On The Concept Of Change And Characterization Of Late Qing Fiction

As the real starting point for Chinese novel in the 20th century, the novel of the late Qing Dynasty represtented the beginging of the mordernity. From the late Qing Dynasty to the May 4th Movement, the Chinese novel went through the earthshaking and thorough changes and achieved modernization. Through this process the revolution of the idea of novel had occurred. Only when the novel extricated itself from the restriction of the conservative ideas and formed a new conception by assimilating the essence of literature, ancient or modern, Chinese or foreign, it became the real mordern novel. But the novel of the late Qing Dynasty lacks the exploration and analysis from the perspective of idea of novel, which provides the feasibility and necessity of this dissertation. The paper focuses on the idea of novel,which will help to reveal the emergence and development of mordern novel, through the analysis of its representation in composition and theories of novel.The revolution was a complex process full of contradictons. There were many problems left over by history and the conflict between Eastern and Western idea of literature. In order to fully display the change of the idea, the paper analysises the representation from two point of view. On the one hand, the novelists of the late Qing Dynasty changed their judgments of the value of novel with reference from Western literature system. As a result, the Chinese novel leaped into the first place in literary system, which caused a series of developmental changes in composition and theories of novel. On the other hand, influenced by the conservative ideas, the process of the revolution was circuitous and not as direct as one would wish for ubiquitous contradictions and conflicts.Those contradictions and conflicts didn't indicate the failure of the revolution. The novelists of the late Qing Dynasty attempted to find the suitable way to emancipate from conservative restrictions. No matter success or failure, their positive activities proclaimed the resolution of the novelists in reshaping Chinese novel. Their choices pointed out the direction for the continuator and signalled the ushering in of a new era for Chinese novel.