| It has long been argued that Boris Vian is one of the most controversial writers in 20th century French Literature, for he has received so much praise as well as been accused of a writer who advocates violence and pornography. His writings are extensive, covering novels, poems, dramas, songs, film scripts, essays so on and so forth. Meanwhile, some European and American literature were translated by him.However, Vian’s short life has drawn mixed reviews and different judgments, just similar to his novels L’ecume des jours and J’irai cracher sur vos tombes. His works had long been neglected and underestimated until the end of his life. Only during the last half century did they enjoy immense praise and win great acclaim, especially from the young generation. His works were collected in La Pleiade in 2010 and that constituted his importance in literary criticism. The last five decades have witnessed a graduate increase in considering Vian one of the most significant writers in his days.At present, Vian is addressed to a more rational location by most critics and scholars,with the artistic appeal and value of his works being universally acknowledged.Based on the adoption of discourse analysis and themotology, the present research is aimed at investigating the literary techniques of realism and surrealism represented in Vian’s works, e.g., L’ecume des jours, L’automne a Pekin, L’Herbe rouge, L’Arrache-coeur, with the hope of revealing the social significance of his writings. Specifically, the present research attaches great importance to the themes embedded in the writings,such as love,music,rebellion,so on and so forth. For the purpose of analyzing the artistic feature as well as the spirit of rebellion and subversion against the code of conduct in Vian’s works, the present research fills the research gap by probing into the writings from a multidimensional view in applying seemingly-contradictory theories. In addition to Introduction and Conclusion, the thesis has been divided into three parts, composed of nine chapters.Introduction has been devoted to depict the life and writing experience of Vian,reviews current research home and abroad, and introduces the research method as well as significance of the present research.The first part of the main body, composed of three chapters,is called The Mysterious World Filled with Fantastic Power. It deals with introducing and analyzing Vian’s major writings. By using discourse analysis, the first chapter unscramble one of Vian’s representative works—L’ ecume des jours. Although surrealism penetrates all the way the novel, it is not hard to find realistic writing techniques from time to time. The author bases the present research on the previous studies in an attempt to develop ideas and opinions, with the hope that it will shed light on the masterpiece and provide Chinese readers and researchers with the interpretation from a new perspective. The second chapter is focused on introducing J’irai cracher sur vos tombes, which is taken to be a sequel to La Putain respectueuse written by Jean-Paul Sartre. Stuffed with violence, pornography, and racial issues, this novel earned much concerns for Vian and left him the center of the attention. It indeed brought Vian fame and fortune for which he had long been prepared, but he was also ruined by the law cases in rapid succession. Regardless of the constituents of violence and pornography in this novel, we are supposed to realize the indignation over racial discrimination suggested by Vian and the disastrous consequence it caused to the society. In the third chapter, the author analyzes some other novels written by Vian so as to equip Chinese readers with a more comprehensive understanding of his writings and values embodied. For instance, the absurd style represented in L’automne a Pe kin reminds the readers of La Cantatrice Chauve written by Eugene Ionesco.Additionally, by presenting Vian in the identity of an engineer, L’Herbe rouge has been a good manifestation of his scientific dream. Also discussed in this chapter is L ’Arrache-coeur, which leads us to find out how Vian challenges maternal love and psychoanalysis.The second part, composed of three chapters, is called The Serious Theme Glittered with Indistinct Prospects. The primary purpose of this part is to elaborate a number of major themes embodied in Vian’s works. His view of love and passion for jazz are clarified in the fourth chapter. As a young writer and an enthusiastic of jazz,he is passionate about life. Therefore,love and music play a key role in his writings.As he pointed out in L’ecume des jours, the only two real things in the world are courtship and jazz. In the fifth chapter, the theme of death in his works is explained.As an ardent pacifist,Vian indicates his position of turning against wars and advocating peaceful life. Death, which is highly correlated with wars, therefore becomes a major theme in Vian’s works. In the sixth chapter, Vian is established as a challenger with clear political orientations. He harshly criticizes the judicial system,authority, employment, religions, etc., which constitutes the third theme in his works.The third part,composed of three chapters,is called The Humorous Style combined with Substantiality and Virtuality. The stylistic traits of Vian become the major concern in this part. In the seventh chapter,the author firstly introduces the realistic method and its development in the 20th century and then makes a thorough inquiry of the realism represented in Vian’s works, among which realistic writing techniques are employed in both full-length novels and short stories, even poems for the sake of picturing a world that is familiar with Vian himself. Not only is the outside world vividly described, but also the inner world of Vian is unfolded before our eyes.In addition to absurdity, grotesquery, and bizarre ideas, the social contradictions are completely exposed and truly mirrored in his works. Consequently, Vian investigates the internal as well as the external of people in the 20th century from diverse angles and provides us with a comprehensive picture of the society at that time. The eighth chapter is aimed at exploring the surrealism reflected in Vian’s works. In his writing,various senses such as vision, hearing, smelling, feeling, and intimate feeling are,more often than not, considered as an integral whole. Accordingly, he indeed puts the surrealistic theory which argues that poets serve as communicating vessels into practice. Vian’s black humor, which can initiate a big grin in which you entertain yourself and trigger helpless laughs with tears, reveals his rebellious spirit while faced with the cruel reality. In addition, the uniqueness of Vian’s work still behaves in the colorful world constructed by his manipulation on words. According to him, writing is playing on words so that he often makes small changes in wording and produces incredible aesthetic effects. Vian’s word games are not only to form a sarcastic tone of the objective target, but also add a little salt to his writings. Moreover, he boldly coins many new words, which inject strong visual sense to his writing.The creativity and application value of the present research are as follows:Firstly, it provides a detailed clarification for the implied meaning of emotion and death in Vian’s works. Filled with misfortunes and miseries, love and life are barely ended with happiness in his writings. The reason why Vian composes in this way lies in the historical context of World War II and his own experiences. He was bothered by heart disease through his life and received death threat at all times. On the other hand, he was influenced by Freud’s theory, in which death reveals the rebirth of life. Vian obtains a newborn through death now that the reality is not able to bring about happiness.Secondly, it clearly reveals Vian’s criticisms against authorities and religions.According to Vian, administrative agencies, from the president down to the police, are incompetent. They commit crimes under the veil of rescuing people and defending property. Moreover, religion is an artificial yoke and God is not able to deliver people from sins. In contrast, plunder is the very nature of the church. Based on reviewing Vian’s major works, the present research fixes the location of rebellion and subversion in his works. The conclusion can be drawn that the main theme of Vian’s works lies in the rebellion and subversion against the social reality.Thirdly, it uncovers the reality under the surrealism. It has been found out how realism is manifested in Vian’s works in addition to surrealistic writing methods.From his point of view, the irrational surrealistic methods are a must for providing readers with the nature of reality in that the traditional ways of dealing with absurdities offer no solutions to the issues. |
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