Revolutionary Historical Novel Way Of Body Writing Since The 1990s

Since the 1990 s, the body writing has become an important trend in contemporary Chinese literature. The historical novels of revolution also join this trend in a different kind of style. In the process of writing and rewriting the revolutions, these novels take “body” as a starting point for the subversion of traditions and the liberation of human nature, so that they not only present the body in various forms, such as the body filled with desires, the body full of pleasure, the broken body and the violent body, but also start active dialogues between the “body” and the thought, the culture and the social context, thus the power of criticism and reflection is obtained.The body writing presented in the historical novels of revolution in the 1990 s is very different from that of the novels in the time between the 1950 s and 1980 s. The former mainly presents the distinctive features. Firstly, the writers acknowledge that there are a lot of ordinary bodies in the extreme war environment. When shaping the "male body", the writers break the inherent shackles in the two aspects of portrait and figure, and abolish the writing of the hero face. As for the “female body”, the writers also give up the male standard and turn to think that women in the war should also maintain the female qualities such as beauty and amorousness. With regard to the reasonable physical demands of the sexuality, the writers’ attitude turns from the previous repression to identification, and they don’t ignore the person itself just because of the war environment. Secondly, the writers continue the hero theme of the classic revolutionary history narratives, and express the hero temperament through the body symbols. The scars on soldiers’ bodies show the manhood, and even peeing can also express the courage and uprightness of a hero. Similarly, tears is not the performance of the weak but the revelation of true nature. So the dual qualities of manhood and tenderness coexist in a hero. Lastly, the writers reflect on man through the various postures of the bodies on the battlefield. The soldiers’ being keen on fighting in the field shows their admiration for violence. The experiences of the narrow escapes from death on the battlefield reflect the soldiers’ tenacious vitality. However, the extreme damage on the bodies from the wars is the biggest complaint against the calamities of wars. Humanity liberation and the market consumption economy were very prevailing in the 1990 s, and under this background, the writers not only perceived the body but also analyzed it rationally through the observation on different forms of people’s body, so that the different "male body" and "female body" got shaped. These specific codes of body bear complicated meanings, and they not only express the body metaphor which cannot be bluntly told but can be directly perceived through the senses, but also present the body’s multiple entanglements with the problems of politics, society, culture, history and others in the creations which take the “body” as the displaying stage.The re-examination and re-thinking is the most important value of the body writing in these historical novels of revolution in this period. In these works, there are obscure civilians as well as great heroes of indomitable spirit, indelible trauma of war as well as amazing brilliant experiences, the falling side of life as well as its flying side; so that the complex proposition of human nature in the war is profoundly revealed.