The "Town Narrative" In Mao Dun’s Novels Around 1930

In the 1930 s,Chinese society was in a state of intense turbulence and uneasiness.The political situation was chaotic,the economy was in crisis,and the whole situation was in danger.Modern Chinese literature has always been adhering to the structural pattern of urban-rural dual opposition,ignoring the existence of small towns intentionally or unintentionally.However,these small towns in inland China have not only experienced the pain of China’s transformation period,but also witnessed the changes of history and culture.Because of its special geographical location,the town has become a transit station between the city and the countryside.Compared with other writers,Mao Dun’s small town space is more open.The small steamers and railways connect Shanghai and the town,and the tide of industrialization and the commodity economy also follow.We can see that many new objects emerge in the town.These "Landscapes" have changed the face of the old town.On the one hand,it has brought a sense of civilization,on the other hand,the tradition has not been silent,and the tradition and the new trend are constantly pulling together in the small town space.There are "constant" and "changes" in the landscape.The fierce collision between industrial civilization and traditional China has brought disaster and joy to ordinary people.Open and diverse towns will inevitably bring extremely strong social mobility,which is also one of the characteristics of Mao Dun town narrative.The writer has mainly shaped several types of characters,including small town merchants,intellectuals,small citizen classes and squires.These characters move back and forth between the city,the town and the countryside,taking the town as the axis,and the radiation affects the city and the countryside.Their flow includes not only horizontal spatial flow,but also vertical class flow.Mao Dun is very concerned about economic issues and economic relations.When the rural economy went bankrupt,in addition to paying attention to farmers,Mao Dun paid more attention to the way out of the small town businessmen.The small town businessmen include not only business tycoons such as Wu Sunfu and Tang Zijia,but ordinary small town businessmen like boss Lin.Facing the economic crisis,chaotic war situation and comprador class,they eventually had to go to the end of failure.Intellectuals are the key group in Mao Dun’s works.With the development of the times,young people in small towns have entered the city to receive new education,and they face more difficult choices.Intellectuals are struggling to survive the gap between returning home and leaving home,and their social mobility is not successful.The civic stratum either sticks to the original place,or enters the city because of fleeing and seeking professional development,but because their personal strength is too meager,they often depend on the entrepreneurs who come out of the town.Mao Dun’s attitude toward squires is divided into two.For Wu Sunfu or Qian Liangcai,his attitude is praised;for local tyrants and poor gentry,Mao Dun criticized them.Although these people might received benefits in the short term,their plan eventually failed.Mao Dun’s town narrative shows a strong political color.In the author’s view,revolution is not only the cause of the continuous improvement of social mobility,but also the way to solve the problem of failure explored by the author.All kinds of rumors are scattered in the revolutionary town,and the political situation is chaotic.The security League,the county government,the county party department,the bandits and the Communist Party all exist in the grass-roots society at the same time.The peasants are easily incited to initiate a revolution or riot.The revolutionary youth are full of fighting spirit,new style and tenacious belief.However,they are weak,lack of wit and hesitation,which finally make the revolution It has become a cover for some speculators and brought a deeper disaster to the society,and the revolutionary cause has been greatly hit.In the face of the disillusionment of idealism and the belief of revolution,the town shuttles back and forth between the high tide and the low wandering,so the writer falls into serious contradictions and shakes,and finally determines the belief of revolution.Mao Dun wrote a great deal for Chinese modern town literature.He not only inherited the tradition of his predecessors,but also had new ideas,which had an important impact on later writers.The world of small towns he built connects cities and villages,and plays the role of a forerunner in both revolutionary development and economic connectivity.It reflects the characteristics of Jiangsu and Zhejiang towns and the difficult transformation of Chinese society in modern times,which also integrates writer’s thought about the realities of Chinese history in the 1930 s and carries the profound historical and cultural consciousness of Mao Dun.