Classical Imagery In Zhang Ailing's Novels

In the 1940s, modern Chinese writers learned from the western literary theories to innovate. Literature works with the subject of national salvation were pushed due to political potency. Under the circumstance where war situations at home and abroad changed suddenly, the unique Shanghai writer Eileen Chang was a bright star shining in China. In her humorous prose, the details in novels such as A Dream Of Red Mansions, Jin Ping Mei and The Sing-song Girls of Shanghai were at her hand. If the novels were compared to the creation theories involved in her prose, it could be found that dialogues, artistic conception construction, dress and appearance in her novels were from imitation or rewriting of classic images to some extent. Image community made up of the moon, mirrors, Huqin, operas and so on had been utilized tactfully by her, building classic yet modern atmosphere. To comb the classic images in Eileen Chang’s novels could provide a way to grasp her inheritance of classic novels and poems, and to appreciate image beauty in her novels from the perspective of aesthetics.Based on the connotation and implication of classic images as the start point, this paper classifies classic images meticulously in Eileen Chang’s novels, analyzes their aesthetic value comprehensively, and compares their development vertically, in order to attempt to explore the source.Chapter One summarizes the classic images in Eileen Chang’s novels. They are analyzed from five categories, namely, color, sound, household, space and nature. Emphases are laid to classic images which frequently appears in the novels with complex meanings such as the color of red and white, the sound of Hu Qin, mirrors, the sun, the moon and so on.Chapter Two analyzes the functions of classic images comprehensively. It is divided into three aspects, namely, narrative function, rhetoric function and aesthetic function. Aesthetic value is explored from the angle of point, while comprehensiveness is grasped from the angle of surface.Chapter Three attempts to explore the source of classic images used by Eileen Chang. Based on her childhood, growing environment, education conditions and reading preferences, this chapter attempts to comb the three clues i.e. source of poetry, source of classic novels and source of dramas, and takes textual material examples from A Dream of Red Mansions and Jin Ping Mei as viewpoint evidences.Chapter Four compares classic images in Eileen Chang’s novels between past and later stage vertically. Based on Eileen Chang’s works and lifetime, the chapter discusses the change of classic images between post and later stage vertically, in order to find out the cause of originality of the images in Eileen Chang’s novels.Through the narration in the four chapters mentioned above, this paper attempts to make a comprehensive survey on the connection between Eileen Chang’s novels and Chinese classic literature with "classic images" as the breakthrough point. This paper is aimed at inspiring more thinking by analyzing differences between writers’ lifetime and their works group, and changes between post and later stage.