Modern Anxiety, Imagination And Subversion - Vanguard Novel Deep Paradox

Vanguard novels, even all the literature in the eighties, were related to a certain anxiety of modernity that filled Chinese society and culture. In order to overcome this anxiety, the vanguard novels made an imaginary settlement with boldly using the western literature of the 20th century for reference and the radical narrative experiment as a resolution. During this course, the seed of subverting the modernity was planted. Therefore, the thesis introduced the modernity into the discussion and made it a breakthrough point of interpreting the artificial maze of the vanguard novels. The thesis first sorted out the problems of modernity and analyzed the complicated relationship of early-modernity and late-modernity, and that of social modernity and aesthetic modernity. According to the analysis, the thesis pointed out the complication and the polysemy of the modernity of literature. Moreover, as a late-developmental modernity country, China had its own characteristics of modernity, one of which was the anxiety caused by the lagging position in history while China was facing the early-developmental modernization countries. This anxiety led to many imagination and efforts about modernity in order to obtain the modernity eagerly. Thus in the following part the thesis concretely discussed various imagination and confusion about modernity, and efforts for gain the modernity completely in the literature of new period. This was the historic and cultural environment in which the vanguard novels chose the road of narrative experiment and concept innovation and obtained distinctive value. In this environment the vanguard novelists boldly borrowed valuable things of the western literature for reference and acquired the elitism of enlightenment and the pioneering spirits. Furthermore, the vanguard novels showed the crux of matter of modernity with aesthetic modernity and artistic self-discipline. At the same time, in the anxiety and imagination of modernity, the vanguard novelists introduced some thoughts of the postmodernism with the role of subverting modernity. These thoughts of postmodernism focused on the revolt and the subversion of narration, figures and spirits of the vanguard novels. Because the vanguard novelsintroduced these thoughts of subversive postmodernism into deep thinking mode and existence condition of modernity, this caused deep paradox in the text. This thesis mainly made an analysis of the paradox between emotional ties of enlightenment and against enlightenment, construction of deep fables and deconstruction of profoundity , strengthening arid crisis of narrative subjects, the closing and openness of the text, etc. These paradoxes made the text have a marvelous tension and artistic effects and became a symbol of historic condition in which the vanguard novels carried the burden of anxiety of modernity and introduced the subversive thoughts against modernity in the imagination of modernity.