The Study Of Liu Zhenyun’s Novels In The Light Of Existentialism

Existentialism is a philosophical stream of thought which have a huge impactin modern Western society. On behalf of Western humanism, existentialism thinkingof the problems of mankind profoundly, it is the turn of the tasks of Westernphilosophy from the existence of the objective world to the pursuit of the meaning ofexistence.There are many similarities between the spirit of contemporary China and westernexistentialist philosophy in aspect of historic structure. In that case, existentialism iswidely disseminated in the new period of China, while existentialist literature is set offan upsurge in the area of Chinese literature. The intersection of existentialism andcontemporary Chinese literature is revealing the distortion of human nature and theirrational social reality, paying close attention to human existence and freedom.Existentialist have a significant impact on China’s new period thought. As ancontemporary Chinese outstanding writer, Liu Zhenyun always shows his attention tohuman existence in his novel. Concerning about the state of human existence and lifeabsurd, doubting and questioning of the history, so that Liu Zhenyun becomes acontemporary writers to explore the “human existence”. By reading and studying LiuZhenyun’s novels carefully, we can find the reason why his work is well known andreceived wide acclaim is that he got the thinking of the “human existence” throughouthis writing. From the series of “Xiao Lin” in the period of New Realism to the seriesof “Home” in the period of new historicism, his novels reveal the alienation anddistortion of human nature by the environment. Into the period of new media criticism,Liu Zhenyun began to think about the technological era of human relations. Until hisfull-length novel One Sentence Counts for Ten Thousands won the eighth Mao DunLiterature Award, Liu Zhenyun always concerns ordinary people and the person’smental state. We can realize that his attention to the irrational of survive reality andindependent thinking of the society and history. His works have profound interpretedthe classical propositional:“The literature is a subject of humanity.”Existentialist themes in Liu Zhenyun’s works are: the absurd reality, the reincarnation of history, alienation and return of human nature and barriers of humanemotion and communication. Liu Zhenyun’s novels are used in the expression ofputting figure in specific situation, making them emerged a strong sense of presence.At the same time, he uses the critical strategies of symbol, allegory and irony to makethe performance more deeply.Using existential perspective to study Liu Zhenyun’s novels, we can find themeaning and value of the ordinary individual life and the writer’s attention on thesituation of human existence. This can help us to find out why the novels of Liu-Zhenyun are so popular and wining the widespread praise. It is also give us a morein-depth thinking of the Chinese people’s living condition and mental situation.