions of national character in them so as to restore the true features of the descriptions of national character in Chinese novels of the soil and to review the carrying on and changing of the traditional descriptions of national character by Chinese writers of novels of the soil.This thesis is consisted of three parts:The first part is introduction. In this part, the author first gives an overview of the theoretical construction of the native-soil literature; and then combs the creation and research status of the native-soil literature especially the novels. On basis of that, the author points out the weaknesses of the current researches and then states the research scope, research significance, research purpose and the problems to be solved in this thesis.The second part is about the description of national character in the novels of the soil in the May fourth period. Firstly, the author makes elaborate textual analyses of Lu Xun's novels such as The True Story of Ah Q, The hometown, Feng Bo, Changmingdeng, She Xi and so on in order to explore his penetrating criticism on the bad habits of national character and his nostalgic description of the national virtue. Secondly, the author does textual analyses of some novels of the soil by writers in this period like Yang Zhensheng, Xu Qinwen, Wang Luyan, Jian Xianai, such as Mo Mian De Lao Wang, Fu Qin De Hua Yuan, Huang Jin and Shui Zang etc. so as to observe the descriptions of national character in the this period by other writers. Finally is a conclusion which says that the criticization of national character is the fundamental theme of the novels of soil in the May fourth period. Rooted from Lun Xun, all the following writers of novels of the soil in this period give profound reflection and consideration on this basic theme. With all their mentality, they dispose the deep-rooted bad habits of the old Chinese people and show the lonely vigilance of the intellectuals in that period and their profound reminiscence for the nostalgia and the tradition by the seemingly cold criticization.The third part is about the descriptions of national character in the novels of the soil in the new age. This chapter is made up of three sections. In the first section, by textual analyses of Gao Xiaosheng's novels of the soil such as "a series of Chen Huansheng", Li Dashun Zao Wu, Ji Qi Jian Dan De Gu Shi and Da Hao Ren Jiang Kunda etc, the author explores the thought-provoking bad habits of the Chinese people in Gao Xiaosheng's works and presents Gao's sympathy for the peasants'poor and hard life and their virtues under the impact of feudal culture with an aim to poke a nose on his reversion and new exploration on the description tradition of national character by the writers of novels of the soil in the May fourth period. In the second section, Qiao Dianyun's novels in the new age such as Cun Hun, Man Piao, Leng Jing and Jie Xiao are given textual analyses with a purpose to study the successive efforts of Qiao Dianyun on the criticism of national character by the writers of novels of the soil in May fourth period and the strike age signs he offers to the connotation of national character in the new age. In the third section, the author researches other novels of the soil in the new age such as Ru Zhijuan's Jian Ji Cuo Le De Gu Shi, Zhang Xian's Bei Ai Oing Yi Wang De Jiao Luo, He Shiguang"s Xiang Chang Shang and Jiao Jian's Lao Shuang De Ku Men etc. and concludes that the description of national character in the new age is not only a restoration of the humanistic solicitude and rational criticism of the national character expressed by the writers of novels of the soil in the May fourth period, but also an exploitation of a new writing way in which the writers gradually touch the national mentality by describing the actual hard life of the peasants. This is different from the writers in the May fourth period who help the common fellows out by criticizing the bad habits in national character beginning with an actual problem.The conclusion part offers a generalization of the research methods used in this thesis and the tradition and changes of the description of national character in novels of the soil and explores the restoration and exploitation of the description of national character in novels of the soil in the new age to that in the May fourth period by comparison.