The Comparative Research Of The Aesthetic Implications Of Lao Sheng And The Elixir Of Immortality

The novel Lao Sheng that published in 2014 is one of phenomenal represen tative works of Jia Pingwa from a historical view.The Chinese version of Gabi Gleichmann's historical novel The Elixir of Immortality was published in China i n the same year.This paper selects Lao Sheng and The Elixir of Immortality for comparative analysis,and compares and analyzes the historical writings of the two writers in an intercultural context from an aesthetic perspective,in-depth revealin g the similarities and differences between the two,and exploring different aestheti c connotations.First part,Lao Sheng and The Elixir of Immortality were almost appeared to Chinese readers at the same time,and they both focused on historical narration of certain similarities.This paper compared the two novels in the following aspects:First,it differentiated and analyzed the two works in terms of narrative patterns,and interpreted the similarities and differences of the two works from narrative structure,narrative perspective and narrative style.On the narrative technique that s pans the time and space,Lao Sheng adopts a structure that intertwines polyphonic time and space from a flexible narrative perspective to create indigenous myster ies in a view of country life,presenting an aesthetic of death under numerous d eath portraits.The Elixir of Immortality uses a narrative structure of monologue th at spans the time and space,with the first-person narration,it imbues the deep insi ght with religious element infused to underline religious mysteries,presenting a vi olence aesthetic among wars and massacres.Second,this paper analyzed the thematic connotations of the two works to f ind the similarities and differences of them in terms of reviewing the history,considering the humanity and transcending the life.Lao Sheng forms a dismal and plain aesthetic style with flowing language of an old singer who liberated the hi story and life through a hundred years of narration,while The Elixir of Immortal ity records a thousand years of upheaval in Europe with the fearless spirit to ac hieve the reconciliation with death,forming beguiling poignant aesthetic.The third part,considering the environmental characteristics of Jia Pingwa a nd Gleichmann,this paper explored the similarities and differences in the creation resources of the two works,and interpreted them from three aspects,philosophical conventions of unity of heaven and man and subject-object dichotomy,cultural tr aditions of Taoist culture and Jewish culture,as well as the creation resources of the beauties of neutralization and confrontation,inquiring the heterogeneous aesthet ic implications of two novels.The thesis compares Lao Sheng and The Elixir Of Immortality through the above three parts,analyzes the commonality and difference between Chinese and Western literary creations,promotes cross-cultural communication in seeking common ground while shelving differences,and promotes the external dissemination of Jia Pingwa's novels and enhances the impact of his works.We hope that Jia Pingwa's works and even Shanxi literature will go better into the world.