Reconstruction Of Cultural Spaces

Thomas Hardy and Shen Congwen,living in different times and cultures,still share the common literary theme � reconstruction consciousness of cultural space.By the aid of half-real and half-fictional narrative spaces,Hardy and Shen unfold their reconstruction of cultural space.Wessex and Xiangxi respectively represent Hardy?s and Shen?s complicated homeland imagination,and carry their cultural ideal.Confronted with tide of modernity,Hardy and Shen think deeply about how to adjust relationship between tradition and modernity to lengthen lifespan of culture by creative narration.This thesis,from the perspective of thematology in Comparative Literature,studies reconstruction of cultural space harbored by Hardy and Shen under the guidance of Michel Foucault?s �heterotopia� by the aid of parallel study.Chapter one probes into cultural predicament in Hardy?s and Shen?s times,and their making of half-real and half-fictional narrative spaces to illustrate cultural predicament;Chapter two mainly analyzes similarities and differences in cultural reconstruction from the following relations: unity of human and nature,interaction of human relation,reconciliation of man and self,and attitude to life and death;Chapter three studies disillusionment of reconstruction of cultural space,its paradox and implication.Views are voiced in this thesis that cultural spaces reconstructed by Hardy and Shen,Wessx and Xiangxi,rather than satirizing reality to call for utopia,are created as heterotopia immersed in multiple visual angles to search for relation among literature,history and hometown in the conflict between tradition and modernity to lengthen lifespan of culture.For the difference in culture,there are obvious distinctions between Hardy?s and Shen?s cultural reconstruction apart from their common ideal.This comparison and contrast is conducive to fully understanding the two writers and works,and to wholly inspecting similarities and differences in adjustment of Chinese and western culture to handle with collision between tradition and modernity.