Rescuing "Lyric" From The History:A Study On Shen Congwen’s Thought Of "Reconstruction" In The 1940s

This thesis makes reference to the previous perspective of the "lyric" and contends that "lyric" encompasses not only a literary or artistic genre but also a way of living,a set of moral principles,and political beliefs."Lyric" is not just a romantic language of intellectuals;it can also take into account reality and history.Based on this perspective,the author makes a new exploration of the rich connotation of "lyric" endowed by Shen Congwen in the 1940 s,reveals the historical reality and democratic political meaning contained in Shen Congwen’s lyric discourse,and demonstrates the consistency and variation of Shen’s lyric discourse in this period compared with the earlier,to correct the bias of the previous researchers that Shen Congwen’s "lyric" is only defined as the individual language of liberal intellectuals.The thesis is divided into three parts:The review and comparison of various editions of LONG RIVER,XIANG XI,and YUNLU CHRONICLE form the basis of the first chapter.Three aspects,namely Shen Congwen’s restatement of the "miao people’s revolution",his description of the highway and waterway scenery in western Hunan,and his political governance concept of "local people governance",reveal the practical significance of Shen Congwen’s lyric discourse in the 1940 s.In the series of "Rewriting Xiangxi",Shen Congwen tried to accommodate the historical reality by lyric,which was different from his previous works that used lyric to express the author’s own emotions and to illustrate the harmony of rural society.Based on his dual identity as a modern intellectual and a peasant,he conveyed the conception of modern nation-state construction that balanced "local" and "national","traditional" and "modern".In the second chapter,based on the review of the publication and versions of various works in RAINBOW AND STARS and THE SEVEN COLOR MARE,the author explores the complexity connotation reflected in Shen Congwen’s works,focusing on highlighting the democratic consciousness and political meaning given to "lyric" by Shen Congwen.First of all,this thesis reinterprets Shen Congwen’s "abstract principle" of "love" and "beauty," which was put forward in the 1940 s,using Heidegger’s philosophy.According to Shen Congwen,"love" was the reciprocal devotion and sacrifice of lives,while "beauty" was the peaceful and orderly coexistence of heaven,earth,human,and God.Shen argued that "sympathy" was the moral foundation of democratic politics.As a result,the connotation of "lyric" had been greatly expanded,and "lyric" had been used in the reconstruction of politics.Secondly,in these works,Shen Congwen integrated poetry,novels,essays and other different styles at the form level,and contained various life experiences at the content level,such as the ultimate experience of love,the persistent pursuit of divinity,and the profound reflection on modern civilization.In the third chapter,Shen Congwen’s concept of "literary reconstruction" is clarified using previously undiscovered texts by Shen Congwen and numerous new historical documents.Shen Congwen,who held the position of "human literature",believed that literature should adhere to the standard of life and art.Literature is the artistic sublimation of complex life experience and mental activities.Literary works should contain the "abstract principle" which is a mixture of reason and sensibility,so that readers can obtain the richness and enrichment of life,the extension and depth of thought,the expansion of sympathy and imagination,so as to complete the spiritual transformation.The elite literary idea of the "May 4th Movement" espoused by Shen Congwen was embodied in this ideological approach,which hoped to realize "literary reconstruction," "cultural reconstruction," and "national reconstruction" through "lyric".However,Shen Congwen’s concept of "reconstruction" was ultimately abandoned since it didn’t fit with the times’ requirements.The decline of this literary ideal is actually the collapse of a series of "reconstruction" ideals built on the basis of "lyric".The relationship between "things" and "feelings","materialism" and "sentience",discovered by Shen Congwen in the late 1940 s through the study of the material culture,allowed him to continue his lifelong obsession with "the history of lyric" in the form of "lyric archaeology".It should be noted that considering Shen Congwen’s ideological continuity since the Anti-Japanese War,this thesis defines the time range of “1940s” in the period of “1937-1949”.