Love-Writing In 1980s Chinese Novels

The dissertation analyzes the development,the general features,the essence and the significance of love-writing in 1980s Chinese novels from various aspects and angles.The introduction mainly highlights the reasons why this topic was chosen and reviews the previous study on this topic,aiming to provide a solid foundation for the further discussions.Chapter one centers around the historical background,development and discourses of love-writing.The political,cultural and literal context of love-writing is firstly discussed.This is followed by the analysis of its three stages.Then,the unique discourses,including political discourse,desire discourse and feminine discourse,are discussed.Generally speaking,love-writing in this period is the continuation and breakthrough of the traditional "literature for the society’s sake".Chapter two mainly discusses the political intention embedded in "love for the society’s sake".In this chapter,the critical awareness in these novels are the first to be analyzed,with an emphasis on how writers reveal and criticize the Cultural Revolution,Ultra-Leftist line and Autocratic ideology through love-writing.The changes in these love writings are also examined,including the illustration of altruistic love in conveying the desire for transformation,the story about pursuing the beloved in demonstrating the cultural conflicts in reforms,and the description about the loss of love in the struggle for money and power in expressing the anxiety for reforms.Overall,love-writing in this period is in a tendency to be free from political awareness.Chapter three discusses the desire expressed in love writing.The dissertation firstly analyzes the indirect descriptions about desire and their connotations,finding that the modern enlightenment in love writing originates from the awakening of individual consciousness,the sexual descriptions originate from the awakening of sexual consciousness,and the indirect descriptions of materials originate from the intention to reevaluate the relationship between spirituality and material.Then the dissertation analyzes the cultural background of desire discourse,believing that along with the tendency to trace back the "cultural root" the descriptions about the sex among common people aim to praise the beauty of life,that along with the pursuit of traditional culture the evaluation of love tragedies aim to establish the communication between tradition and modernity,that along with the Avant-garde spirit the advocate of individual love aim to highlight the value of self,and that along with the devotion to the esthetics of sex the descriptions about sex aim to display the exploration of love,desire and civilization.Lastly,the dissertation also studies the daily writing of desire and sexual experiences,holding that in daily life love has the bright side as well as the dark side.Love can be filled with bitterness and reluctance in difficulties,and expectations and sentiment in experiencing life.On the whole,love writing has a tendency to be desire-oriented.Chapter four mainly analyzes the sexual discourse of love writing.In this chapter,the dissertation firstly discusses the "Phallus" in male love writing and "Man Complex" in female love writing based on mutual identity between men and women in the context of the cultural phenomenon of"Seeking the Real Man" in 1980s.Then the essence of love in both male and female writers’writings,including the features of reinforcing masculinity and modeling the strong men in the former,and the refusal to be the second sex and pursuit of equal love in the latter.The last part studies the dual anxiety of both male and female writers in their failed attempt to go beyond the daily life,either to escape from love or reevaluate love.On the whole,the gender discourse of love writing is characterized by the highlight of female discourses.Chapter five mainly discusses the narrative strategy of love writing in this period,including body rhetoric,psychological perspective and romantic discourse.As for body rhetoric,discussions are devoted to skills in the dualistic structure of spirituality and body,the cultural correspondence among body,sex power and the strong,and the display of feminine body.As for psychological perspective,discussions are devoted to the use of interior monologues,dreamy fairytales,sensory descriptions and experiential expressions.As for romantic discourse,discussions are devoted to the adoption of historical biography of individuals,exquisitely-designed narration,and worldly romance.Overall,love writing has a tendency to be focused on the interior world of characters.The conclusion of the dissertation summarizes the features and significance of love writing in 1980s Chinese novels.