May Fourth Detective Novels:New Literature In The City

Chinese detective fictions are influenced by Western detective fictions and have undergone a process of translation,imitation,and creation.In the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China,the writers gradually mastered this style of fictions through imitating.Thanks to the exploration of new technologies and continuous practice,the writing of detective fictions has become increasingly mature.Regardless of the narrative perspective,the arrangement of the time structure,or the design of the suspicious plot and the acceptance of the knowledge concept,people are all eye-catching.The self-naming of "Oriental Sherlock Holmes","Eastern Arsène Lupin" and "Chinese local detective fiction" show that the status and value of Chinese detective fictions have been confirmed.Many writers have formed their own creative channels and styles,such as Zhao Shaokuang's "Hu Xian Tan An",Zhang Biwu's "Home Detective Song Wuqi",Lu Danan's "Li Fei Detective Case",Yu Tianfen's "Die Fei Detective Case",Zhang Wuzheng's "Xu Changyun Detective Case",and Yao Gengkui's "Balvin Detective" have their own characteristics.Among them,Cheng Xiaoqing's “Hawthorne Detective” and Sun Liaohong mimicked the “Arsen Robincian Case” and created “The Thief Lu Ping”.In Cheng Xiaoqing's “Hawthorne Detective” series of works,he created a rational,fair,smart and sensitive detective image,with strict working attitude,and vigorously promoted modern civilization;Sun Liaohong's “The Thief Lu Ping” series of works appears to create an image of a cynical traitor,who wanders on the edge of the law but maintains traditional morality and justice in order to remedy social injustice.However,this concept and style of detective fictions did not continue.With the May Fourth call for "the awakening of man," individualism drowns the grand narrative of late Qing Dynasty based on the concept of national salvation and the idea of the world,and the detective fiction is obscured by the light of the May Fourth New Literature.Detective fiction is a type of literature that adapts to the market,but it does not mean that it lacks the spirit value of the times.In the past,detective fiction was attributed to popular literature and concealed its value in the times.In fact,some outstanding detective fiction writers' works are based on China's social realities,of which expressions of social justice can change from time to time and have a local consciousness.They also keep making serious thoughts while pursuing the entertainment of literature.The private detective Hawthorne created by Cheng Xiaoqing is a representative of modern intellectuals.The private detective Hawthorne image conveys multiple modern ideas,such as modern thinking,scientific rationality,and the concept of the rule of law.Cheng Xiaoqing carefully selected criminal cases in his writing,evoked voices for the public,explored folk expression ways of social rectification,expressed his reflection on the rule of law and moral dilemmas,and emphasized traditional Confucian moral personality on the basis of respect for science.In his fiction,the investigation technique is also consistent with the level of justice at that time.Crime and punishment have strong reality and criticism in the works.This suggests that we need to re-examine the historical value of detective fictions.This article selects the period of the May Fourth,examines the creation of representative writers,explores the "new" of detective fictions,breaks down the prejudices against detective stories,and proves that it can be used as a form of "new literature."This article studies the detective fictions of the May 4th period from the perspective of the new literature.It explains the new culture and the new literary character of the detective stories from the aspects of the story,the relationship between the characters,the city culture,etc.,and considers that the detective fictions originally considered as “popular literature”can be included in the field of new literature.This article first summarizes the development of detective stories in the context of the New Culture Movement and related research.Then it elaborates on scientific awareness,civilian awareness,tragedy awareness,civil-civilian conflict stories,and women's liberation claims in May Fourth detective novels.Focusing on the detective novels in the city,a detailed analysis was carried out from the aspects of the cultural context,the life style of the citizens,the city crime story,and the modern judicial construction.Finally,from the perspective of the character model,the incompleteness of urban imagery,and the problems of communication and acceptance in detective stories,the reasons why detective fiction is not considered as new literature are discussed.From a city perspective,modern detective fiction is one of popular literature,but it is not only to satisfy readers' curiosity,but its content is not limited to the detection of cases.In fact,it is based on cases and detectives and go deep into the inner city culture.Although the May Fourth detective fictions are filled with traditional moral values,they show a complex social outlook through the writing of urban social phenomenon.As detectives they need to identify the perpetrators,through which the narrative of the detective fictions shuttles through the prosperous urban space and social strata,and shows the relationship between the city and humans.In short,detective fiction is a new type of literature that is jointly forged by translation fictions and new fictions.It is a modern novel with entertainment orientation.