A Study On "The Upsurge Of Eileen Chang" From The Perspective Of Knowledge Sociology

Eileen Chang’s works were popular since their publication because of their unique artistic charm.From the publication In the 1940s,the rediscovery in the 1980s,to the image redesign in the 1990s,the same works of the same author started several crazes in Mainland China of different times,attracting extensive attention in academic circles and among the people.In academic circles,scholar and experts never stop passing comments and publishing research papers on Chang and her works,leading to a flood of relevant literature.Outside the academic circles,various crazes to publish,read and discuss Chang’s works and her biography and adapt them for television appeared again and again.On the basis of comprehensive understanding of three times of the upsurge of Eileen Chang in Mainland China,this paper attempted to explain and discuss the upsurge of Eileen Chang in Mainland China of different times from the perspective of knowledge sociology.This paper consists of five parts.Introduction:First of all,a brief introduction of research about Eileen Chang,followed by the introduction of research about "the upsurge of Eileen Chang",and finally explain the research object,research ideas and methods.Section Two:Chang’s brief biography and works and a brief introduction of the upsurge of Eileen Chang.Section Three:Starting from the promoting mechanism and the noumenon of the author and her works,causes of the upsurge of Eileen Chang in Mainland China were analyzed from the perspective of knowledge sociology.First,Promoting factors in social environments of different times.The 1940s:limitation of culture island,an environment of light literature and a booming magazine and newspaper industry were environmental conditions for acceptance of Chang’s works;the renaissance of the Mandarin Duck and Butterfly School provided an important platform for the upsurge of Eileen Chang.The 1980s:the political consciousness fettering the literature was broken;relevant introduction and research by domestic and foreign scholars drove the domestic academic research.Thus,Chang regained her position in the history of modern Chinese literature.The 1990s:in China,social transformation,the rise of mass culture,literature commercialization and technological innovation in the media industry were external conditions for the upsurge of Eileen Chang.With the motivation of the social environment and the unique charm of Chang’s works,Chang’s works were allowed to enter people’s cultural life in various ways(TV dramas,stage plays and musical plays).Another round of fever was initiated after the publication of her posthumous work,the discussion on her lost works and the successful adaptation of her works for television.Secondly,noumenon factors of the author and her works.First,Chang’s legend showed influences on her creation and acceptance;Second,the successful marketing(by Chang herself and the executor of her heritage)greatly promoted the upsurge of Eileen Chang;Third,Chang’s profound understanding on eternal themes such as marriage,love and humanity in her works is characteristic;Fourth,her works suit both refined and popular tastes,so its readers are extensive;Fifth,combining of modernism skills with traditional creation techniques,her works are more suitable for Chinese readers’ reading and aesthetic habits and meet aesthetic needs of readers of different eras.Finally,this paper analyzes the acceptance of Eileen Chang’s works by different classes of readers and the influence factors of various publishing strategies adopted by publishing organizations on the upsurge of Eileen Chang.Section Four:By analogy of cultural phenomena,underlying reasons for the upsurge of Eileen Chang were analyzed,which was innovative in this paper.Throughout the history of Chinese modern and contemporary literature,the upsurge of Eileen Chang is not a single case and similar cases include the upsurge of Qian Zhongshu and the upsurge of Shen Congwen etc.In the 1980s,these three authors returned to the history of modern Chinese literature almost at the same time.In the 1990s,with the transition of the state ideology and the guidance by the media,Chang’s works reappeared among people,starting crazes(such as crazes of publication,research,reading,biography and TV dramas)among scholars and readers.Work of the three authors has different focuses,where Chang paid more attention to love and marriage and described the fickleness of turbulent days;Qian focused on life difficulties of educated modern youth and showed the dilemma in China’s modern civilization and life;and Shen’s literary thought was not utilitarian and he tried to find pure and beautiful art in the troubled times.Most of their works showed ordinary life of people without description of grand wars and reform or fierce class contradictions and class struggle.Therefore,they were rejected by the mainstream literature for a long period and even banned and marginalized in special historical eras.In the early 1980s,the rediscovery of banned literary works and marginalized authors and the rearrangement in the history of Chinese modern literature indicated that literature started to get rid of the bondage of political consciousness and become diversified and personalized.In terms of the expectation horizon,the phenomenon showed the opposition between personal narration and grandiose narration.The underlying causes are:since the 1950s,due to politics and collective consciousness,people’s individualistic consciousness was suppressed for a long period,so people were tired of them;after the 1980s,the situation was broken,where the transition of social ideology resulted in the rise of individual consciousness,leading to large demands of works reflecting common interest and civil culture.Thus,changes occurred in the literature field invisibly;in the 1990s,with the popularity of mass culture,the literature development became more individual and commercial.After both spiritual and material deprivation,people started to consume lots of cultural products.By commercial packaging,authors became symbols of consumer culture and completely entered into people’s life of cultural consumption,leading to similar cultural phenomena.Section Five:Conclusion.This part has made comprehensive analysis to the upsurge of Eileen Chang from the perspective of the formation of literary classics.