LuYao "Life" And "Ordinary World" In The Area In Northern Shaanxi Cultural Connotations

Lu Yao is an outstanding and special writer in modern literary world. His works are touched with a strong flavor of the regional culture of northern Shaanxi. Studies on Lu Yao’s works have so far concentrated on the theme and characterization, while less attention has been given to the regional culture revealed in his works. This thesis takes Life and The Ordinary World, the two most famous books of the writer, as the focus of the study, to explore the regional cultural characteristic and cultural style reflected in the works. It is expected to analyze the aesthetic feature and deep connotation of the regional culture in Lu Yao’s works.Lu Yao himself was a farmer’s son and native to the Loess Plateau, so he was much influenced by the countryside culture. His works unfold to us the special landscape, the folk culture, the traditional customs, production method and life style, all unique to loess plateau area. Under influence from this particular environment, Lu gradually formed a distinctive mentality in literary creation. He was often in the dilemma of being emotionally attached to this land and being eager to go out. Having the sense of responsibility of passing on the traditional views and inheriting traditional ethics, being brave enough to struggle and perseverant are all traits of character that are special to the people from northern Shaanxi. From Gao Jialin and Sun Shaoping, we can feel the intense emotional conflict (of the author) between staying at the countryside and leaving for the city. Moving to the city means that the option would benefit Huang Yaping by hurting Liu Qiaozhen, but Gao cannot entirely cast away the warm feelings the homeland has ever offered him. Another case in point is Sun Shaoping. He likes farmwork, yet at the same time longs for running away from it in pursuit of his true love. However, the ideal love is eventually disillusioned by reality which is in fact inevitable but appears to be accidental. All is so contradictory in the novel, which just reflects the entangled state of mind of Lu Yao himself.The thesis is divided into three chapters. Chapter One talks about the causes of the characteristic of regional culture in Lu Yao’s works. discusses Lu Yao’s cultural complex in four aspects, namely his life experience, his identity, living environment and his works. Regional culture itself is one cause, that is, accumulation of the ancient culture, blending of mixed cultures, influence from the traditional culture and impact from cultural liberation. Another important factor is the author himself, such as his life journey and his spirit of literary creation. Chapter Two tries to uncover the folk culture in Life and The Ordinary World and analyzes the two works from the respects of folk life, folk culture and the spirit and psychology of the local people in northern Shaanxi. This chapter enumerates examples like the folk song of Northern Shaaxi, couplets and paper-cut for window decoration, local culture of "birth, old age, sickness and death" and marriage and burial arrangements. Chapter Three investigates the local dialects of northern Shaanxi in Life and The Ordinary World. It introduces reasons for dialect using, gives specific examples in the novels and shows the functions of dialect application.This paper reveals, in terms of folk culture and local dialects of northern Shaanxi, the connotation of regional culture in Lu Yao’s works. It combines Lu’s ideas of literary creation with scholars’research, aiming to tap into the profound meaning and spiritual essence of the regional culture in northern Shaanxi. Thus the paper intends to provide another perspective to understand and study Lu Yao’s works.