A Comparative Study Of Shen Congwen Xiao Hong Lyrical Novel

Chinese modern lyrical novel began in the period of the May Fourth, with Lu Xun as thepioneer. During the evolution of the Lyrical Novel, Yu Dafu, Fei Ming, Shen Congwen ShiTuo, Xiao Hong made a decisive contribution to the development of the stylistic maturitythrough distinctive creative performances. Specific to the writers’ works, besides somecommon features, lyrical novel also show a distinctive character. In other words, lyrical novelcan be divided into several different types. Yu Dafu is an outstanding representative ofautobiographical lyrical novel. Fei Ming is the pioneer of the pastoral novel. This paperattempts to compare Shen Congwen and Xiao Hong, who respectively belong to localromantic lyricism and local realistic lyricism.Modern lyrical novel truly became a mature literary style by Shen Congwen, whocreatively applied and developed the lyrical novel style with Fortress Besieged as the peak inthe art. Xiao Hong created The history of Hulan River,another landmark work in lyrical novel,with the delicate style of women writers on the basis of predecessors.When comparing thenovels of Shen Congwen and Xiao Hong, it is not difficult to notice the similarity of theirlyrical novels, with the stylistic prose and poetry, followed by a rich local color. Both belongto the lyrical novel style, there appear distinct differences in Shen Congwen and Xiao Hong’sworks, embodied in the themes and perspectives, discourse and style, literary concepts andaesthetic orientation. Under the influence of these differences, Shen Cong wen and XiaoHong’s lyrical novel show a distinctive artistic style, which bring readers a different kind ofaesthetic experience. Needless to say, Shen Congwen and Xiao Hong made outstandingcontributions to the development of Chinese modern lyrical novel. Their exploration andpractice inspired the creative passion of more lyrical novelists and made a profound impact onthe lyrical novel writing in the1940s and beyond.There exist certain shortcomings andlimitations in the writing of Xiao Hong and Shen Congwen including both lyrical novelstylistic limitations and the shortcomings of the two writers. All in all, Shen Congwen andXiao Hong represent the highest achievements of the modern lyrical novel, a southerner and anortherner, a man and a woman, with similar life experiences and creative road, bring freshblood to the Chinese modern literature, and enrich the diversity of literature in the1930s.