| This article chooses female images in Yan geling's novels as research objects, combines the writer's life and life experiences, analyses these female's mental process from the three particular historic circumstances and backgrounds of Culture Revolution, military and immigration and explores the character values, significance and the change of female writer's narration.The famous overseas female writer Yan geling divides her writing into two parts: before going abroad and after going abroad. Simply based on the themes many critics name her works written before her going abroad"military literature"and his works written after her going abroad"new immigration literature". Obviously it is too unilateral. It is true that the theme of the three novels written before her going to America is military. The author got the material from her own life experiences as a literary soldier. However, in the beginning of her writing she showed her deep reflection on the female fate, which is totally different from the others. Her unique writing style first appears. After Yan geling went to the United States, she first wrote some short novels and then her new works were published one after another and won popular praise and many prizes. This unknown writer suddenly became a popular novelist. More and more people are interested in the study of her works and among them are some famous critics such as Chen si and Lei da. People's increasing interest in her works is not because of her writing about immigration life, but because of her constant writing standpoint, using a wise pen to depict human nature.Born in 50's, grown in 60's, famous in 80's, immigrated in 90's, popular in the new century, the novelist Yan geling, like many people of her age in the period of culture change, experienced various cultural scenes, such as traditional culture and modern civilization. She also experienced the differences and conflicts between oriental culture and western culture, thus influenced by different cultural concepts and causing her change in writing and make oneself of creations also occurrence certain of change. From her earliest work "seven warrior 1 zero " to "a woman epic ", whether before going abroad or after going abroad, there is something in common in her works, that is, she persisted experiencing and understanding the world with her own independent individual life, concerning about the fate of female images with a sympathetic heart. The continuous development and change is that with the increasing experiences and changes of environment and culture concept, her female narrating characteristics are constantly changing.Just like the Culture Revolution, military and immigration experiences left a deep mark in her life,the three particular historic backgrounds were usually the deep mark in the female characters' lives in her novels.Yan geling's memory of the Culture Revolution is full of sorrow and sadness. When the Culture Revolution began, she was only 9 years old; but she witnessed all the events that happened around her. She saw a lot of literary workers persecuted and saw through the shamelessness and wickedness between people. Hence in her work, the Culture Revolution became a particular environment, where people showed their unexpected behavior. While all the behaviors can reflect the secrets in the deep soul which cannot be seen through. In "Jiao Er Zhu Yi Jin", She showed how the beauty and dignity were destroyed through the description that Jiao Er Zhu Yi Jin was watched carefully without her consciousness in the hospital by the public after her suicide, demonstrating the mutual peep and hurt among people. In " the Human world " and " the Big Brigade of Slippers ", the unconscious and cruel betrayal and depravity of human nature is hard to bear. If Chinese literature before "Culture Revolution" this special Chinese contemporary history mainly presents the tragedy and the accusation of history, then Yan geling's novels present more particularity and detail. To a certain degree, her special aptitude is to discover and explore human nature in the specific historic circumstances. The military is the stage where the female images in Yan geling's novels pursue youth and dream, while on this special stage there is more shattering of dream and alienation of human nature. Tao xiaotong in "A female Soldier's Private Conversation" and the herding squad in "The Female Lawn" easily make people associate Yan geling's works with intellectual youth novels .For intellectual youth writers 'no-regret youth' is the most important and repeated theme, while Yan geling doesn't have the impulse to swear for youth like them. She and the post 90s novelists have something in common. That is in her works she has more realistic description of humanization and deeper self-reflection on female. In addition she gives up the unreal sacred belief. But Yan geling didn't vulgarize the life of intellectual youth in her works like some post 90s novelists. Her works are filled with suffering and magnificence growing up in bitterness. You can say that the author herself experienced flying with her own life using blood instead of ink.In Yan geling's works after her going abroad the female leading characters are faced with the embarrassment of being in foreign countries. Because of the differences between geography, time, culture and language, the female characters' dilemma tends to prove their human nature. "Young Girl Xiao Yu" writes about " green card marriage" that is a something XiaoYu tries to do in order to get her legal citizenship after her going abroad. If XiaoYu wants to live on foreign land, false marriage is a shortcut while she is bound to struggle in the marriage without love and the love without hope. It is true of Xu wangjiang in the novel " the flower and the youth " .Fu sang in " Fu Sang" is different from them; but her struggle on foreign land is even more violent. As a prostitute, her constant pursuing true love reflects her primitive beauty of human nature and power of life instinct that make ordinary life glowing.Yan geling revealed the extreme of the change of human nature in particular circumstances in her perspective into Culture Revolution, military and emigrant life. At the same time she expressed her deep desire. She desired that female can get rid of the chains of history, culture, physiology and psychology and live gracefully as free female.On molding the female characters, Yan geling puts her effort into describing their mental process of pursuit, struggle, rebellion, loss and redeeming. Such females as Tao xiaotong, Pan qiaoqiao and Wenxiu usually render life the most poetic and enthusiastic dream. They look forward to their change of life through their own efforts; but the cruel reality not only tramples their sincerity but also makes them realize their destiny. They struggle with their unwillingness and hopeless hope. Sun likun struggled against being loved by female and went mad; Xiaodian struggled against incest and degeneracy and chose to die; Haiyun hopelessly depleted her life under the restraint of ethics. These females often wander at the edge of ethics in order to struggle against their fatal destiny and deeply sense the conflicts between love and desire and the sorrow of love and loss of love. As a result, we see in Yan geling's novels there is no female who is willing to accept their destiny. Although their life always makes people stuck in desperate situation, they constantly struggle and fight. They don't simply bear the pain but try to find their own fullness and happiness.It is this open-minded experiences of life that make the female characters show their surprising forgiveness and tolerance in the face of humiliation and disaster. They often tolerate all the filthiness and shamelessness with kindness and goodness. They realize the redeeming of loss of life and human nature with their instinct maternal love and kindness of human nature. In pain they choose, grow and even devote their lives to show more distinctly the exultation and encouragement of life will in the most difficult and unusual problems.In Yan geling's writing, her female narration character has changed because of her change of life experiences and cultural concept.In her works before going abroad, her female narration writing also reflects obvious humanitarianism and explores the social history process and female destiny through paying close attention to the female value and dignity. Her female narration is in spontaneous state and concealed by historic narration.After going abroad, because of her being away from main current society and traditional culture, her female narration showed a state of being free and publicized female; she reflected both on the men-centered culture and female themselves. Therefore, the female images at that time usually overcame all kinds of disadvantages and objection to love from outside world while they couldn't avoid loss of ego in the somewhat unequal love and spiritual pain and change of human nature caused by it. This illustrated Yan geling's recognition and understanding of female narration and that her female narration had conscious character of female speech.Entering the 21st century, Yan geling pursues a more harmonious and ideal narration state. In her new work"the ninth widow"and"an epic of a woman"she describes the open state of female life. Her writing of female life is plumber and more detailed. Her attitude towards male has changed from criticism to examination. Sometimes she even expresses a conversational attitude by different means and thus bringing about an easy state based on bisexual harmony. Maybe this is Yan geling's ideal living pattern of female which can make female free from history, culture, physiology and psychology to live gracefully as free female. |
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