After The War, Eileen Chang (1946-1952)

This dissertation will research into Eileen Chang's writings from 1946 to 1952. During this period, the author's productions shrank substantially, and her style also changed a lot. It is widely accepted that the author's change which was showed in her creations caused by two reasons. For one thing, after the Sino-Japanese War, Eileen Chang was treated as a traitor in terms of culture, and there was no chance for her to publish new writings. For another thing, her unsettled marrage brought her great trauma. From the viewpoint of audiences who gave high appreciation on her previous works, these changes revealed a backward tendency of her literature talent. As a matter of fact, Eileen Chang was not completely content with her former works. It was her initiative to alter direction. The author's thinking changed under the new condition of the society, which made she adjusted her literature to the need of the environment.The first chapter analyzes the writings created in 1946 and 1947. In the essay The Day and Night in China, Eileen Chang set China but not Shanghai as the background of her works and real life. And in the essay A Gorgeous Love Story, the author displayed her new understanding about the relationship of an individual and a group. In the next fiction How Regretful, the kindness of the leading character was not hypocritical at all, which was different from the author's previous imagination. In the preface of her film scrip Long Live Madam, Eileen Chang expressed her viewpoint , that the literature and art should attract the accepter, and play a role as an educationer. We can consider these changes as the foundation of Eileen Chang's agreement with the newly established China.The second chapter analyzes the writings created from 1950 to 1952: the novel Eighteen Springs and the novelette Little Ai. In the former, Eileen Chang displayed her understanding of the new age, which made the production success. But the latter is a failure of her attempt. The author was eager to describe the grassroots people, while she was not familiar with such life.In 1952, Eileen Chang left Shanghai for Hong Kong, ending the changes of her creations from 1946. In her retrospect of the old days, the author denied her changes in this period, and gave up the sudden emergency of the possibility, which reflected her constructive subjectivity.