The Dilemmament Of The Enlightenment In Revolution

The Left-Wing Literary Thoughts originated in the Left-Wing Literary Movement in 1930s and 1940s. Under the influence of the May 4th Movement and Lu Xun's thoughts on literature, a loose literary school emerged, which was mainly composed of the Left-Wing writers named"the disciple of Lu Xun"and other writers with the same theoretical orientation. They insisted on a relatively free idea of literature, and attempted to unite the Enlightenment thoughts with the literary theory and artistic creation which were imbued with ideology, thus presented a kind of literary theory quite different from that advocated by the Left-Wing Utilitarian School.The Left-Wing Literary Movement is not only a very important historical phenomenon in the field of Chinese literature in the 20th century, but also an important issue in the Chinese cultural fields, even one of the main subjects in the political sphere. Therefore, the introduction of"the Left-Wing Enlightened Literary Thoughts"is of cross-disciplinary significance: Firstly, it can (i) deepen the understanding of the literary works and thoughts of the Left-Wing writers, (ii) demonstrate the fine-grained picture of the Left-Wing Literary Movement in the three historical periods, namely, around the foundation of the Left-Wing Union, the 40s, and after the foundation of the People's Republic of China, (iii) put the literary activities of the Left-Wing writers in different periods and places into the overall frame of the developmental history of the Chinese contemporary literature, which will help globally analyze and comprehend the relevant disagreement in literary history and develop an integral viewpoint of the Left-Wing Literary Movement. Secondly, it can help grasp the theoretical attributes and ideological features, which is helpful in distinguishing from the Left-Wing Utilitarian Literary Thoughts and exploring the future and potential changes of the Enlightenment discourse since the May 4th Movement. Finally, it can deepen the understanding of the intrinsic relationship of a series of political and cultural events from 1930s to 1980s, and the investigation of the logic and regularity between the events.In 1940s, the Left-Wing Enlightenment Literary Thoughts developed into distinct state in the border area governed by CPC and in the KMT controlled area. In the former case, it was among the main targets criticized by Mao's Yan'an Speech, but in the later case, it was among the main obstacles in unifying the literary schools under the spirit of the Yan'an Speech.A series of distinctive literary notions emerged among the writers of the Left-Wing Enlightenment Literary School in their artistic activities when it stood against the Utilitarian School. The notions are as follows: Firstly, they attempted to construct and protect the ontological status of literature. Secondly, for the relationship between literature and art and ideology, they claimed to serve the politics by promoting the spirit of folks as well as the participants of revolution while recognizing that literature should serve the politics; they attached importance to the critical role of literature, and contrived consciously literature's emancipation from ideology so as to win for literature a relatively free space for its existence and development. Thirdly, for the utility of literature and art, unlike the Left-Wing pragmatists who stressed the political utility of literature, the Left-Wing Enlightenment School concerned with the human fate and emancipation, stressed the literature's role in promoting the common's spirit, and pursued the unification of the Enlightenment task and the revolutionary task. Finally, the Left-Wing Enlightened Literature School insisted on the interpretation of the May 4th Movement from the perspective of Enlightenment so that they can uncover the key thoughts of the Movement which had been covered by the Left-Wing Utilitarian Literature School, thus defended the value and significance of the Enlightened literary tradition. The Left-Wing Enlightenment writers are a spiritual phenomenon that cannot be ignored, for they have their own characteristics not only in the contemporary literary circle but also in modern literature in China. They, unlike the writers of New Crescent School, Beijing School and the"third kind of people"who sought after the steady reforms of the society, agreed with the social revolution led by the Communist Party of China, participated in it with enthusiasm. Also in contrast to the Utilitarian School's appeal to social revolution, they hoped to unite the social revolution with the spirit revolution. That is, they tried to coordinate the nation's emancipation with the social emancipation and human's emancipation to achieve a wholesome revolutionary state. So the political consciousness is more complex among the revolutionary camp led by CPC than in the Left-Wing Utilized Literature School.When reviewing the subsistent condition of the individuals in revolution, the Left-Wing Enlightenment writers, as revolutionists with Enlightenment and Humanism concern, realized that the individuals after emancipated from the of feudal cage were put into another slavery state. The reasons resided in the fact that revolution failed to remove the feudal thoughts rooted deep inside the revolutionists, and as a result, humanitarianism was not established. They found that the Left-Wing Utilitarian Literature School regarded both literature and art and human beings as the tool of revolution, and revolution was alienated into fetishism. However, when they attempted to introduce the idea of human freedom into the revolution camp in order to abolish the slavery of fetishism and modify the revolutionary spirit, they were disciplined and chastised by the Left-Wing Utilitarian School, and were consequently plunged into a historical dilemma. Although most of the Left-Wing Enlightenment writers were purged, they exemplified the spirit of Chinese contemporary intellectuals started by Lu Xun with their steadfast pursuit.