History and Theory of Modern Chinese Rural Prose

Author: Chen Dejin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-02-01
Features: This book focuses on the rural prose of the mature period in the development of modern Chinese literature during the 1920s-1940s. It consists of seven chapters: Introduction, The Definition of Modern Chinese Rural Prose, The Lyrical Self in Rural Prose, Characterization in Rural Prose, Rural Prose and the Real World, The Relationship Between Rural Prose and Literary Environment and Critical Concepts, and Conclusion. Rural prose combines local color, cultural background, and nostalgia, sharing typical characteristics with regional literature, primarily in the form of novels, commonly created by modern Chinese writers. This book points out that rural prose has similar superior features to the "miniature prose" in modern Chinese literature and explains its uniqueness as a special prose genre through its frequent structural, technical, and thematic characteristics. The creative habits of modern Chinese writers are also examined; writers reflect the reality through their observations of rural areas under economic pressure or cultural transformation. Using vernacular Chinese as a tool and employing realistic and naturalized techniques, prose writers communicate with the general public by combining personal experiences, individuality, and social awareness. This book attempts to demonstrate that writers have created outstanding works through rural experiences and established a keen insight into literary art. It highlights that rural prose resonates with the enlightenment tradition of the May Fourth Movement and, through its widely recognized artistic techniques, has, to some extent, surpassed the literary debates of the 1920s.