Critical Reception Of Mei Niang's Literary Works

Mei Niang became famous as a woman writer in the occupied area during the 40's. The research about her has been quiet for a while but was rediscovered in the new era and is now favored and admired by more and more readers and literary scholars. This article explored the creation from the perspective of the literary reception history. It would be useful when we seek for the abundance of her works in historical perspective.In this paper, the research of Mei Niang's creation according to time sequence, and it is divided into three parts. The first part discusses Mei Niang's creation in the Japan occupied period and the reason why it was popular;the second part discusses readers were aloof with Mei Niang's creation and the literature researchers refuse Mei Niang's creation and the reasons in the early period of the founding of new China.the third part discusses Mei Niang's work was accepted and the reasons in the new era.Based upon the related research, this thesis draws the conclusions as follows:First, the success of Mei Niang's works in the enemy occupied area reflected her popularity among the readers as well as the researchers. The possible reason could be concluded as:Mei Niang's creation fit the psychological necessities of the readers, the emotional expression of the people lived in the enemy occupied area, of their inner anguish and depression, and fresh experience to the readers in those works.In the early period of new China, Mei Niang's works meet a short time of cold welcome, reflected the refutation of her works by both the readers and the researchers. The main reasons are:the high unity of cultural context, the binary structure of criticism paradigm and the unfavorable social environment of writing.The new period of Mei Niang's return reflected the acceptance of literary history and the publishing industry, with its mainly reasons illustrated below: the popularity of occupied area regained, the reading desire of women's consciousness and the exploration of "May Fourth" spirit.