Postmodernity: A Study Of The Stylistic Issues In The Texts Of The First Edition Of "History Of Mind"

This thesis belongs to the case study. Critiquing different opinions on the genre and style of My heart will go on, this thesis attempts to interpret My heart will go on from three aspects:religion, history and literature by way of close-reading of the text, which will present a complex relation among the three qualities that are equally important and organic symbiotic. The strong features of hybridity show the post-modernity of My heart will go on, and to regard My heart will go on as postmodern can put an end to the long time debate of this problem. The first part discusses the background of this thesis. Many representative writers and scholars have different arguments on the genre of My heart will go on. Some regarded it as a literary text, while others thought it as a religious or historical one. However, when combing the three kinds of arguments, this thesis holds the opinion that each has its flaws, especially on how to interpret the narrator "I". Based on this background, this thesis summarizes the characteristics of Zhang Chengzhi s works and put forward an opinion on genre and style that My heart will go on should be viewed from the perspective of post-modernism.In the next three parts, this thesis discusses the three qualities of My heart will go on respectively. Firstly, Zhang Chengzhi has his independent religious thought and My heart will go on has the feature of religion. Secondly, though sometimes against the objective history, the history feature of My heart will go on is deniable, whose history methodology conforms to the characteristics of written contemporary history. Finally, My heart will go on also belongs to literature of whose fictionality, diction, symbolic metaphor, narratology, stand of writing and significance.In conclusion, religion, history and literature are equally important as the qualities of My heart will go on. By discussing Zhang Chengzhi’s other works and Linda Hutcheon’s theory, this thesis interprets the stylist identity of Zhang Chengzhi and concludes that My heart will go on belongs to postmodernism with the feature of hybridity.