A Comparative Study Of Yu Dafu's Novels And Modern The Courtesan Novel

Together with chivalrous novel and denouncement novel, as one of the main three categories of novel in modern history, the courtesan novel has not received serious and detailed studies. On the other hand, the study of Yu Dafu's novels emphasizes more upon the influence from Japan and Western literature and pays little attention to the latent influence of Chinese traditional culture. Through a comparative study between the courtesan novel and Yu Dafu's novels, this essay endeavors to reveal the particular connotation of the courtesan novel and pierce into the weak segment in the study of Yu Dafu's novels, exhibiting the other side of traditional influence upon his novels. Both the courtesan novel writers and Yu Dafu lived a hard life. The earlier writers of the courtesan novel chose the traditional life to study for becoming an officer and to fight for his own fame and for honoring his ancestors, however, their talents had never been recognized after losing their opportunity in official exams and they lived even in poverty. The later writers of the courtesan novel were intellectuals in a period of transition in Shanghai. Their social position descended rapidly: they lost not only the privilege of the traditional intellectuals but also the position of spiritual leader as "scholar-officers", the head of "four occupations". The change of life style produce some contradict and painful emotions among them. Yu Dafu also suffered a lot of setbacks in his life: the disappointment in official life, the strike to his ideal, the life in poverty, the loneliness and the sexual depression. It can be inferred that both the courtesan writers and Yu Dafu fell into dire straits of life and they had to give vent to their dissatisfaction and their complaint to the society. Therefore, following the ancient tradition of "writing for expressing", the novel became the best way for them to vent their discontent, to dissolve their resentment, to compensate their lost and to project their ideal. With regards to the text, the courtesan novel writers and Yu Dafu both adopt the traditional mode of scholar-courtesan as the basic construction of their stories. Their choice of such a mode is based upon some subjective and objective grounds. To the modern writers of the courtesan novel, the flourishing of prostitute in modern times, their own personal experience with prostitute, the particular cultural significance of the courtesan novel and their own wish to express, all contribute to their adoption of the traditional mode. For Yu Dafu, to follow the urbane act of ancient famous persons, his own experience with prostitute and his wish to criticize the society by the subject matter of prostitute, all of these make the traditional mode of scholar-courtesan his necessary choice. However, the courtesan novel is only the end of the development of the scholar-courtesan mode, but Yu Dafu's novels is the new development and the alienation of such mode in modern time. The earlier writers of courtesan novel try to project their discontent to the real life upon famous scholars and pretty women in their novel; the later writers endeavor to air their grievances to their cold reception in the society and to excuse for their predicament. Both of them show the narcissism of traditional intellectuals. However, Yu Dafu's novels starting from the vent of one's own complaint, not only expose his soul to the world, but also extend his criticism directly to the corrupted society. They depict the depression of the epoch as well as his own depression. Both the courtesan novel and Yu Dafu depict a lot of female figures, but the end of their writing is only for the expression of their own comlaint, therefore the phenomenon of female never becomes the really intended subject. In the courtesan novel, the male always holds the leading position as the saver and the female is in a subordinate situation as the observed and the enjoyed object. In Yu Dafu's novels, there is successful depiction of female figures, but the traditional concept of the male's superiority over female unconsciously determines that there is no radical change of female position in his novels. For everyone, the tradition is always something that cannot be got rid of. The earlier writers of courtesan novel although live in modern time, their ideal still keeps the mode of traditional intellectuals. The later writers live in a period of transition, in the painful contradiction of new and old, their writings exhibit more the return to the tradition. Yu Dafu was deeply influenced by foreign literature and began his creation under the motivation of foreign literature. On the other hand, the traditional impact still limits his novels, which leads to the contradictions in his novels. Nevertheless, as one of the advanced writers in May-fourth epoch, Yu Dafu took the difficult step towards the modernity in his predicament between tradition and modernity.