Thesis Of Chuan Chen’s Novels

Represented by Heavenly Questions, Chuan Chen’s writing in his early years was influenced by traditional and western factors, and it also has the common characteristics as other works in modern Chinese literature in late 1920s, for instance, national feelings. In analyzing his novels of this stage, we can also discover his tendency to show metaphysical speculations in tragic stories. From late 1920s on, Chuan Chen’s writing background had been enlarged by his academic fields, for example, Sturm und Drang in late 18 Century and also German idealism, which is generated from Immanuel Kant, linked with German Romanticism, and inherited by Hegel and modern philosophy such as Existentialism. His personal experiences and social background such as his hometown Sichuan, modern Shanghai and German society around the year 1930 were all pictured in his novels.Chuan Chen described his own hesitation and contradiction in the novel Calmness of a Wanderer, and reflected on Revolution as well as the living dilemma of people in modern society in the novel Ashes. He gradually generated his speculative tendency of "idealism", which was obviously influenced by German idealism. In Ashes, moreover, he expressed his understand, sympathy and appreciation of characters who are idealist. Thus we can observe his aesthetic tendency of "idealism". Due to these two dimensions of "idealism", background of an era is both recorded and alienated in his fictions, which are stylistically featured in irony and absurdity.As the tendency of both speculation and aesthetics, "idealism" always existed in Chuan Chen’s writing. During the time of Zhanguo Ce Clique, he equaled this "idealism" to romanticism. He emphasized the spirit of unlimited pursuit of life, radicalized his stand in literature and cultural fields, and advocated it as his political opinion. It is based on radicalization of "idealism" that Chen adopted and advocated Nietzsche, which in Chen’s interpretation focused on promotion of human dignity, pursuit of cultural progress, appreciation of "genius", "warrior" and "Superman" and objection to Nation as well as democracy which is in the context of rationalism. Chen also emphasized, meanwhile, that Nietzsche philosophy was definitely neither the same as militarism of Prussian nor fascist of the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei.Cultural radicalism, which was based on "idealism", encountered his national feelings during this time. Thus Chuan Chen’s literary theory in the time of Zhanguo Ce Clique was constructed. In Chen’s novels, national feelings were not as clearly expressed as in his drama or articles. The transformation from emotion to self-consciousness of ethnic and nation, however, was still described. What’s more, Chen’s pride of Chinese culture was also affected by his fellows who advocated morphology of history in Zhanguo Ce Clique.In the context of the Sino-Japanese War, Chuan Chen integrated his national feelings with "idealism" and proposed the Faustian Spirit that featured in nationalism and radicalism. As a result of the fuzzy boundaries of culture and politics, he showed his contradiction between cultural conservatism and radicalism during this time. After 1945, radicalism faded out; on the other hand, his aesthetic tendency of "idealism" as well as national feelings was still inherited. That’s why Chuan Chen expressed his pursuit and confidence of the future of his country.