On Nanshe Novelists

Nanshe is the largest literary group in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China,which played an important role in the key stage of Chinese culture from tradition to modern.The novelists were an important part of the members.Zhou Shoujuan,Wang Dungen,Zhou Guisheng and other members were all famous novelists at that time.However,in the field of Nanshe research,Nanshe poets is always attached great importance in the academic circle,and the literary activities of Nanshe have also been identified as mainly poetry creation.Whether at the macro or micro level,the research on the Nanshe novelists leaves leeway many blanks.Also,there are three problems have to be paid more attention:the first is lacking study on Nanshe Novel Collection,which is the only journal that publishes novels in the history of Nanshe;the second is lacking rationally grasp of the general characteristics about the activities of Nanshe;the third is under the influence of the 1911 Revolution,the selections of study objects are focused on Su Manshu,Zhou Shoujuan and Bao Tianxiao,and lacking attention to other novelists.Based on this,this paper takes the method of close reading,combines overall study with individual case studies.The article is divided into six chapters.Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 are the overall study of the Nanshe novelists.Chapter.1 is a special discussion on Nanshe Novel Collection.Nanshe Novel Collection as the only Nanshe formal periodical which publish novel provide a platform for novelists who join Nanshe to write and publish novel which named for Nanshe.Section 1 discusses the encounter between professional novelist and Nanshe.Professional novelists sold articles for payment,but Nanshe rebelled against the Qing government,which were not in tune at first.After the founding of the Republic of China,the political color of Nanshe weakened and transformed into a simple literary group.Professional novelists were attracted by the rich human resources of Nanshe and joined the group one after another,becoming an important part of its members.Section 2 discusses the lack of novel style in Nanshe Literature Collection.Nanshe Literature Collection experienced three chief editors,Gao Xu,Chen Qubing and Liu Yazi.They subjected to traditional literature concept and paid too much attention to poetry while ignoring the novel.So,Nanshe Literature Collection had never included novels,which reflected the marginal position of the novel in Nanshe literature system.Section 3 discusses the 13 novels and 8 novel reviews included in Nanshe Literature Collection.These works blended of the old and new ideas,presented criticism and leisure elements of Nanshe novel,which became the epitome of Nanshe novel’s diverse features.Section 4 discusses the editing process of Novel Collection.An increasing number of novelists in Nanshe facilitated the appearing of Nanshe Novel Collection.The ending of Nanshe Novel Collection owed to the immaturity of Nanshe as a literature group.The purpose of Nanshe Novel Collection was to expose the social problems,which was not only in accord with revolutionary faith of Nanshe,but also corrected the trend of entertainment in the novel circle of the early Republic of China.The discussion of this chapter aims to understand the actual relationship between the novelists and the group of Nanshe,and avoids overstating the influence of the group on the novelists.Chapter 2 is to discuss the novel activities carried out by Nanshe novelists in novel-journals in the late Qing and early Republic of China,which can be divided into two sections by the establishment time of the Republic of China.In the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China,Nanshe novelists were active in various novel-journals as chief editors,editors,and authors,expanding the influence of Nanshe to the field of novel creation.In the late Qing Dynasty,Zhou Guisheng,as a successor to reformers like Liang Qichao,took charge of the editing of the New Novel,changing the idea of running a journal for the purpose of politics,but editing and writing articles from the literature standard and the reader’s perspective.Afterwards,together with other Nanshe novelists such as Bao Tianxiao,Wang Zhongqi,and Chen Xu,they developed the "popular" and "entertainment" functions of Tapestry Portrait Novel and All-story Monthly.Nanshe novelists including Bao Tianxiao,Wang Zhongqi,Wang Yunzhang,and Gao Zeng had constantly promoted the integration of new and old novel creation modes and novel style concepts through Story Forest,Juemin and Women’s World.Nanshe novelists including Xu Zhiyan,Zhou Shoujuan,Bao Tianxiao and so on learned from western novels through the creation of detective novels and science fiction in Novel Times and Novel Monthly published in the late Qing Dynasty.In the early Republic of China,novel-journals reached a low point in 1912 and 1913,with only the Novel Times and Novel Monthly struggling to maintain operations.Novel works provided by Nanshe novelists like Bao Tianxiao,Zhou Shoujuan and Xu Zhiyan enabled the two novel-journals to survive.After the Journal Disaster in the Guichou period,novel-journals had regained the vitality.On the one hand,Nanshe novelists set off a craze of leisure novels,and on the other hand,they vigorously maintained their focus on reality in their novel creation,making novel-journals in the early Republic of China meander forward in the dual variation of seeking for leisure and concerning about the country.The discussion in this chapter is intended to sort out the common characteristics of the novel activities carried out by Nanshe novelists,and to explore their contribution and role as a whole in the novel circle of the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China.Chapter 3 is about the transition from overall research to individual case studies of Nanshe novelists.Chapter 3 is to discuss the novel activities of Nanshe novelists like Wang Dungen in Saturday.Saturday is the representative of the municipal literature journals in the early Republic of China,and Nanshe novelists gathered in large numbers with active performance in the journal,which indicates that Nanshe has become an important force in the novel circle in the early Republic of China.In section 1,it told the story that Wang Dungen,as the editor in chief of Saturday,established a team of writers relying on his own interpersonal network.He determined the purpose of running the journal for leisure and entertainment based on his judgment of the market,and carried out diversified activities for advertising and promotion,making