The Spread And Domestic Appropriation Of Black Humor Novels In China

Black humor novels as one of the Western literary schools have exerted a great influence on our literature since the 1970 s,and the Chinese black humor novels in the New Time are one of its consequences.Therefore,“Black humor novels in China” is a typical comparative literature topic.What is it? How did it get into China? What influence does it have on Chinese literature in the new period? What changes have taken place in China? All these questions naturally form a concrete part of the “Black humor in China” thesis.Besides the introduction and conclusion,the thesis is divided into four chapters.The first chapter focuses on the history of black humor novels,the causes of its formation and the ideological and formal features it presents.As an unconscious literary genre,black humor novels began in the 1950 s,reached its peak in the 1960 s,and then gradually declined.The emergence and development of black humor novels were not only influenced by the chaotic and disorderly state of American society since the 1950 s,but also directly related to the philosophical trends,scientific concepts,and literary schools popular in Western countries at that time.Black humor novels showcase the absurdity of the essence of the world and human existence,the apocalyptic scene of the world,the useless and harmful rationality,and the loss of self and the emptiness of the value system in their content.Black humor novels also have absurd forms,manifested as illogical narratives,time and space,and language in Joseph Heller’s novels,Thomas Pynchon’s novels,and Kurt Vonnegut’s novels,and as meta narratives and breaking the boundaries between fiction and nonfiction,literature and nonliterature,fantasy and reality and history in John Barth’s novels,Donald Barthelm’s novels,and Robert Cuffer’s novels.The second chapter focuses on the channels and reasons for the entry of black humor novels into China.The black humor novels came to China in the late 1970 s.This particular point in time was an important moment for China to launch a great ideological liberation movement and launch its slogan of“Going to the world”.It is also an important moment for writers to form a sense of absurdity and to awaken the national memory of humorous literature.The main channels through which black humor novels enter China are translation,introduction and research.Active translators such as Fu Weizi,Dong Leshan and Wu Lao,and the publication of World Literature,Shanghai Translation Publishing House and Yilin Press,that allowed black humor novels to enter the Chinese market in a steady stream.With the hard work of Chen Kun,coroner and Liu Xuelan,the research on black humor novels in China has developed continuously and achieved fruitful results.After decades of translation,introduction and research,the black humor novels has been widely spread in China,and thus has a solid foundation to influence Chinese writers.The third chapter focuses on the impact of black humor novels on Chinese literature in the new time.Wang Meng,Liu Sola,Xu Xing,Wang Shuo,Wang Xiaobo,Yu Hua,and Liu Zhenyun are one of the writers who have an intimate relationship with black humor novels.To some extent,their ideas and creative practice reflect the Chinese writers learning from the black humor novels,and many of their novels are also called Chinese new time black humor novels.Among them,Wang Shuo’s novels and Wang Xiaobo’s novels can best reflect the persistence and depth of the influence of black humor novels,and deserve our attention.The broad and far-reaching influence of black humor novels on Chinese literature in the new time was not only manifested in the creative concept of focusing on people themselves,emphasizing the disproportionate power relationship between subject and object,and promoting a humorous attitude towards people,it is also manifested in the literary images of sex,death,violence and excrement and the creative practice of using repetitive techniques.The fourth chapter mainly focuses on the causes of domestic appropriation of Black humor novels in China as well as further analysis on these phenomena.Chinese writers,while learning and borrowing from black humor novels,have always adhered to their national identity and subjectivity.Based on the specific situation of contemporary Chinese society and national cultural traditions,they have launched some thoughts and explorations that are different from black humor novels,resulting in fundamental changes in black humor novels.This is mainly manifested as: from the metaphysical absurdity of black humor novels to the tangible reality of Chinese new time black humor novels,from the irrationalism of black humor novels to the rationalism of Chinese new time black humor novels,from the loss of self themes by people in black humor novels to the promotion of self themes by people in Chinese new time black humor novels,from the broken relationship between people shown in black humor novels to the entangled relationship between people shown in Chinese new time black humor novels.The spread and domestic appropriation of black humor novels in China have brought us various inspirations.One of the most important inspirations is that the development of national literature and world literature cannot be separated from the exchange and dialogue between different literatures.At the same time,in the process of different literary exchanges and dialogues,it is also necessary to adhere to the subjectivity of the nation and pay attention to maintaining ethnic traditions.This inspiration is conducive to eliminating the anxiety caused by national conservatism and literary imitation,and plays an important role in promoting China’s participation in more cross-cultural exchange activities.