The Phantom Of Fascinating "The South"

In the contemporary literary world, Su Tong, one of the avant-garde novelists, has been the critical focus all the time. Beginning from Raise The Red Lantern, many of his works have been adapted into films and won great success. Sought after by the media and the masses, his novels become avant-garde and enjoy popularity. But the previous criticisms on him center on "the avant-garde novel" and "Neo-historicism", which reveals one aspect of his writing but fails to generalize his textual world. In fact, Su Tong's creation begins with the upsurge of "root-seeking literature" in the 1980's. He sets his stories in his native province—the south of Yangtze River and makes up his textual space—"the South". Since his works can arouse the interest of the Film & TV Industry, this thesis is constructed in the same way as the film, drama and other video productions are analyzed, interpret his textual world and probe into the field of "The South" in order to seek he essential style and features his works display. The thesis can be divided into three parts: introduction, body and conclusion. Introduction: After the introduction of his two masterpieces, Escape In 1934 and The Memory of Sangyuan this part accounts for two important geographical signs in his text—the village of beech and Chinese Toon Street. With instances it proves a wider vision that Su Tong attempts to represent and introduces this special concept of "The South". With a further explanation of the relation of the south with literature, this part gives a concrete definition of "The South", that's, the literary image of the south of Yangtze River. In a narrow sense, it refers to the molding of the south of Yangtze River in Su Tong's text. Body: Under the framework of the video works, this part will be subdivided into three sections and launch a key discussion of the thesis. Section one presents the image of "The South". The author will analyze the appearance embodied in "The South" that Su Tong describes, in a way as a film or a drama is examined: how a director puts up the scene, uses the properties and deals with the aesthetic symbols. An intensive reading and analysis will be made to the images built in Su Tong's novels, which includes three sights in the south of Yangtze River: small bridge, flowing water and well, four kinds of plants: opium poppy, bamboo, rice and sweet-scented osmanthus and two animals: cat and snake. These numerous images together show the affluence and glamour of "The South". In a deeper sense they as well imply the characteristic lust of "The South". Section two concerns the dramatis personae and stories in "The South". Based on existing intuitive impressions on "The South" it analyzes its inherent true life and the three kinds of personage that Su Tong moulds: young men, male adults and women in the south of Yangtze River. Their stories and destinies verify the lust exist in "The South" and represent a cold color as death appears frequently and the messy, confusing and degenerate true colors of "The South". Section three deal with the connotation of "The South". After detailed textual analysis in the first two sections, this section will sum up the generative characteristics of Su Tong's "The South". Through a survey the scholar-bureaucrat spirit in the south of Yangtze River, it shows that "The South" is actually a philistine world where there is not any the noble temperament of literature revealed in the tradition of the south of Yangtze River. The influence of western modernism is refracted through repetitive description of lust and death. However, compared with the American Southern Literature it seems plain and flat. Su Tong does not surpass the influence. In the commercial society, as the texts focus on plots and use such themes as lust and death to attract the interests of the masses and there are a lot of adaptations of films and television programs even more, Su Tong's works become the avant-garde and win popularity. The conclusion is a summary and evaluation of the significance Su T...