A Supplementary Study On The Stream Of Consciousness Novels By Joyce And Chinese Writers

The concept "stream of consciousness" was introduced to literature from psychology by Mae Sinclair in 1918. From then on, the stream of consciousness began to perk up in the western literature circle in these countries such as the UK, France and the United States. Writers converted from the description of the objective world to the exploration of the characters’ inner world. They abandoned the traditional linear structure which was composed by the clock time. Instead, they created a new form of artistic expression which was ambiguous, erratic and peculiar to depict the modern westerners’ complex and obscure ideology. James Joyce is world-famous as a literary giant for his great stream of consciousness novels in 20th century. Chinese writer Liu Yichang, who was greatly influenced by Joyce, published his "Drinker" in 1963, which was called the first stream of consciousness novel in China. The mainland readers knew very little about the "Drinker" because it was only published in Hong Kong due to some political and historical reasons. This resulted in the lack of systematic study of stream of consciousness novels by Liu Yichang in the mainland. In 1980s, China’s stream of consciousness novels began to mature. Mentioning China’s stream of consciousness novels, we first thought of Wang Meng’s works. There were hundreds of researches on his works. However, Wang Meng’s works just had a tendency of stream of consciousness. They were not the real stream of consciousness novels. Writers like Mo Yan used local elements and created a number of stream of consciousness novels. In these stream of consciousness novels, they presented the western aesthetic qualities as well as the traditional Chinese culture. This dissertation attempts to explore the similarities and differences between Western and Chinese stream of consciousness novels by comparative analysis of the works of Joyce, Liu Yichang, and Mo Yan and do some additional researches on the Chinese stream of consciousness novels so as to enrich the studies of the influence of Joyce’s stream of consciousness on Chinese contemporary literature.This dissertation is divided into three chapters. Chapter One analyzes the common points of these stream of consciousness writings from the perspectives of the inner reality, psychological time and expression practices. Chapter Two discusses the differences between these two writings from the participation and understanding and care of the rational factors. The last chapter analyzes the reasons which caused the differences such as authors’different life experiences, writing aims and ideas. Though these stream of consciousness novels pose big challenges to readers for its ambiguity, they began to dig the deep consciousness and subconsciousness to show the inherent realities of characters instead of just staying on the surface. It is a big step forward in the history of the novel.