Research On The Learning And Variation Of Ancient Melodies From To The Lighthouse

Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) is an excellent representative of modern novels and a master who is very talented and innovative. The novel To the Lighthouse is considered to be the most outstanding work by many critics, which perfectly reflects Woolf s writing methods and literary theories, and has been the focus of researchers all over the world. Ling Shuhua (1900-1990), a talented woman, is good at writing and painting in the history of Chinese modern literature. She and Woolf began to write to each other through Julian Bell’s introduction from1938to1939. Ancient Melodies, Ling Shuhua’s English autobiographical novel and the masterpiece in her late years, is the product of this intercultural communication. However, the critics lack enough attention and emphasis on this novel.Based on the current researches of Ling Shuhua and Woolf, Ancient Melodies and To the lighthouse are chosen as the study objects in this thesis. Through the method of close reading of the two works, along with Woolf s theory of modern novels and her feminist poetics, the similarities and differences of Ancient Melodies and To the lighthouse will be probed deeply and systematically from the perspective of influence research in comparative literature so as to reach the useful conclusions. This thesis will be divided into5chapters to comb and approach all that mentioned above.The first part is introduction.In this part, we introduce the reason to choose the subject, and the current situation of the study. The theories, significance and innovations of the study are also analyzed in this part.In Chapter One, base on the life experiences, temperaments, and the correspondence of Ling Shuhua and Woolf, the possibility of imitations and influence between their works is analyzed through the method of textual research of influence research. Then we can provide the comparability for the discussion below.In Chapter Two, on the basis of Woolf’s theory of modern novels and her feminist poetics, such as, the theory of inner truth, the theory of poetic novel, angel in the house and androgyny, along with the painting techniques in Chinese literati paintings and post-impressionism, the four similarities:the autobiographical style, the feminist content, the narrative perspective and poetic style are compared to provide the facts that Ling Shuhua learnt something useful from To the Lighthouse when she wrote Ancient Melodies.In Chapter Three, the differences between Ancient Melodies and To the Lighthouse is studied from the concrete text analysis and Woolf’s non-personality theory, and Ling Shuhua’s Chinese variation on Woolf’s writing theory and spirit is stated so as to offer a new perspective for the communication and study of culture and literature.In the part of conclusion, the similarities and differences of two works are concluded and their causes are analyzed. At the same time, it is pointed out that Ancient Melodies has invaluable reference significance for keeping our own national culture in the current intercultural communication.