Research On The Subject Matter "Discourse" Of Chinese Contemporary Novels(1949-1956)

Subject matter acts as a keyword of the study of the history of Chinese Modern and Contemporary Literary Criticism.Subject matter is more than the literature material freely selected by writers for their work,but further reflects the world outlook,political stand and artistic thoughts of the writers,also the vital standard to measure the value literature works.From this aspect,the subject matter becomes a kind of discourse,which refers to a series of statements featured with specific historical meanings emerging from a certain historical period.During the first few years after the founding of the People’s Republic of China,these statements were formed by the constant explanation and definition of subject matters existing in the documents of the Party and the authorities and reports and speeches given by leaders of Department of Culture and Publication in all kinds of meetings,finally leading to the construction of subject matter “discourse”.These statements mainly include:“the division of writable and non-writable subject matters”,which directly defines the writable content and non-writable content in novel creation as well as the historical basis and realistic condition elaboration to divide “writable” and “non-writable” subject matter.The operation of choosing subject matter “discourse” is that critics classify major subject matter and non-major subject matter based on specific literary and art criticism and the editing and typesetting of important magazines.On the one hand,the recognition and recommendation of the novels centered on the life of workers,peasants,and soldiers and a great number of these novels published by our national magazine People’s Literature make the literary themes concerning workers,peasants and soldiers the major subject matter;on the other hand,the criticism from the critics on the novel originated by the life of the petty-bourgeoisie intellectual and the exclusion from People’s Literature towards such literary theme marginalize the works about the life of the petty-bourgeoisie intellectual,finally,such works are classified into the non-major subject matter.The operation of choosing subject matter “discourse” is reflected by the way it regulateswriters and readers.In face of the literary works about the life of workers,peasants,and soldiers,brainwashed modern writers consciously or unconsciously deny existing works,not in line with new discourse regulations and studiously write “new literature and art” by deleting and changing what they have written.On the contrary,some writers cannot fit in the trend of a new discourse,leading to a sharp decline in their works.Moreover,during the period,more and more workers,peasants and soldiers become writers who are leading the literature creation and create a great deal of novels to show their lives.At last,the readers during the period are trained to be an ideal group for reading.What they voice out is the most authoritative and speaks for the literary pursuit of the whole era,namely the people call for the literature creation featuring the life of workers,peasants,and soldiers.