A New Comment On The Romance By Yi Shu

The romance by Yi Shu has been regarded as one of "three miracles in the Hong Kong literary circle", just as the chivalrous fiction by Jin Yong and the science fiction by Ni Kuang. As one of the most importance romance authors in Hong Kong and Taiwan, Yi Shu was introduced to the Mainland in 1980s together with Qiong Yao, but didn't get enough attention at that time. The romance by Yi Shu didn't popularize until the end of 1990s. Now Yi Shu has become the most popular author in almost all the literary websites, in which hundreds of romance and essays by Yi Shu are available. The publishing of "the Legend of Yi Shu"by Zhong Xiaoyi in 1999 indicated the beginning of critics on the romance by Yi Shu in the Mainland, and there have been quite a few criticisms in journals since 2001. Those criticisms are inferior considering that there is serious misunderstanding in the study of the theme and the characters, and that "the delay of the reception"in the Mainland can't be solved. This thesis provides its own study aiming at three serious problems in recent criticisms. This thesis is divided into three parts. Chapter one: the two mother themes in the romance by Yi Shu. Recent studies on the theme in the romance by Yi Shu still aim at a few "masterpieces"and always begin with bias such as feminism, which have simplified the romance by Yi Shu and resulted in some mistaken conclusion. Considering those mistakes, the present author read many works on which recent criticisms haven't touched and find the two mother themes. Chapter two: the key to the study on the characters, i.e. the peculiar construction of the cultural identity of white-collar women. The studies on the characters of the romance by Yi Shu are still superficial, which is related to the mistakes in the study on the theme. With the conclusion of chapter one, this thesis observes the white-collar women who are usually the heroines in the romance and finds that the key to researching the characters is rather the cultural identity than the sex and the personality. This thesis also argues that the peculiar construction of the cultural identity of the white-collars includes not only the modern values...