A Study On Small Town Literature Of Qiao Ye

In the 20 th century,China was moving towards modernization in the process of constant reform and innovation.Meanwhile,the corresponding literary history in the 20 th century was also permeated with the proposition of modernity from the imagination of our nation.In the history of Chinese modern and contemporary literature for nearly 100 years,the small town literature has become an important literary phenomenon neck and neck with the urban literature and rural literature by virtue of its unique portrayal of the society and the times.From Lu Xun and Mao Dun in the early 20 th century to Qiao Ye and Wei Wei in the new era,these writers from generation to generation have promoted the development and maturity of the small town literature in the context of the Chinese society in which reforms and development have taken place.Gradually,the small town literature has presented a splendid sight along the path of its development.The Post-'70 writers of small town literature inherited the tradition of literature creation from their predecessors.Moreover,they gaze at new changes in Chinese small towns with their unique experience by nature since the reform and opening up.They capture keenly the essence of the times and bury a strong sense of responsibility deep in their minds.Taking these small towns,also their hometowns,as a prototype,these sons of small towns where they were born and raised,build a small town of literature of a unique style,and they regard it as important carrier to recollect their homelands,observe the society,and reflect on culture.As a representative of the Post-'70 writers of small town literature,Qiao Ye concentrates her efforts on depicting various small towns,such as “Yangzhuang” and “Zhangzhuang,” which show her deep attachment to the homeland and her profound thinking of the small town society under the urbanization process.Her creation has an irreplaceable literature text value,and makes up an important piece of the puzzle of small town literature in the present age.This paper focuses on analyzing the customs and habits of the small town from Qiao Ye's work and the people living in it,and also the value orientation for the creation of literary small town to interpret her profound humanistic concern as well as experience and observation of the reality.This paper makes an in-depth discussion on Qiao Ye mainly in the context of the small town literature of Post-'70,trying to reveal the generality of creation of small town by the Post-'70 through Qiao Ye.Besides it also highlights the unique style of the novel about small town by Qiao Ye.In addition to the introduction and conclusion,the whole paper consists of four chapters.The first chapter focuses on presenting the "community of shared identity" of the Post-'70 writers of small town literature.This chapter gets a comprehensive understanding of small town literature of the Post-'70 by combing the overall profile and common features of the representative Post-'70 writers of small town literature including Qiao Ye.Chapters 2 to 4 discuss mainly Xiao Ye's novels about small town to highlight the uniqueness of Xiao Ye's creation of small town literature.Thereinto,the second chapter mainly analyzes three types of people portrayed to the full in the small town novels by Qiao Ye,i.e.,the businessmen who bear the weight of the commercial culture of the small town,the officials who dominate the politics in the small town,and the intellectuals who take a critical stance on the culture of the small town.This chapter represents the ideological formation of the small town society in depth from three-dimensional perspective of economics,politics and culture though images of three kinds of people with different identities and different positions.The third chapter is the presentation of the customs and folkways of the small town society.Through visible and sensible portrayal of social and cultural customs and real space,Qiao Ye interprets the cultural characteristics of the small town society and demonstrates the evolution of the small town under great changes of the times.The fourth chapter discusses the value appeal of Xiao Ye in her creation of small town.Through the analysis of the spiritual qualities forged deeply into Qiao Ye's novels about small town,this chapter shows that Qiao Ye,as a writer with a strong sense of social responsibility who pursues the true value,holds fast to the concept of plain literature persistently.Qiao Ye's literary works of small towns are filled with deep concerns of the times,society,and humanity,showing that she strictly abides by the literary morality.As an individual of this era by her own,she tries to depict a contemporary society that is noisy and complicated,and provides us with an effective way to perceive the society,grasp the pulse of the era,and face the soul with her exquisite and vivid way of expression.