The Other Study

"Home Sick" is the main theme in ~A Guest in New York" and in ~The TaiBeier" that written by Bai XianYong.As for the inner side of this very theme, most approve that it should stand for a certain patriotism and national affection, of which,Mr. Wang jingming from Zhongshan University is the first representative. He repeated for several times in His articles commenting on this theme, that the "Home sick" is a hiding way to show patriotism, reflection of some strong affection upon the Chinese People. Most critics agree with him. However, I disagree, for I find it not exact to cite that theme extensively as some kind of patriotism .Further more, "patriotism" in itself means literally more than a feeling-longing for the union of the country is a patriotism; Missing the born place, praising the beauty of one's motherland are also a patriotism and cricizing on the backward social situation as well. Therefore, to define Bai XianYong's "Homesick" with a big but inexact word "Patriotism" is facial and narrow. As the matter of fact, "patriotism" is not sufficient to say all according to the psychological consideration upon Bai's homesick.Additionally,if taking into consideration the political background while Bai's novels were introduced into the Mainland, one will decide that Mr. Wang Jingming's view remains some pounging space as being incomplete. This article is trying to re-interpret the "Homesick" in Bai'snovels with its cultural underlyings,through some cultural study, to find out the ever-omitted cultural value and meaning of this theme .Firstly I focus on psycho-cultural study upon the "Homesick feeling" of those literati in Chinese literary history, to explain that, those literati's homesick is no more than a particular combination of an outlook cultivated inheritage of the literati, and a way of demonstfating one's own ~traditional personality", which includes some yearning toward a certain cultural value. Bai~s homesick inherited this traditional culture nature is a tracinc-hack of his cultural blood on the edge of Chinese culture and western culture: is a fear of losing himself and his root. However, due to the different backgrounds. the real meaning of Bai's homesick is not as the same as the traditional. On one hand. the trend of therId n~odern civilization modes him aware of the necessity of theagriculture's faing away; on the other hand, some approaches carried out in 2O~ century in the westem world affected his meaning of homesick .These approaches are some approaches to study the meaning of human being's existence by a school of thoughts of the philosophy of existism.Therefore,the "Homesick" in Bai's novels, as a mater of fact, is to show his mental findings as "return-wandering", through his experiments on human's cultural existence, indicates the writer's pursuit in the enormous cultural space after shaking off the cultural fetters. It is exactly because of the very re-recognition of culture and adaptation to a phylosophical environment that the theme of homesick shows a brand new landscape: "A Guest in New York" make a tragedy of the modem society of those Chinese who affected tightly to the traditional agricultural culture under the spotlight, while "The Taibeier" reveals the root that the culture comes to a tragic end in the modem society,through cultural mindset,cultural thought and traditional social structure. Anyway, Bai exhibits the bitter feeling of being unattached of those Chinese who failed in finding a homeland. But there is else feeling shown in the "Return-Wandering" philosophical settings. Besides the upset of the hanging on trips, there is still some sweetness, which is the freedom on the way wandering. By this meaning, Bai's novels on homesick have shaken off the traditional esthetics on this theme, becoming works that keep pace with the world. The theme reflects those overseas Chinese People's keen historical eyesight in the worldly reform and modernization boom and their sharp cultural mind in breaking out their own limitations, rebuilding their consciousness upon cultural v...