Identity Anxiety And Construction Of Shanghai At The Process Of Modernization

Wang Anyi,who grew up in Shanghai,is very familiar with Shanghai.Most of her works are took Shanghai as the background.Just like Xiangxi for Shen Congwen,Gaomi for Mo Yan,Ontario towns for Alice Monroe,Ohio's Windsor castle for Sherwood Anderson,Wang Anyi created Shanghai,which is a unique narrative space.This paper started from Shanghai's historical and cultural background,discussed the national identity of Shanghai by Post-colonial theory,and further discussed the relationship between modern culture and traditional culture,which was under the background of the opposition between urban and rural areas.The author found that Wang Anyi often stand on the ground of elitism to scan the cultural identity dilemma of Shanghai at the process of modernization in her works,hence the author especially paid attention to the identity problem of city and people.On the one hand,the paper discussed the awkward situation when it was forced to "orientalize "under the double sphere of west and east,on the other hand,described those peasants' experiences of being disregard,exclusion and marginal when they entered Shanghai,these experiences were symbolized as the antithesis between town and country,which deeply revealed the conflicts of modern culture and traditional culture.Under such a special background,a varieties of crisis about the people's survival circumstance was being revealed gradually,namely material expansion,loss of faith,ambiguous identity,these are the key problems this paper focus on.From the following three aspects:the tragic heroes who pursuit truth,the females whose self-consciousness were awakening,the residents of Shanghai who pursuit the meanings of daily life,this paper analyzed how the leading characters in Wang Anyi's novel escaped from modernists" existence dilemma.The leading characters in Wang Anyi's novel were living in the edge of urban space,however,they didn't give into their fates,they fought against to the cold and cruel of real life bravely,escaped from the double blinds made by objective reality and subjective spirit,try to get rid of the isolated,exiled and oppressed life,seek an ideal life in daily life.