Research On Chinese Women’s Literature In 1990s From The Perspective Of Individual And Female

With problem consciousness and historical reference,this thesis focuses on Chinese women’s literature in 1990s from the perspective of individual discourse,to explore the causes,context and the proliferation of connotation in this period.The preamble interprets several key realms through the analysis of related concepts.Firstly,"1990s" is a concept in the sense of cultural and literary history,referr:ing to the time from around the 1989 political crisis to around the turn of the century,and the space of culture and history.Secondly,"Women’s Literature" refers to female writers’literary creation,as well as the literary and cultural phenomenon surrounded by it in this period.Through reflecting the basic path and some representative academic research in the field of women’s literature,we point out that the main disadvantage lies in the approach of "Western learning spreading to the East" and the presupposition of the binary thinking,which excessively highlights female subjectivity and the consciousness of revolt in literary texts.Thirdly,according to the method of essentialism in the studies,this thesis longitudinally traces the origin and development of individual discourse,and horizontally analyses several problems in women’s literature in the 1990s.Focused on the relationship between "individual" and"female",it explores the underlying social and cultural background.The first chapter analyses the formation process of women’s literature in May 4th period and the 1980s.The concepts of "individual" and "female" that appeared in the late Qing Dynasty,were generally accepted in the trend of "Discovery of Man" in the May 4th movement.However,even before these realms had access to further exploration and practice,they were quietly incorporated by the dominating ideology.More than half a century later,the trend of questioning and deconstructing spread in the new period brought introspection on the collective discourse and the grand narrative."Man" emerged,and "individual" immediately replaced it.Thus,"female"profoundly experienced the pain of splitting between subjectivity and gender identity in the process of separation with "individual".The second chapter observes the new development of women’s literature in 1990s.Starting from the attention on "personalized" tendency of 1990s Chinese literature,we try to point out that diversification was brought by commercialization;also,nihility of individuals was rise by globalization.Under the collusion of consumer culture and official ideology,female writing suffered reification through the process of "seeing and being seen".Therefore,the experience on gender issues and the expression of personal life was greatly distorted and gradually disappeared.What’s more,according to the different degrees of expressing "individual" or "female" in writing,women’s literature in 1990s can be interiorly divided into two branches:the writers who had been famous since 1980s,and the writers sprung up in 1990s.And lastly,beside the internal force of "individual" and "female",the official ideology participated in the construction of women’s literature since the fourth World Conference on Women in 1995.And thus,it took controls by professionalization and disciplinization.Also,the feminist cultural theory introduced from the western world tremendously boosted academic research in related fields.The third chapter discusses the literary phenomenon that female writers refuse to acknowledge their gender identity.Several reasons can be given in explaining manifesto such as "I am not a female writer" claimed by female writers.Firstly,with the inheritance of traditional aesthetic tastes,female writers understand the new concept "feminism" on the theoretical level of binary thinking and aesthetical level of sentimental style.Secondly,with the social effect of "beauty writers",women’s literature was further stigmatized by mass media.And lastly,as post-structuralism became influential since the late 1970s and Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble subverted the whole idea of "women",the denial of gender identity not only appears in Chinese writing,but also world-widely exists.In response to the stigma of their gender identity,Chinese female writers claimed that "we are not writing on female ground;Rather,our writing concerns the world of humanity." Thus,two different text strategies can be concluded from their works:either pretending as men by castration,so as to win a position in the mainstream literature;or facing up to their gender identity,so that creates a unique world by "androgyny".The Fourth Chapter analyses different expressions in female and male writing on some same topics.Heterogeneous writings which burst in 1990s differ greatly on connotations and encounters due to authors’ gender identity.The Abandoned Capital and Shanghai Baby are all famous for the description of sex.The former remains it a powerful metaphor for the relationship between intellectuals and eras,creating the decadent atmosphere by portraying the rootless mental status of intellectuals in the current time of social transformation.The later intends to explore the individual life and gender experience in the context of post-colonialism;however,it’s finally knocked down by commercial culture and then shows confusion in values.The Chair on the Ambulatory and The Peach Lip are all queer texts.The former builds a text strategy of "girls’ love",so as to achieve gender identity and self-confirmation by the feminist writing.The latter reveals the realistic aesthetic experience of homosexuality,aiming to challenge the gender normality by narcissism,thus deconstructing the marginality of queer groups.Overall,this thesis traces the clue of "individual" and "female" on the diachronic dimension and discusses several phenomenon in 1990s Chinese women’s literature on the synchronic dimension,attempting to present its origin and evolution,culture patterns and writing problems.