Lyricism As An Apparatus

In the early 1980s, short novels and novellas such as Ordained and Oh Xiangxue differentiate itself from the mainstream "scar literature" "reflective literature" "reform literature". As a form of expression that focused on emotional expression, "lyricism" was willingly adopted by writers. However, it entered the research focus solely with its poetic, prosaic and aesthetic dimension. Since 2006 when David Der-Wei Wong published a series of articles centering around "the lyrical tradition and Chinese literary modernity", lyricism has become a trending topic within modern literature studies. It was seen as a key dimension for articulating personal sensitivity and constructing modern subjectivity beyond "revolution" and "enlightenment" approaches. However, as an "apparatus", lyricism was scarcely explored in terms of its complex associations with historical perceptions, reality understanding and imagination for the future. This is where this research journey starts.Based on previous findings, this dissertation, focusing on the short novel writings and novellas in early 1980s by Wang Zengqi, Zhang Chengzhi, Wang Meng as well as Tie Ning, combining concrete texts and reviews, seeks to explore how lyricism came into being, its connotation and implications against the background of the transitional phase of the Reform. At the outset of the New Age, the two dominating literary patterns(scar literature, reform literature)both ran into "crisis" in succession, while the attention to the literary aesthetics and even its ontological dimension continued to nurture and foster, which gave rise to lyrical writing. Given its multiple intermingling with the past, present and future, it became a pliable "apparatus" that could be penetrated through by various forces and thus the potential of literature could give its full play. As a "meaningful form", lyricism made the rupture of ideal/reality, tradition/modernity visible in their manifestation and bridge, thus subtly representing the complicated dimensions of the initial Reform period.