Shen Congwen's Creation From The Perspective Of Trauma

Literary creation has the effect of healing mental trauma.Throughout his life,Shen Congwen suffered numerous traumatic events,so literary therapy played a crucial role in his literary creations.But how did he use literature to alleviate his different traumas? How is this healing process reflected in the content and the aesthetics of his works? In order to approach each one of these questions,this paper is divided into three chapters,each one referring to a different traumatic experience that Shen Congwen tried to heal through literature.Chapter one focuses on the wounds caused by the history of the Miao ethnic minority,and explores how Shen Congwen tried to alleviate these wounds through literary creation.In this process,Shen Congwen showed a unique understanding of concepts such as ethnicity and country.Such ideas appeared because of his complex status as member of the Miao ethnic minority.Shen Congwen identified with the Miao ethnic and culture,which made him feel compassion for the tragic history of this minority.As a child,he witnessed the slaughter of Miao people by the Qing government,so the suffering of this people became a memory deeply rooted in his heart.The tragedy of his grandmother — whose Miao identity had to be concealed strengthened Shen Congwen's wounds related to his ethnicity.In his works that reflect life in western Hunan,Shen Congwen wrote about his ethnicity and tried to portray beauty.However,his writing reveals his worries about the Miao people's living conditions.On an unconscious level,he was trying to heal the wounds of his whole ethnic minority,so he tried to mask his inner worries with beauty to give the Miao people self-confidence.At the same time,by doing this he sought his own inner peace.He wished to use literature to portray the life of the Miao minority in Western Hunan and describe the festivals,religion,traditions and other unique cultural characteristics of this people.This way,he wanted to solve the problems of this ethnicity,which only had oral literature.Moreover,he sought to record their lives,strengthen their identity as a people and increase their historic conscience.Ultimately,he wanted to rebuild the confidence and identity of this wounded minority.Chapter two is centred on traumatic memories of war and death.It explores how Shen Congwen fought against the fear of death in his literary works by presenting death in a relaxed way.This section also shows how he relieved his pain by narrating tragedies,so the way he remembered and approached war and death possesses a unique value.Shen Congwen experienced numerous wars and deaths in his life.When he was young,he saw the Qing government massacre the Miao people.As a young man,his military career was also inextricably linked to death.Shen Congwen escaped from death many times,whereas his relatives and friends were killed.All this made him fear death and realise the fragility of life.This fear is what gave him the desire to run away,so when Shen Congwen wrote about death,he presented this escape as if it were a game.When one feels it for a long time,such as strong fear causes depression.Literature is the only way to evade these feelings.This affected Shen Congwen's literary creation and is reflected in the tragic implications of his works,such as his inferiority complex in his early creation,the portrayal of psychologically wounded characters,and the tragic settings of many texts.Chapter three focuses on Shen Congwen's tragic love life.The political changes in the late 1940 s and his love affair created a new traumatic experience for Shen Congwen.Exploringes the wound created by between his feelings,public opinion and morality,this chapter reflects the relationship between his inner conflicts and his literary creation.His love affair hurt Shen Congwen's fragile self-esteem.The neglect of the new regime caused him more panic than direct oppression,arousing the fear of old trauma.In Shen Congwen's own words,during his love affair his emotions became “inflamed”.After experiencing a conflict between human nature and social and family morality,he eventually corrected his actions,but he was still confused.Under the desires,panic and confusion he felt,Shen Congwen usually wrote about dreams,fantasies and symbols.These writings are not only proof of his psychologic trauma,but also a way of relieving his pain.They express Shen Congwen's need to seek for the meaning of life when he was feeling lost.When feeling confused in the conflict between his human nature and morality,Shen Congwen once again turned to writing.He used literature to clarify the truth of existence,which helped him to overcome his inner confusion.In spite of the pain they caused him,Shen Congwen's wounds were part of his identity.He sought to heal them through literature and tried to guide his feelings through writing.This was a way of giving free rein to his emotions,avoid fear,and comforting himself with memories.Thus,in such a tortuous state of mind,he constructed a magnificent literary world with a splash of ink.