Illnesses In The Novel Writing In The Period Of May 4^th Movement

Chinese modern novel has risen to a high position since the "Revolution of Novel" at the end of the 19th century, becoming a literary form that can be compared with poetry. Around the May 4th Movement, literary pioneers who received the new revolutionary thoughts criticize the dark reality with their novels, reflecting their reviews about life and society. This trend promotes the change of the culture and society, as well as the revolution in the novel area. The thesis studies the novel in the May 4th Movement, and through the analysis of illnesses described in the novel, trying to show the inner connection between novels and life against the background of May 4th Movement with medical science introduced in. The thesis digs the implied social, cultural, and individual psychological meaning, and describes the special "medical scene" in the novels.The part of introduction analyzes the relations between illnesses and literature, and introduces the research of the present situation and meaning of the illnesses in the novel writing in the period of May 4th Movement. Chapter one mainly states the awareness source of illnesses in the novel writing, including two parts. The first part discusses the forming of the writer’s illness complex in writing process. The thesis studies the social background, the characteristics of that time, and the experience of the writer himself/herself, and the reasons of why writers’ illness complex in writing are revealed. The second part concerns about the double viewpoints of the writer when he/she is writing. This part states that under the leading of the illnesses awareness, the writers write with both the view of writers and doctors.Chapter two, chapter three and chapter four are the main body of the whole thesis. The author analyzes the metaphor of illnesses in the social, cultural, and psychological area. Chapter two states the metaphor in social aspect. This part makes an analysis of the medical explanation of tuberculosis, madness, scars, which reveal the metaphorical meaning of these illnesses in the social and political area.Chapter three focuses on the metaphorical meaning in the aspect of culture. The author explores the inner meaning of life and death in the novel, and studies the harmfulness the backward cultural environment does to women. By analyzing the description of illnesses in the novel, the author tries to reveal the image of "audiences" and "abettors". All of the above reflects the author’s thinking about the reasons why there are so many social problems. By analyzing the sick psychology, the author tries to show the good intentions of the writers when they criticize people for their being "ignorant" and "apathetic".Chapter four introduces the metaphorical meaning in the aspect of psychology. By studying the psychological novels of the May 4th Movement period, the author tries to analyze the metaphorical meaning in the illnesses (such as depression and tuberculosis)’ function of reflecting individual psychology.The part of conclusion provides a review of the whole thesis. Through analysis of the "May 4th" novel text, feel the unique charm of "disease" in "May 4th" novel, play a enlightenment function on the development of the contemporary literature.