| This paper endeavors to capture the negative effects of the Cultural Revolution on Chinese writers'personal and creative lives as they went through the 10-year long ordeal. A handful of renowned writers are selected and studied meticulously by perusing their biographies in the spirit of respecting both historical facts and individual characters. This paper charted the alteration of these writers'personality as was recorded in their biographies and, in the meanwhile, kept alert to the reliability of their narratives.This paper first presents a summary of the Cultural Revolution as was experienced by Chinese Writers and their reflections on this particular historical period. This includes the naivety of the Red Guards, the loss of writer's legitimate identity, the absurd punishment of confiscating people's homes and having them stand in pillory. It is revealed that the"reformative institutions"like the Cow Sheds and the Cadres'School devastated not only the body but also the ideal of the writers.The alteration of writer's individual characters is an important part of this paper's deliberation. Due to the"soul-distorting Cultural Revolution", even the most invaluable human relations like kinship and friendship invariably ran into difficulties. By contrasting the behaviors of different writers before the overarching question of right and wrong, this paper lays bare both the charms and smears of their personality. As the Cultural Revolution came to an end, however, the writers also returned to authenticity in personality.Applying the theory that"identity underlies ideology"to the examination of both historical facts and individual characters, this paper concludes that Chinese writers were victimized during the Cultural Revolution because of a mismatch of identity between what was perceived by themselves and what was assigned by the authority. Meanwhile, it is also pointed out that writers'spiritual development depends on their spiritual tradition as well as the external environment. |
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