The Quotidian Mundane Life In The Historical Background

During 1930s', Li Jieren completed his trilogy: Ripples in the Stagnant Water,Before the Storm and Da Bo, which were praised by the famous writer Guo Moruo as the"Modern History of Novels"as well as the"'History of HuaYang'of modern Novels". This comment triggered a series of research on Li's work from the perspective of historical narrative. As a result, there seems to be a foregone conclusion that the trilogy is historical novels.However, The author of present study argues that in Li`s famous trilogy, Ripples in the Stagnant Water is not a real historical novel, because the writer focuses more upon the daily life rather than the well-known historical events. Although Before the Storm and Da Bo do describe histories, the histories mentioned are merely used as the background of the daily life rather than the inquiry about the historical rationality or the reflection of class contradictions. Instead, daily life is the writer's concern through which life is represented and humanity is explored.The author of present study holds the point of view that Li`s success not only lies in his descriptions of the various layers of Chengdu society and different aspects of daily life, but also the representations about the environment and customs of Chengdu city at that time. Thus, the narrative on daily life goes beyond the historical narrative. In the trilogy, histories are integrated with the grand life landscape consisting of the everyday social life and the household private life. The chores and mundane affairs in daily life are endowed with aesthetical significance.On the other hand, the trilogy success can also be owed to the writer's objective narrative and forgiving attitudes towards the daily life. The writer explores in his novels the human nature of average persons in our everyday life and affirms the natural desire and the life instinct of human beings as well as displays the natural beauty of humanity. Furthermore, the novel also creates a series of non-hero characters with the awareness of sexual love.Li`s trilogy is well-known for his unique style, which is incarnated in his unique aesthetic interest on daily life. A writer is inevitably influenced by his living environment and his experience. For Li, it is the influence of Bashu culture and alien cultures, the special life experience and a great deal of accumulations of life that shapes his writing style.Looking back to the Chinese literature arena in 1940s', we could generally classify the writers into left-wingers and right-wingers. But Li falls into neither of these categories, because his works are free from the influence of these categories. He is distinguished from the writers who have been influenced by enlightenment during the May Fourth period, and from the left-wingers with the motives for disseminating revolutionary ideas. Li`s writings are far from the conflicts of the times and the competitions of the parties, refusing to depend on any political strength. Instead of observing the life from higher position, Li explores human natures and represents the essential nature of literature by narrating daily chores. His writings are not for the purpose of diagnosing the diseases to attract attentions. Instead, he concentrates upon the folk, narrating the secular stories among the grass-roots and experiencing the complicated humanities in everyday life. In this way, Li succeeds in displaying the beauty of the life and the beauty separated from class and historical conflicts. While attaching much importance to the grand historical background, Li`s trilogy also focus upon the narrative of daily life through which human nature is explored.Everyday life is conducive to the establishment of public cultural space, and the construction of the public cultural space goes beyond the inquiry about the historical rationality and class character, which diversified the literature expression. And the diversification of the expression represents, to certain extent, the literature pursuit of modernity. Nearly one century later, when reviewing Li`s works, we feel it quite valuable.