| Yuri Vasilievich Bondarev (1924—) is a well-known Russian writer in contemporary era. Some of his works are considered as the foundation of the realistics, some sung highly by Soviet critics as representatives of panorama of war ficition, and some described as trilogy that arouses strong repercussions in society. When compared to the previous works, Choice, one of the trilogy, published on Our Contemporaries in1980, is a novel full of philosophy and inspiring thoughts. Furthermore, his works were once considered as the lead of literature tendency in Athe eighties and the directional coordinate for the Soviet literature in future.Most of the researches on Choice are established on its creative features, artistic structure, or on the personal choice of Athe protagonist Vasiliev from single point of view. As a matter of fact, the novel unfolds with different life choices and fates of two childhood friends. It is undoubted that Vasiliev’s idea of life is worth praising, while the anguish and hesitation Aemotional struggle of Ilya is also understandable. As we all know, the creation of literature is inseparable from the development of society, the emotion of humanity, consciousness and action. Thus, the protagonists, who are entangled with bitterness Aand pain after those changes when faced with life and emotion choices, arouse the interests Aof and strike a chord with the readers. The common affinity of people’s mind shortens the distance between readers and the protagonists, between readers and the writer.Actually, the word "Choice" itself is an abstract and philosophical diction, and it includes various uncertainties and obscurity. What is choice? What to choose? How to choose? It is an ever confusing problem and the answer differs from man to man. Yuri Vasilievich Bondarev named the novel "choice", which is quite ingenious and meaningful, carrying the author’s deep thoughts towards life, society and his calls for humanity, sympathy and understanding. With the ceaseless development of the global politics and economy, and the blend of different cultures, we should see the world with a developing perspective and try to jump out of a binary opposition, the traditional mode of thinking.Bondarev once said to the actors who played in the play adapted from Choice in a Moscow theatre,"no matter what interpretations people give to choice, it is an ever confusing problem, for the essence of men is not unitary". It is obvious to see that when we comment on a complex image faced with multi-conflicts and emotional struggle, we should not depreciate one in order to praise the other, and come to an exclusive conclusion that is simplified and fixed. For that there are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people’s eyes in the process of literature interpretation. Based on the theories of literary semiotics by Susanne K. Langer,"Art is the objectification of feeling", which also plays as the analysis method, this thesis intends to give a specific interpretation of Choice and tries to show how Choice reflects complex human emotions, including love of one’s motherland and hometown and the unfulfillement of the love, love between men and women and love’s failure to survive in the hardships of reality. |
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