Criticism And Salvation Of National Character

This thesis,using Call to Arms and Wandering,and Dubliners as texts,compares Lu Xun?s and James Joyce?s criticism of the Chinese or Irish national character,and explores the relationship between their literary creation and their salvation.This thesis attempts to argue that both Lu Xun and Joyce are critics of national character,but their different choices of narrative device represent their different ways of criticizing and salvation,which indicate differences in their thoughts.This thesis consists of five parts.The first part,“Introduction”,includes a literature review of the study of Lu Xun and Joyce as well as the comparative study of their works;it also introduces the subject of this thesis and illustrates its significance.The first chapter analyzes the theme of “criticism of national character” shared by Call to Arms and Wandering,and Dubliners.It states that Lu Xun criticized the slave mentality of the Chinese people and Joyce criticized the psychological paralysis of the Irish people.Both of them aimed to cure the sickness of national character by exposing it.The second chapter focuses on the narrative device and states that many short stories in Call to Arms and Wandering use internal focalization,while Joyce preferred narrative with external focalization.Different choices of focalization indicate different ways of criticizing.Lu Xun displayed his bond with the native society;his criticism of the Chinese national character included profound and painful self-criticism.Joyce,unlike Lu Xun,emphasized the narrator?s independence from the world he portrayed,and made the narrator an impersonal observer.The third chapter takes a step further and analyzes Lu Xun?s and Joyce?s different ways of salvation.The relationship between the narrator and the world he depicted is in accord with Lu Xun?s and Joyce?s relationship with their native society.Lu Xun viewed himself as “the transitional form of history”,hoping for the nation?s rebirth with himself dying with the tradition.Joyce?s rebellion and salvation were achieved by being an exile.Leaving Ireland and pursuing art freed Joyce from the oppression and control of the British Empire and the Catholic Church.In this way,Joyce achieved autonomy and took the first step towards the Irish spiritual emancipation.The last part is “Conclusion”.From the angle of the content,Lu Xun?s and Joyce?s short stories share the theme of “criticism of national character” but the two great writers applied different narrative devices,which indicates their different ways of criticizing and salvation and displays differences in their thoughts.Studies on Joyce and Lu Xun have been very mature,but the comparative study of them is limited.This thesis attempts to absorb the research results of predecessors;it applies the theory and research methods of narratology and,starting from the common theme of “criticism of national character” in Lu Xun?s and Joyce?s short stories,explores the similarities and differences in their thoughts.In this way,this thesis builds the bridge of communication between the Chinese and Irish intellectuals.