A Comparative Study Of Turgenev And Yu Dafu

Russian literature reached its peak in the19thcentury. In no more than acentury, the world-famous writers appeared one after another in Russia: Pushkin,Gogol, Turgenev, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, etc. These masters left great spiritual wealth tothe future generations. This wealth belongs to the whole world, waiting for people todiscover and employ. Meanwhile, Russian literature in the19thcentury occupied animportant position, and vigorously promoted the development of the world literature.Under its influence, modern Chinese literature has scored remarkable achievements.The abundant aesthetic thoughts and diversified artistic methods of Turgenev’s novelsendowed the novels with enduring vitality. Besides, Chinese literature has been greatlyinfluenced by the rich aesthetic connotation and artistic ingenuity in these classics.Hence, many modern Chinese literature masters gained so much from Turgenev, andachieved great success. And Yu Dafu was one of those who were impressed most byTurgenev. This paper first makes a comparison of the characters of Turgenev’s and YuDafu’s creations. Through the research of the “Unnecessary Persons”“The Remnants”and female images, the paper summarizes Turgenev’s experience learned by Yu Dafu,and the differences between the two masters. Second, through the analysis of thewriting techniques, including the works being their autobiography, persistence indescribing emotional feelings and novel prosifying, similarities and differences can besummed up. At last, a comparison of the aesthetic styles is conducted, includingsentimentality, natural beauty, and humanistic pursuit. Through the comparison, thepaper reaches the conclusion that Yu Dafu totally accepted Turgenev’s styles,including the outlooks of life and art, the shaping of the “Unnecessary Persons”,unique structures and techniques of the novels, narrative art, and exquisite lyricism.These influences were reflected not only in Yu Dafu’s novels, but also penetrating intohis spiritual temperament and blending into his blood. Thus we can say that, withoutTurgenev’s influence, there would be no Yu Dafu, the novelist. It is the fact that thereis a natural connection between comparative literature and Russian literature due to thetranscending and blending features of the former. Therefore, through the comparisonof their literary works, a careful study of their literature spirits and aesthetic ideology,and taking advantage of the creation experience, we can expand the research fields ofRussian literature, and broaden the comparative study of Yu Dafu and Russian literature and culture. Then, we can not only enrich the research of Chinese andRussian comparative literature, but promote the communication between Chinese andRussian literature.