Research On Prose Writting In Zhou Zuoren's Terminal Stage (1949-1967)

Zhou Zuoren(1885-1976) is one of the most important and controversial writers in Chinese modern literature history.He was the main leader in New Culture Movement pushing forward literary revolution and ideological revolution,but also a national sinner with his moral flaw.Since the beginning of 1980s,the study on Zhou Zuoren that had been silenced for a long time has been regaining the focus of literary researchers.With the development of society and the researchers' effort for generations,the environment of Zhou Zuoren study gradually becomes healthy and rationalized.With more and more historical documents getting discovered and unrevealed,there is the emergence of a variety of excellent study achievements about Zhou Zuoren.Many researchers take the late 1920s(after 1927) as the demarcation and divide Zhou Zuoren's prose works into the earlier stage and the later stage.Generally,the researchers take the point of view that Zhou Zuoren's prose works in the earlier stage fully demonstrates his artistic style and achievement in prose pieces,while the later stage represents a backward and passive literary tendency,which often incurs criticism.In the study of Zhou Zuoren,his literary works,if without special description,mainly refer to the works created before mid-1940s, which lies in the profound reason both in literature and politics.However,viewing from the whole of Zhou Zuoren's literary works,this study is not complete,detrimental to the healthy development of the Zhou Zuoren study.This dissertation takes Zhou Zuoren's prose writing in the terminal stage as its subject.The "terminal stage",different from the "earlier stage" and "later stage" put forward by researchers,refers to the writing period of Zhou Zuoren from his being released on bail in 1949 to his death in 1967,which in the dissertation is regarded as a whole new historical period for his literary writing,as well as a historical period which should not be neglected in Zhou Zuoren study.In October,1949,Zhou Zuoren was released on bail and went back home in Beijing,starting a new phase of his life.From 1949 to 1967 when he died,Zhou Zuoren published more than 1000 articles,about 2 million words,with the addition of an abundance of translated Greek and Japanese classics.This is a relatively active historical period of Zhou,while it rarely attracts researchers' attention,with only few researchers doing silent collection.Observing through the recent two decades of study achievements about Zhou Zuoren's literary writing in his terminal stage,these achievements can be divided into two parts:One is the achievements in historical documents,including Zhou's published works,unpublished papers,letters and journals,as well as historical memoirs about Zhou Zuoren's life of his twilight years.The other is the study achievement,including the study about the literary writing and translation of Zhou Zuoren after founding of the nation as well as his thoughts in the terminal stage.Compared with the achievements in historical documents,the study achievement is relatively inadequate.Based on the thorough collection and organization of Zhou Zuoren's prose works in the terminal stage,this dissertation probes the significance and value of the study on Zhou Zuoren's prose works in the terminal stage from three aspects:1.representing a panorama of Zhou Zuoren's life of prose writing;2.strengthening the study on Zhou's prose works and thoughts in the terminal stage which is weaker in Zhou Zuoren study;3. discussing the literary significance of Zhou Zuoren's prose works in the terminal stage as a special off-main-stream phenomenon in Seventeen Years' Literature.In this dissertation, the major research method is socio-historical research,letting the historical documents and quoted prose works to speak for themselves.Based on the previews study of Zhou Zuoren,this dissertation pursues for the concept of "going back to Zhou Zuoren himself", i.e.admitting the fact that Zhou Zuoren is an independent world,with the premise of understanding and describing Zhou Zuoren and his ideological pursuit,from this specific individual,to search for an understanding and interpretation of the Zhou Zuoren's literature and thoughts in the terminal stage.The first chapter of this dissertation is the survey of Zhou Zuoren's prose writing experience in the terminal stage.In this chapter,Zhou Zuoren's personal life and writing situation are combined with the politic and literary environment at that time to summarize the three summits in Zhou Zuoren's prose writing in the terminal stage:i.e. 1949-1952,1956-1958,1961-1964.From 1949 to 1952,Zhou Zuoren mainly wrote columns for Yibao in Shanghai without the signature of his own name.These essays are generally called "Yibao essays" by common researchers."Yibao essays" included the discussion on national and international hot topics as well as the essays describing people and anecdotes that he was always good at,among which the topics between Luxun and himself take the largest share,in a easy and clear way.From 1956 to 1958,due to the stimulation of The Hundred Flowers Campaign to the literary environment,an abundance of literary supplements emerge on newspapers,and Zhou Zuoren's prose works were quite welcome.It happened that 1956 was the 20^th anniversary for the death of Luxun, therefore plenty of newspapers invited Zhou Zuoren to write for them.During this relatively liberal but short period,Zhou Zuoren wrote many memoirs about Luxun and reviews about Luxun's works,as well as some acute discussion about current politics. During 1961 to 1964,with the help of some overseas friends like Cao Juren,Zhou Zuoren's articles got published mainly on the newspapers in Hong Kong and overseas,in which most are the prose pieces he was good at with knowledge and fun instead of the discussion on current events.This was the last sound of Zhou Zuoren's writing life of prose works.The second,third and fourth chapters discuss the ideological contents and significance of Zhou Zuoren's prose works in this terminal stage.In this dissertation, Zhou Zuoren's prose works in the terminal stage are divided into three categories according to their ideological contents:i.e.about the current politics,about the knowledge,and about people and anecdotes.The three categories are all important in Zhou Zuoren's prose writing in the terminal stage.The second chapter of this dissertation describes Zhou Zuoren's political discussion in the terminal stage.On one hand,specific analyses are given to the ideological "assimilation" demonstrated through his prose to the new age and the new regime,on the other hand,the profound probe is offered to the independent thinking revealed by the works of keeping a certain distance to the main-stream thought,which paves the way for analyze the significance of Zhou Zuoren's prose writing in the terminal stage.Among the description about Zhou Zuoren's prose pieces about knowledge in the terminal stage in the third chapter,the importance is the development of Zhou Zuoren's prose writing about knowledge in the terminal stage, which is represented in two aspects:One is the emphasis of the "usability" of the contents;the other is the more tolerant attitude.The fourth chapter discusses Zhou Zuoren's prose pieces about people and anecdotes,which can be studied for the literary and ideological significance of Zhou Zuoren's memoirs in his twilight years for three aspects of Luxun,contemporaries in history and Zhou Zuoren himself.The fifth chapter discusses the style of Zhou Zuoren's prose works in the terminal stage as well as the status and significance of his works in the Seventeen Years prose writing.Zhou Zuoren's prose pieces in the terminal stage were created in the period of "Seventeen Years' Literature",which was a very important background for studying these works.This chapter discusses the artistic characteristics of Zhou Zuoren's prose writings in the terminal stage of his life,probes its relationship with the mainstream Seventeen Years' prose writing,and clarifies the inevitable "lonely" fate of Zhou Zuoren's prose works in this period.The conclusion additionally reveals Zhou Zuoren's twilight experiences and the end of his life,as well as other controversial topics.No matter how great the controversy and divergence are,one point is for sure that the Zhou Zuoren study will still develop in a more rational and scientific direction.