Salvation·Metamorphosis·Transformation

Focusing on literature in the liberated areas, the thesis carries on rethinking on complexity of the main spiritual transformation of the writers in that areas and its traditional heritage and transformation of May Fourth literature, employing the means of cascading logical thinking. The paper is divided into five chapters: Introduction; Research overviews on literature in the liberated areas; Entanglement and interaction under the view of role theory; Inheritance and transformation of May Fourth new literature; Understanding and re-evaluation on literature of the liberated areas in the new historical context.Literature in the liberated areas has its own unique form of existence and value. Scholars disagree on its definition. The thesis firstly discriminates the origins and logical relationships among literature in the liberated areas, Yan’an literature and literature in Soviet areas and affirms the identity of the literature concepts between literature in the liberated areas and generalized Yan’an literature: literature throughout the liberated areas under the overall political environment, such as Anti-Japanese War, War of Liberation, etc. in this relatively-independent particular liberated areas led by the Chinese Communist Party centered on Yan’an in this special time from 1936 to 1949.The first chapter mainly reflects and retrospects the academic research on literature of the liberated areas at home and overseas. Domestic study starts earlier but the real theoretical research begins after the new period. Guided by problem awareness, the paper conducts research review on comprehensive discussion of researches on literature in the liberated area, study on typical non-native writers represented by Ding Ling and He Qifang and study on the native writers represented by Zhao Shuli and Sun Li, and retrspects researches on the liberated areas from the foreign scholars, such as the Soviet Union, Japan, Europe and America and South Korea, etc. For domestic study, whether it is a comprehensive research or case studies, researchers display to construct the theoretical paradigm pursuit and consciousness by entering the study objects and restoring its historical nature and original appearance. Meanwhile, overseas studies on literature in the liberated areas provide a good sight of the other for domestic academic and also provide new ideas, new methods, and new perspectives for this kind of literature studies in multi-cultural context; but with respect to the domestic scholars, most researchers focus on the writers as a case study, especially for single works interpretation with great enthusiasm. They are more concerned about artistic methods such as the subjects of the works, language features, structures and expressive force, etc. Depth of thought, the open nature of research vision has yet to be enhanced. Through combing these literature researches, the paper considers that literature in the liberated areas is becoming one of the hot. Rich historical achievements make in the construction, richer perspective, research paradigms of rationality in theory, normalization, interdisciplinary become researchers’ consensus. However, studies on literature in the liberated areas are still relatively weak in modern literary studies and theoretical systematicness and width in view for the research has yet to be improved.The second chapter talks about entanglement and interaction under the view of role theory, which probes into the writers’ roles transformation and complexity of the subject spirits in the construction process of its Marxist party ideology from the respective of role theory. It also quests the spiritual context of the relationships between literature in the liberated areas and May Fourth literature from the perspective of the writers. An obvious fact is that local writers have more receptive mentality for those literature carrying strong ideological and political colors, more purely creative mind compared with the foreign writers, who accept this more difficultly and complexly. The thesis interprets a series of problems including conflicts and entanglements of enlightenment and salvation for the principal role of foreign scholars, conflicts between the ideal of individualism and the reality of anti-Japanese national salvation movement, the issues on achieving self-salvations and sharp changes in the self-remolding process under the guidance of the spirit of the “Speech”, which is more typical for recovering the complexity of the spiritual body of the main writers in the liberated areas. It is thought that those foreign writers rush to the red base areas holding the mental state of anti-Japanese salvation. They are given courteous reception and serious attention by CPC and soon throw themselves into soldiers and civilians anti-Japanese with enlightenment mind. However, in this particular field, foreign writers soon fall into the tangled state of enlightenment and salvation. With Yan’an Rectification Movement carrying on, Ding Ling and He Qifang begin to reflect and adjust the conflicts of their own roles so they begin to re-adjust the role, showing to remold initiatively and consciously according to Mao Zedong’s "speech"; they complete the pain redemption in the role conflicts. In political and military realities, they solve the differences and contradictions between ideal and reality, accepting actively the transformation of workers and peasants, and finally they complete the changes of roles. Although they are consciously transformed, or even active, this process of self-transformation is painful. They finally complete the painful transformation with psychology of repentance, or with repent or with psychological, or with the mind of redemption.In the part of inheritance and transformation of May Fourth new literature, the paper analyzes the whole process of literature creation in the liberated areas from the perspective of literary creation, and literary creations still echo enlightenment tradition of May Fourth literature. Foreign intellectuals choose Yan’an and exploit the virgin land in pursuit of light, progress and revolution, bringing the spirit and literature of enlightenment to Yan’an. They also feel the revolutionary passion in Yan’an; they are willing to sacrifice for the revolution; they found Yan’an’s beauty and also create a lot works praising and eulogizing Yan’an’s new life with great passion. After a brief revolutionary fanaticism, these intellectuals with the spirit of independence and the ability of surveying start to examine calmly the reality of Yan’an. They discover the deficiency of life subtly and begin to write the original ecosystem works in the liberated areas. Under the expectation, they start getting real feeling towards their self values, actively and consciously enlightening masses of workers and peasants, so those works of deep exposure to Yan’an "dark side" begin to appear. Under the guidelines of the "speech", writers embark on the road that art serves for peasants and soldiers, subjecting to the practical needs of anti-Japanese salvation, Writers abandon profound and unpopular writing style and change into informal and popular writing style, which is at the same time heritage and development of the spirit of the May Fourth Movement and the literary tradition, in which Zhao Shuli is the most typical expression.The last chapter revisits literature in the liberated areas in the new academic and historical context, adopting the method of refutation. The thesis analyzes and expounds the following viewpoints: the ideology that literature in the liberated areas is themed by saving the nation from subjugation separates the spirit of the enlightenment since the May Fourth Movement; literature in the liberated areas, especially literary creation after the Yan’an Forum, lacks aesthetic nature; literature and art popularity bring merely literary popularity. For the May Fourth literature, the functions of literature and art can not be allowed full play as the result of reducing the standard of literature. According to the thesis, the understanding and study on literature in the liberated areas should stand in the height of history and theory, seeking dialectical attitude of matter-of-fact: literature in the liberated areas, as a new kind literature form, its unique literary concepts, aesthetic form and the way forward for the literature inherit and develop the tradition of May Fourth literature. Popularization of arts brings not only popularized literature, but also leads it to the common people. The spirit of May Fourth movement is really popularized in workers and soldiers. Of course, there are also aesthetic limitations in literature in the liberated areas: the overall art level is not high; the creation prefers a happy ending appetite, lack of depth of tragedy; the pursuit of public art form leads the loss in part of writers’ personality and so on. The significance lies in the resource-based value of development of contemporary literature. For the exploration of the theory and creative practice, literature in the liberated areas gives precious inspiration to the future: correctly handling the relationship between literature and politics; correctly handling problems about the relationship between the arts and the people, literary content and form, diverse coexistence of aesthetic tastes.