Saturday stand out in the fierce commercial competition.In section 2,it discusses the novels created by Nanshe novelists like Wang Dungen,Zhou Shoujuan,Hu Huaichen,Ye Chucang and Jiang Kesheng in Saturday.Before and after the signing of the "Twenty-One Demands Rules",Nanshe novelists created a large number of patriotic novels for Saturday,trying to inspire patriotic enthusiasm of Chinese people.They also disclosed various issues in society in their novels,and reflected on traditional morals such as chastity and filial piety.Saturday broke away from the vulgar taste only taking about matters concerning love,and became more three-dimensional and substantial in the composition and ideological style of the work.The purpose of this chapter is to show that Nanshe novelists are a clique focused on novel-journals,and it is the main form of the activity and existence of Nanshe novelists in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China.Chapter 4,Chapter 5,and Chapter 6 are individual case studies of Nanshe novelists.Chapter 4 is to discuss Hu Huaichen’s novel activities.Hu Huaichen made great achievements in the field of novel theory research,and his joining made Nanshe leave traces in the transformation of Chinese novel theory from ancient to modern periods.In section 1,it discusses Hu Huaichen’s History of Novel.The Research on Chinese Novel,The Origin and Evolution of Chinese Novel and The outline of Chinese Novel had got rid of the social criticism trend from the West,and established a novel history writing method based on Chinese novels by defining and tracing the origin of novels and sorting out the evolution trajectory of the "form"," quality",and "era".In section 2,it discusses Hu Huaichen’s novel reviews.The form of novel reviews is flexible and varied,the content is all-inclusive,and the writing is elegant and ethereal,which condensed Hu Huaichen’s intuitive experience and contemplation of novels.In section 3,it discusses Hu Huaichen’s urban novel creation,which has a strong sense of self narration,depicting the various forms of the life of modern urban citizens while also reflecting the author’s own experiences and perceptions.Chapter 5 is to discuss Xu Zhiyan’s novel activities.Xu Zhiyan had a profound historical background,which was the foundation of his novel creation.He had also become a representative of Nanshe novelists who transformed from traditional literati to a professional novelist.In section 1,it discusses Xu Zhiyan’s anecdote novels.Relied on his own historical literacy,Xu Zhiyan overcame the drawbacks of trivial and messy in anecdote novels.He focused his creation of anecdote novels on the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China,and all collections of anecdote novels were connected by time,constructing a historical book composed of anecdotes.The various sections in the collection of anecdote novels are interconnected,and the individual narratives are arranged orderly,revealing the rigor and neatness of a historian.However,due to economic pressure,Xu Zhiyan’s anecdote novel creation deviated from the principle of "seeking truth" and became a tool to make money in the later period.Shi Dakai’s Diary pushed this trend of creation to the peak.Insection 2,it discusses Xu Zhiyan’s creation of novels in addition to anecdote novels.The unconstrained imagination of The Electric World complemented the revolutionary trend of seeking innovation and change in the late Qing Dynasty,reflecting the hot blood of Xu Zhiyan,a young and green novelist who tried to achieve national prosperity through technological innovation.With the growth of experience,Xu Zhiyan’s novel creation touched every corner of real society,covering families and officialdom,which maintained a high artistic level while exposing the darkness of society with his personalized language.Chapter 6 is to discuss Zhou Guisheng’s novel activities.Zhou Guisheng was an important promoter of the translation career in modern China,bringing a large amount of Western elements to Nanshe based on traditional Chinese culture.In section 1,it discusses Zhou Guisheng’s theory and creation of translated novels.Zhou Guisheng initiated the establishment of the Book Translation Transportation Association and wrote the articles of association by himself,which is of important value in guiding the establishment and improvement of the modern translation system in China.When Zhou Guisheng elected the text,he attached importance to reflecting Western culture,making translated novels a window for Chinese people to know the world.In the specific translation process,he adopted free translation mode and incorporated the author’s own thinking to improve the social value of novels.He also introduced new narrative techniques for the local novel creation in China at that time.In section 2,it discusses Zhou Guisheng’s creation of Reading Notes Novels,which belongs to the"New Novel" system in the late Qing Dynasty,and is reformed from the note style novels.It carries on the traditional Chinese novel concept in the overall atmosphere of reforming and learning from the West in the novel circle.Zhou Guisheng is a major creator of such kind of novels,who established the writing style of taking notes and attaching the author’s comments,and continuously improved it as well.The evolution process of "Reading Notes Novels" from brewing to extinction had become a microcosm of the relation that "as one falls,another rises with checks and balances"between the external environment selection and the self development of literary style in the development chain of novels.In above three chapters,taking Hu Huaichen,Xu Zhiyan,and Zhou Guisheng as examples,it presents the novel activities of Nanshe novelists in individual form,which has enriched the individual case studies.To sum up,Nanshe novelists extended their influence to the field of novels in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China.Nanshe Novel Collection reflects Nanshe’s attempt to intervene in the development direction of novels in the early Republic of China.Nanshe novelists,as a whole,have promoted the prosperity and development of novel-journals in the late Qing and the early Republic of China,and the individual novel activities also became the organic parts of Chinese novels in the transformation from ancient to modern times.What’s more,this paper also compiles "The list of Nanshe Novels(1909-1923)" and attached it to the artcle,listing in chronological order the Nanshe novelists’ novel creation during the activity period of Nanshe,which can provide certain clues and materials for further research on Nanshe novelists.