On The Translated Fictions In The New Youth And The Fictions In The May4Th Period

In Chinese history, the May4th Movement is one of the important turning points. At the meantime, it is the starting point of Chinese literature. Without the inspiration of the May4th Movement, people with lofty ideals would not awaken. Without the enlightenment of the ideological trend of the May4th period, modern Chinese literature would not commence, develop or mature. The literature revolution in the May4th period, which is remarkable to Chinese literature, displays the outstanding achievement of the May4th Movement. If the revolution is an epoch-making mere stone, The New Youth magazine was the main power to built epoch-making mere stone. The literature revolution in the May4th period and The New Youth are both so important that it is highly worthy of being researched; in addition, the advocates and practitioners of the revolution and The New Youth coterie’s translating and referring from the western literature is a remarkable phenomenon in the process of research. This thesis is based on comparative study of perusing and making contrast between the translated fictions in The New Youth and the fictions in the May4th period. With a view to the themes selection and narrative methods, this thesis will discuss the characteristics of the translated fictions in The New Youth, the development of narrative perspectives in the fictions of the May4th period as well as the relations between them.First, the thesis studies the characteristics of themes selection of the translated fictions in The New Youth and the fictions in the May4th period. In the May4th period, Chinese ideology is prevailed with western culture. Those Chinese intellectuals who accepted foreign ideas started to think of the existence of "man", making clear the pursuit for freedom and independence and advocating for respecting of each individual’s need and right. Humanism promoted intellectuals to treat society and people equally. Western fictions describing the living conditions of the lower classes provided reference for writers in the May4th period, and since then, ordinary people who were disregarded in the past became protagonist in the literature. Western literature discussed female’s sense of independence and their social status, which made Chinese intellectuals to be aware that spiritual restriction upon Chinese women needed to break, thus they were extremely concerned about women’s liberation in the translation and creation. Both Chinese writers and western writers attached importance to the theme of accusation of war, which is not only because peace-loving was the nature of literature, but also because Chinese and western writers generally took a view of humanism, detesting wars to ruining lives and expressing their dissatisfaction through creation. The theme of criticizing the national character in the fictions at the May4th period had a unique meaning to China at that time, which was a nationally self-reflection launched by people with lofty ideas. They hoped to warn people through the same repressed pain in translating related western fictions. From the above-mentioned translated fictions and fiction in the May4th period with similar themes, it can be found that the theme selection for The New Youth coterie and writers in the May4th period was based on social background. Agreement on the literature and society made them had a common selected and committed direction.Furthermore, this thesis studies their changes and development by analyzing the narrative perspectives of the translated fictions in The New Youth and the fictions in the May4th period. Sone of the translated fictions in The New Youth and the fictions in the May4th period adopted the omniscient point of view which has usually adopted by Chinese traditional novels. There is an omniscient narrator in this narrative pattern, and he knows all the details of the story as well as he can decide the arrangement of the plot. However, in some translated fictions in The New Youth and the fictions in the May4th period that adopted omniscient point of view, the power of the narrator has been weakened. Although the narrator still can control the observing perspectives and penetrate the psyche of the characters, the narrator has decreased direct exposure of the plot or the point of view. Instead, narrator’s emotion had been hidden in the seemingly objective descriptions. Under the influence of the western fictions, the first-person narration in Chinese works has rise and reach maturity at a rapid speed. We can get a glimpse of this developing locus from the translated fictions in The New Youth and the fictions in the May4th period. The first-person narration includes the inner first-person narration and the exterior first-person narration. The former narrator is one of the participants in the story. He or she can express the experience of mine or ours in the tone of the people who were at the scene. Therefore, it can help enhancing the story’s sense of reality. The latter narrator is the spectator of the story and tells the stories of others. Therefore, the narrator’s identity is spectator so the story is more credible and objective. The first-person narration plays an important role in the process of boosting the modernization of literary vision from the exterior part to the inner part. Besides, the appearance of the limit third-person narration also enriches the narration perspectives of Chinese novels. At this point, the narrator focuses on one of the figures in the story and knows the story through the figure’s point of view. Therefore, the consciousness of the narrator has been restricted and he or she can only tell the stories the focal-characters knew. The advantage of this narrative perspective is that it can provide the suspense of the story and makes the novel more attractive. The works which have adopted the limit third-person narration perspective in the translated fictions in The New Youth and the fictions in the May4th period was defective, but it had previously showed the advantage of this narration.The translated fictions in The New Youth and the fictions in the May4th period have reflected their interactive relationship in the themes and the narrative perspectives. On the option of the themes, the translated fictions in The New Youth are the product of the temporally national conditions and context. This option guides and reflects the artistic direction of the fictions in the May4th period, and there is an effectively interactive relationship between the translated fictions in The New Youth and the fictions in the May4th period. On the aspect of narrative perspective, varied kinds of attempt which have been shown in the translated fictions in The New Youth and the fictions in the May4th period not only give prominence to the works’interactive character of utility and aesthetic nature but also give expression to the translators and novelists’emphasizing on both literary function and the consciousness of literary aesthetic. It is the reason why these fictions were valuable.