Narrative Perspective And Humanistic Concern In Chi Zi-jian's Novels

Reading Chi Zi-jian's novels, we are led into a world full of songs and dreams, a world full of poetic and artistic flavor by his fairy-tale-like illusion, by the simplicity and tranquility of the world, by the sensation of creatures in the nature and by the harmony of human beings and the nature. Out there, we forget to return. We are also frequently moved by the writer's graceful esthetic appeal and the narration style. Her poetic description of the intelligence of the life, her tender narration of the difficulties in life and her ultimate concern with the significance of life comfort our minds. Reading her novels, we can feel the flexibility and rigidness of life, and the maternal disposition which is hard to tell. Her novels are so impressive not because of the complicated and engrossing plots or typical and lively characters, but because of the unique view of the author's narration and the deep poetics and beauty of human nature embodied in her works.This thesis tries to explore the author's rigid expression and pursuit of the moral characters and the humanities mood from the view of humanities (tender expression of the difficult life, in-depth view of death, deep deliberation of feminine destiny and poetic dwell in natural homeland) and from the view of author's narration (from the view of childhood, the view of fool, the view of animal and the view of common people).The first part of the thesis emphasizes on the humanities mood embodied in Chi Zi-jian's novels. In the contemporary Chinese literary world, Chi Zi-jian is a unique author who comes from the northern land. She has been employed in writing for more than 20 years and her works don't belong to any schools of thoughts. However, she is noted for her unique pursuit of the moral characters and her creative ideas and thoughts. Her love to her native land and the relatives and aesthetic dimension formed on the natural life make her novels very impressive. In a plain style of writing and a casual and gentle tone, Chi Zijian's novels show us the pictures of the beautiful northeastern pastoral scene, or tell us some touching stories. It is this unique view of narration and esthetic dimension that touch and attract the readers and make them deeply long for the pastoral scene and the rural life.Firstly, Chi Zi-jian insists on her tender expression of the difficult life. She puts up with the difficulties in life and resists the loneliness and hopelessness of life with warmth and fragrance. It is a kind of warmth which can comfort those who live a common and dull life full of burden and it is like the light of hope which can penetrate darkness. She tries her best to reveal the warmth and the beauty of human nature in the process of probing into the essence of human characters and the life.Secondly, Chi Zi-jian's novels reflect her inspiration from"death"in practical life. In her novels, death is not only the narrative contents but also the method and tactic of expressing her feelings. It is just due to her liberal attitude that the"deaths"in her novels convey pathos but not fears. And some of the"deaths"are even tender and poetic.Thirdly, as a female author, her strong sex consciousness can be easily found in every of her works in which the main characters are female. She has depicted the process of growth in which the girls who were originally clever and na?ve, lively and simpleminded, curious about the life and longing for the happy life came into the numb and sheepish, meek and humble ones under the invisible pressure of traditional sex attitudes. She also described the tragedy of those women who had become the wives and mothers, and who, under great oppression and in the state of long period of silence, withered to their death. Such kinds of novels relate to each other and form the completely different history of female life.Finally, Chi Zi-jian shows in her novels the yearning for the countryside and her hometown. Everything in her hometown inspired her to express herself and her feelings. Looking back on the beautiful and peaceful country life, she found great happiness in the process of telling about the happy days of her childhood. However, the hometown has been symbolized and purified by Chi Zi-jian. It is a kind of pure land just in minds, a temple of soul, an ideal and utopian place that is quiet and peaceful and has not been influenced by the urban life. In fact, her high praise to the land is a kind of identification with the traditional culture and the calling back of the traditional cultural values. The reminiscence of her native soil does not mean the real recollection of the past times, but some kind of combination of"dream"and"beauty".The second part of the thesis stresses on the view of the author's narration. Generally speaking, the view of narration means that the author turns into language what he/she has experienced in the real world. It not only reflects the author's writing position but also decides the value orientation of the works. Chi Zi-jian's novels give us a unique interpretation of the manners and morals of the time, especially the ones of the common people. The love to her hometown, the tender expression of the simple and plain life, the aesthetic romance and gloom of her works----- all of these have close relationship with the views of her narration.Firstly, the preference of Chi Zi-jian's view of children originated from her deep love knot of childhood. With the view of children and based on this value orientation, she expresses her feelings towards the simple daily life. It is this view of narration that produces the simple and plain and vivid language features and therefore makes her novels pure and sincere, real and austere.Secondly, Chi Zi-jian likes to narrate from the view of the weak or from the view of fool. She writes about the emotions and the pursuit of the weak people. To the mentally retarded and disturbed people who are discriminated by the society and who are beside the social ethics, she not only expresses her sympathetic love to them but also treats them with an equal attitude. She describes clearly their peaceful and quiet and serene world after they had forgotten about the pursuit of fame and gains.Thirdly, besides the relatives of her native land, she mainly writes about the animals clinging to her minds. They are just like her relatives of the hometown. They are also her friends and the fount of her emotions. In her novels, human beings are not the master of the nature. There are no differences between all of the creatures. Human beings should live together in peace with the creatures in the nature and respect each other. The lives of animals are just the same as those of human beings. Both of them have happiness and sadness and should live a harmonious life together.Finally, Chi Zi-jian cordially writes about the lives of the common people who have been forgotten by the human civilization. What she has conveyed to the readers is not the gloomy darkness, but the endless kindness deeply in the heart. The lives of the lowest class of the common people are generally simple and poor. They can not master their own fates and have to face all kinds of unexpected natural and man-made calamities. However, they can always take their lives easy and still love and respect their lives with passionate yearnings.