A Study Of The Left-wing Intellectuals' Stance And The Debate On Revolutionary Literature

The Revolutionary Literature Debate is a significant event in the history of Chinese modern literature.The Debate was carried out by literary intellectuals especially Left-wing Literary Intellectuals on issues such as how to construct the “proletarian literature” and “gramophone” under the circumstances of the historically transitional period and the differentiation of literary concept and class.Although the left-wing intellectuals failed to reach agreement on the focal issues through this Debate,they have exerted a significant impact on the distribution of power and critical discourse construction through their efforts to reconstruct their own identity and their thoughts of literature.This study will explore the differentiation in concept and reconstruction of identity of the left-wing intellectuals in the period of Revolutionary Literature Debate.Besides the introduction,this article is divided into five parts.In the first part,the reasons for the differentiation of the left-wing intellectuals in the Revolutionary Literature Debate are analyzed in two approaches-the socio-historical background and the ideological resources.In terms of the socio-historical background,first of all,around the May 30 th Movement,the rise of China's proletariat motivated the intellectuals to recognize the great revolutionary power of the proletariat,which laid foundation for their later inclination towards the revolution and reconstruction of identity.Secondly,the differentiation in political stance between different classes around the Great Revolution provided political basis for the differentiation in concepts of the intellectuals.Finally,the reactionary forces' “cultural suppression” and the left-wing intellectuals' adherence to the journalism after the April 12 Counter Revolutionary Coup provided a field for the differentiation in concepts of the intellectuals.In terms of the ideological resources,the “lagging behind and breaking” pattern of the influence of the Soviet Union literary theories,the differentiation in the intellectuals' translation and introduction of the Japanese left-wing literary theories,and the co-existence with “non-proletariat” western literary theories motivated the differentiation in the intellectuals' concept in the Revolutionary Literature Debate.In the second part,the differentiation and reconstruction of the ideological basis of Chinese intellectuals in the “Revolutionary Literature” Debate are explored.In this part,the discussion is conducted of the intellectuals' similarities in thoughts during the Debate.However,it is worth noting that the thoughts under discussion in this part are not the personal contributions of these selected intellectuals.Specifically,the main features of the differentiation in and the reconstruction of the intellectuals' thoughts are demonstrated in Lu Xun and Fang Gu's inheritance of the Theory of Evolution,Lu Xun and Mao Dun's transformation from pessimism to dialectical materialism and historical materialism,and the non-mainstream discourse of “individualism” and “anarchism”.In the third part,the theoretical notions are explored in the Left-wing intellectuals' complicated literary ideas.Description of the Left-wing intellectuals' literary ideas is carried out.And,based on the description,the definition of the Left-wing intellectuals' literary notion is proposed.First,the left-wing intellectuals' literary notions originated from the Class theory and the Revolutionary Literature notions are notions based on the Class theory.Second,the Propaganda theory and the Gramophone theory show that the Left-wing intellectuals' literary notions are anti-individualistic and the influence of heteronomy has been increasing.The discourse power of their notions is ideological and collectivistic.Last,the Left-wing intellectuals' literary notions are practical and popular notions.In the fourth part,the differentiation and reconstruction of the literary concepts of the intellectuals are investigated in the perspective of literary ontology.First of all,the motivation for the intellectual's differentiation and transformation in literary concepts is explored.That is,the increase in the sociality of the “Literature Revolution” around the “Great Revolution” has become the motivation.Secondly,the specific demonstration of the intellectuals' differentiation and reconstruction of literary concepts are discussed in this part mainly from the "Expressionism","Tool Theory" and "Standpoint Theory","Origin Theory" in literary study.Finally,it is pointed out that the enhancement in reality and practicality in the intellectual's literary concepts is the most distinctive feature of the reconstruction of concepts in this period.In the fifth part,the intellectuals' reconstruction of identity is discussed.Firstly,it is pointed out that some intellectuals' reflection on the literature function and their own identity is an internal drive for their reconstruction of identity.Secondly,it is revealed that the assimilation of the literary intellectuals into the petty bourgeoisie and the loss of the literary intellectuals' dominant position are the external motivators for the intellectuals' reconstruction of their identity.Finally,in this part,it is pointed out that the efforts of the left-wing literary intellectuals to reconstruct their identity as the“revolutionary intellectual”,“revolutionary followers” and the “educator” in the popularization of the literature should also be paid attention to.In the sixth part,the reflection is carried out on the relationship between revolution,literature and intellectuals in the Debate and the historical periods afterwards.On the one hand,issues of the “petty bourgeoisie”,“origin theory” and the vulgarity of the critical discourse remain to exert influence on the intellectuals' reconstruction of identity in a subtle way after the Debate and even into the historical period of socialist construction,the special period and the new era.On the other hand,in the tide of history,the paradoxical relationship between the literary intellectuals and the practitioners of revolution and the reduction of chances for the intellectuals distanced from the revolution to reconstruct their identity and the background of this issue should be paid attention to.This paper tries to explore the complex background and ideological resources for the literary intellectuals' differentiation in concepts and the reconstruction of identity in the “Revolution Literature” period.Exploration was done in three dimensions-the ideological foundation,the concept of literature and the reconstruction of identity,into the intellectuals' thoughts and identity.The paradoxical relationship between revolution,literature,and the intellectuals is discussed in a diachronic perspective,with the aim to broaden the vision of analysis and discussion of this issue.