A Study Of Contemporary Chinese Western Prose

With a unique spiritual particularity and aesthetic style, contemporary Chinese Western prose enjoys unusual values and significance in contemporary Chinese prose. However, there has been no holistic and systematic study of it to date, let alone detailed descriptions and explanations of its definitions and development, which obviously does not commensurate with its importance in contemporary Chinese prose. This thesis aims to make a comprehensive and systematic analysis of the Western prose, demonstrating its creative form and deep-seated values, clearing up its developing process, probing into its aesthetic pursuit and spiritual particularity, exploring the cultural mentality and Zeitgeist of Western prose writers, investigating the influence of cultural multiplicity in Western China on its creation and, holding its creating trend, with an effort to disclose the significance and value that its unique artistic charm has in the growth of the contemporary Chinese prose. As a result, this study will hopefully enrich the research literature on contemporary Chinese Western prose and help to promote the development of contemporary prose.This thesis consists of three parts, namely, introduction, body of the thesis and conclusion. This introduction mainly explains the origin of the study, its literature review and the research methodology. The conclusion sums up the whole paper. The body is divided into two parts. The first part is a pandect, subdivided into four sections, which deals with the peculiar humanity and cultural character of contemporary Chinese Western prose and the pervasion of religions and folk customs in the creation of Western prose in terms of aesthetic style and spiritual particularity in hopes of perceiving and grasping the details of the spirits of Western prose, its cultural idiosyncrasy and aesthetic style and, displaying a full picture of Western prose. The second part of the body presents detailed analyses of the works of some representatives of the Western prose writers, such as Jia Pingwa, Zhou Tao, Zhang Chengzhi and Liu Liangcheng. In this part, the exploration of the cultures, history and the spirit of the people in Western China is stressed as well as the interpretation of the works with an effort to obtain a deeper understanding of the writers and their works through the comparisons of their writing and aesthetic styles.Chapter One defines Western prose from the cultural point of view, pointing out that Western prose is defined not only in terms of location, but more of culture and aesthetics which includes the spirit and value orientations. In fact, Western prose has its own unique spiritual characters. Hence, a full understanding of the Western prose can only be achieved by combining its regional factor with spiritual characters. In addition, this chapter also discusses in great detail the three phases of development of Western prose since the New Age the liberation of China, the creating styles in different times, its prosperity and value in modern times.Chapter Two focuses on the aesthetic pursuit and spiritual particularity of Western prose. It tells the philosophy derived from life and the spirits of the cultures in Western China, emphasizes the Western prose writers'exhibition of the vastness, mystery and bleakness of the west and their passion for the land, which in turn becomes the consistent pursuit in their creation. It also points out the intrinsic unity of the prose writers in seeking aesthetics and their diversity in expressing.Chapter Three mainly examines the deeper influence of customs on contemporary Chinese Western prose and investigates from this perspective the special culture and aesthetic features of Western prose. Works of Western prosers such as Jia Pingwa, Zhang Chengzhi, Zhou Tao, Liu Liangcheng, Ma Lihua and Liu Yuanju are the target of this study.Chapter Four expresses the writer's reflection on the regional features of Western prose, pointing out that Western prose should impart modern ideology on the regional cultures. Only when the barriers of the regionality are surmounted can Western prose be recognized worldwide. The study of the option and trend of contemporary Chinese Western prose in globalization time not only has great significance in the development of contemporary Western prose, but also great implications on the development of contemporary Chinese literature as a whole.Chapter Five mainly discusses Jia Pingwa's prose writing from the perspective of folklore. It indicates that Jia gives an overall description of the life in Shangzhou throughout history from a macroscopic point of view, placing folk-customs amid the modernization of the society, reflecting modern people's ideology and thoughts in the inheritance and variation of the folklore, showing the changes in national cultural psychology and the evolution of national culture on this land with modern implications. In the meanwhile, Jia reveals harmonious, natural and simplistic aesthetic features, and hence builds up his own unique traditional prose realm.Chapter Six studies the important angles of view in Zhou Tao's prose writing. One is the intense praise of life through the description of the spectacular and prominent landscape and national life and customs. The other is the review and reflection of history, ethnics and cultures from the points of view of farming and nomadic cultures. Zhou'prose escalates life experiences to culture, demonstrating his broad creative perspectives and spiritual depth.Chapter Seven examines Liu Liangcheng's prose writing from the aspect of life. For one thing, Liu exhibits the harmony between man and animals and plants and tries to build up a grand new relation between individuals and the world and, hence, an ideal home for the soul. For another, he enters the real life in the countryside through ordinary things, on the basis of which he reveals the fundamental anxiety and fear of humanity. In the end, he expresses the deep worry about the absence of belonging in the confrontation between city and country, which indicates that the writer's adherence to the hometown is a kind of literature stance.The concluding part of the dissertation points out that the aesthetic style and cultural implication of contemporary Chinese Western prose develops a school of its own in the realm of contemporary prose but will face new opportunity and challenge in the new century.