On Family Saga Novels During The Period Of Anti-japanese War

In history Chinese literature,"Family" has always been a favorite theme forChinese literature. From the angle of "family", family saga novels reflect richhistorical connotation and characteristics of the times through the description of thedevelopment of the family and its members’ daily life. So do the family saga novelsduring the period of Anti-Japanese War. Between1930s and1940s, Chinesetraditional culture was challenged by western culture. The liberation of mind andpursuit of personal value shook the family system formed since the Wei-Jin Dynasties.The war wakened a large number of writers. They realized the disadvantages ofChinese traditional culture and wrote down how the big families, as an embodimentof traditional culture, changed during the period. Therefore, family saga novels duringthe period not only recorded the development of big families, but alsoreflected Chinese traditional culture.The paper analyzed family saga novels from three aspects, that is, family destiny,character types and personal development, to explore the theme and the writer’sintention. The war in the1930s and1940s brought about the transformation of boththe society and the culture, which was reflected by the family saga novels during thatperiod. Through the "window" of family saga novels, the writers reexamined Chinesetraditional culture and criticized its drawbacks, and reflected on family culture, familyethics, the shackles of moral codes, official standard and May4thNew CultureMovement. However, there are historical limitations in family saga novels, such asthe stereotype in the destiny of family and its members, the conflict between senseand emotion as a result of the denial of "family" and the absence of the runaways’future in narration.