The Curtain Fell

This dissertation is a thorough examination of the development of the Chinese realism in the 20 th Century, with the focus on its decline in the 1980s and the 1990s, during which, impacted by the new historical context and new theoretical discourse, realism gradually turned out of date and empty, and subsequently lost its leading role in literature as the main organizer of literary discourse. The examination of the whole process of decline may help to provide a "literary" angle to the historical contemplation, which is what the dissertation hopes to achieve. The dissertation is also triggered by the literary reality in the 1990s. In the 1990s, some literati were rather discontented with the lack of the passion and capability of literature to intervene in the reality and thus constantly called for the return to the realism. Yet lots of problems exist in the appeal, such as: How to restore realism if this is seriously meant?: What is the most valuable artistic features of realism?: Is it the most powerful tool for literature to intervene in reality?: How should we examine the relationship between literature and reality in the current condition?: What's the relationship between literature, literati, literary form and "intervene"?. These are what the dissertation hopes to answer.This dissertation consists of four chapters , with the third chapter being the most important one.Chapter One, The Analysis of Realism in Western Critical Theory, is devoted to the study of "authenticity" and "typicality", two key theoretical categories of realism, and, especially, of the impact it got in the historical and theoretical context of the 20 th century.Chapter Two, "Chinese"" People's" Realism, serving mainly as a summation of the past studies, tracks down the historical context in which realism was introduced into China and the development of realism from the Late Qing Dynasty to the 1980s.Chapter Three, The Decline of Realism, explores the discourse functions and development of "authenticity" and "typicality " in China, especially its gradual decline in 1980s and 1990s.Chapter Four, Literature and Realism-From " The Realism Shock Wave", opening with the discussion on "realism shock wave", returns to the theme of the thesis: relationship between literature, literati, literary form and "intervene"...