Yan ’an Military And Civilian Writing By Western Writers（1936—1949）

In the 1930 s and 1940 s,since The American journalist Edgar Snow broke through the kuomintang blockade and successfully visited Yan ’an,more and more Western journalists,strategists and intellectuals entered Yan ’an.They observed,recorded and wrote Yan ’an as "others",which opened the prelude for the international community to understand and recognize the "red Holy Land" Yan ’an.Although they were not writers in the first place,their Yan ’an writings were both documentary and literary.One after another,some of the best works have exerted great influence in Both China and the Western world,and some of the classics are enduring in their influence.Yan ’an written by western writers is an important part of Yan ’an literature,which puts Yan ’an in the broad space and time of world revolutionary history from an international perspective and brings different narration from local writers.Many studies have paid attention to its historical value and journalism value,while its literary value with strong vitality has been neglected.This paper focuses on the writer’s identity and the characteristics of Yan ’an’s military and civilian writing in terms of content,style and emotional value.On the basis of the reference comparison with the local writer Yan ’an,this paper explores the artistic characteristics,value orientation and cultural significance of the western writer Yan ’an’s military and civilian writing,providing a new reference perspective for the in-depth understanding of Yan ’an revolutionary culture in the new era.This paper firstly combs the life course of western writers from the west to China and then to Yan ’an,as well as the unique life experience formed in this process,which clarifies the context of the writing of western writers in Yan ’an.Then,based on the theory of cultural identity,this paper analyzes specifically the content focus and ideological connotation of Yan ’an’s military and civilian writing of western writers with three identity types: liberal defender,communist believer and anti-fascist intellectual,as well as the internal relationship between the writer’s cultural identity differences and his military and civilian writing.On this basis,this paper analyzes the artistic characteristics of Yan ’an’s military and civilian writing by western writers from the perspectives of narrative focus and narrative structure:The first is to show the military and civilian spirit of Yan ’an in a multi-dimensional focus,and the second is to connect the history with the non-linear narrative structure.Based on readers’ consciousness,western writers put the army and people of Yan ’an in the revolutionary history,which makes their works have unique artistic charm.The last part of the article focuses on exploring the value orientation and cultural significance of Yan ’an’s military and civilian writing by western writers.Western writers pay attention to individual fate and life growth as the value orientation,which makes western writers’ writing about the Yan ’an army and people have unique cultural significance.It not only constructs a brand new image of Chinese people in the world,records and witnesses the historical generation of Yan ’an,but also illuminates the reality and future.Of course,western writers have their own limitations in writing about the Yan’an army and people,but its profound cultural value and unique artistic charm remain constant.