A Breakthrough In Realism

Yan Lianke, a unique contemporary Chinese literary writer, whose literary creation is firmly rooted in the hometown of Palou mountains, has created works continuously for 30 years showing his concern for reality and interpretation of history. No matter the theme is about military, rural areas or intellectuals, he maintains his independent spiritual stance, while he does not rigidly adhere to hackneyed mode of writing. Critics have different opinions about his changes on creation in recent years, defining him with "Magic Realism", "Surrealism", "Fantasy Realism", "Anti-realism". In the face of these disputes, Yan Lianke gave the answer-"Spiritual Realism". Leaving aside the shackles of main stream of realism mode and commodity market interests, "Spiritual Realism" achieves the "reality" what works really want to present by the way of a "non-realistic" absurdity of strategy, the extreme description and the transcendence of realistic logic. It’s indeed significant to the current situation of literature which the subjectivity is reduced.This paper attempts to analyze and interpret Yan’s literary creation from the perspective of "Spiritual Realism". I researches the molding process, spiritual root, narrative features, value and significance, and hopes to explore the possibility of this new literary expression break through the rigid contemporary literary circle. The full text of the research of Yan’s "Spiritual Realism" is divided into the following sections.Introduction, Yan’s uniqueness on literary creation and literary activities, the process of critics’researches of Yan Lianke from prudence to the overall view, as well as the gaps still exist on the research of "Spiritual Realism".The first chapter, explore the molding process of "Spiritual Realism" from Yan’s three decades of creation. By following the track of Yan’s literary ideas except his creation, to grasp the context of his thought of literary theory, to restore the context where "Spiritual Realism" originated and to show the "constancy" and "change" in the process of literary creation.The second chapter, keep "Real" and express "Spirit". The spiritual standpoint where "Spiritual Realism" originated is to find a new way of literary expression reflecting the reality of spirit in the absurd world. As a literary statement, it is often with idealized color, therefore, how to put theory into reality is a difficult problem that all writers are facing. This chapter mainly focuses on the "Spiritual Realism" in Yan’s specific operation paradigm, and explains in detail the expression of allegorizing, the strategy of absurdity and the construction of mysterious atmosphere during the process of conveying the "Real".The third chapter, explain the value and significance and limitation of "Spiritual Realism". It keeps away from basic framework of Realism by subjective intervention in realistic writing, breaks through the traditional concept of left-wing political rigidity, activates various possibilities of realism in contemporary creation and constructs China’s unique artistic form of expression. But as far as current creation of "Spiritual Realism", there are still difficulties to be overcome.