A Comparative Study On The New And Old Versions Of “Huge Wave” Written By Lijiieren

Li Jieren is an important writer in the history of modern Chinese literature.His representative works “Great River Trilogy”--Ripples Across Stagnant Water,Before the Storm and Huge Wave are of great artistic value.From its publish in the early 1930 s to the revision and reprint after the founding of the People’s Republic,the three novels run through Li Jieren’s whole writing career,and are the best embodiment of his literary talent.In the “Great River Trilogy”,Huge Wave is commonly acknowledged as the best work.In 1937,the Chinese Book Bureau published three volumes of Huge Wave,which,covering more than 500,000 words,was a depiction of the interrelationship among various revolutionary forces in Sichuan society during the turbulent period around the Revolution of 1911,and thus revealing various complex motivations behind the transformation of modern Chinese.As soon as the novel was published,it caused a great sensation.Guo Moruo,who was then far away in Japan,praised Li Jieren as “Zola of China”,Huge Wave as “the modern history of the novel” and “the modern Chronicles of Huayang”.According to Li Jieren’s original plan,the book was supposed to be written in four volumes,but the writing was interrupted because of the “July 7 Lugou Bridge Incident”.After the founding of New China,Li Jieren rewrote Huge Wave at the invitation of the Writers’ Publishing House.In May 1957,the revision of the first volume of Huge Wave was completed.In March 1958,it was published by Writers’ Publishing House.After that,the second and third volume and part of the fourth volume were published.By December 24,1962,Li Jieren died with 300,000 words left unfinished.In the 1930 s,Li Jieren was living a reclusive life in a remote corner in Chengdu,Sichuan Province,away from the center of political conflicts,so he basically maintained the posture of a freelance writer when he wrote the first edition of Huge Wave.After the founding of New China,though a non-party figure,he actively approached the ruling party and gradually tended to political power,hoping to fulfill his mission as a writer entrusted to him by the government through political learning and Ideological Remoulding Therefore,the revised edition of “Great River Trilogy” has a distinct Ideological feature.Among them,Huge Wave is the one with the most changes.With “Ripples Across Stagnant Water” and “Before the Storm”,Li Jieren only made limited changes,while for Huge Wave,it was a complete rewriting.Huge Wave is mainly about the Protection Movement of Sichuan Road in 1911,which is an important historical event in the modern history of China.This popular movement led directly to the outbreak of Wuchang Uprising and the 1911 Revolution,followed by the independence of the provinces,the overthrowing of the 267-year-old rule of Qing Dynasty,and the complete termination to the feudal political system of China.In the first edition of Huge Wave,this magnificent history is reflected by the narration of the daily life of fictional characters in Huang Lansheng’s family.Yet,the new edition of Huge Wave deals directly with historical events such as the establishment of Road Protection Association,the bloodshed of Zhitai government office,the Mutiny of Longquanyi and the independence of Chongqing,while the daily life of ordinary people is in the second place and only plays a complementary role.On the basis of previous researches,this paper will study the old and the new versions of Li Jieren’s Huge Wave,and analyze the differences from the aspects of plot changes,characterizations and writing styles.The emphasis will be on the analysis of the main and secondary characters,including the relationship between characters as the focus,the relationship between characters and historical events,and the image of Revolutionists.In terms of writing style,it will start with French naturalism and revolutionary realism.Secondly,through the analysis of the old and new editions and drawing on the rewriting of other writers in the same period,it reveals the reasons why Li Jieren completely rewrote Huge Wave,besides personal wishes,there are also external factors such as the change of literary and artistic evaluation criteria,external pressure and so on.Finally,it reveals the gains and losses in the rewriting of Huge Wave.During the process of its catering to the mainstream ideology,to a certain extent,the new edition of Huge Wave losses its original literary and artistic characteristics.What is especially regrettable is the various kinds of characters and lifestyles in Chengdu in the old edition,were not reflected in the revised edition.The weakening of literary value was not able to achieve the intended political purpose.It can be said that,after the founding of the Li Jieren had been trapped in a historical predicament People’s Republic of the China until his death.