History of Foreign Literature in the 20th Century (Volume 5): Foreign Literature from 1970 to 2000

Author: Wu Yuanmai
Publisher:
Publishing Time: 2004-12-01
Features: The History of Foreign Literature in the 20th Century is a key project under the 9th Five-Year Plan of the National Philosophy and Social Sciences Fund of China. It is a large-scale literary history co-authored by scholars and experts from the Institute of Foreign Languages of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Peking University, Nanjing University, and research institutions and universities in Beijing, Nanjing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, among other places. Currently, there are no equivalent works of such scale in China or abroad. This is a literary history that covers the panorama of East and West in the 20th century, involving literature from more than 60 countries across five continents. This book is the fifth volume of the five-volume The History of Foreign Literature in the 20th Century, covering foreign literature from 1970 to 2000. The introduction highlights the rich diversity of literature after the 1970s, emphasizing its pluralistic nature, a collection of highly talented writers with different ages, academic backgrounds, cultural contexts, ideological contents, and artistic expressions, making it a time when all thoughts, ideologies, and literary schools were showcased, and all outstanding literary figures shared a corner of this literary landscape.
First and foremost in Europe, as it has numerous literary powers and outstanding writers. During these 30 years, 19 out of 31 Nobel Prize winners in Literature were from Europe, accounting for nearly two-thirds of the total, a testament to the abundance of talent. Although the situations in European countries varied greatly, and their literary landscapes were diverse, even starkly different, they all demonstrated vitality, innovation, and a tendency toward pluralism in the new era and under new circumstances. In the 1970s and 1980s, Soviet socialist literature made new progress, showing a vibrant vitality, with a surge in works of various themes and styles. At the same time, many renowned writers, poets, and playwrights emerged both domestically and internationally. In 1985, the Soviet Union began reforms, advocating for "further democratization of society" and "expanding openness." In 1986, the eighth Congress of the Soviet Writers' Union was held under the principles of "democratization" and "openness," with a tense and contentious atmosphere, where conflicts and disagreements among writers were openly exposed. In 1987, the "reflexive" iceberg of literary regression emerged, and by 1989, the wave of reflection and regression continued, with many banned works being legalized, leading to a surge in literary magazine subscriptions. That year, the socialist realism creative method, which had dominated the Soviet literary scene for over half a century, was removed from the statutes of the Writers' Union. In 1990 became the "Solzhenitsyn Year," with magazines rushing to publish his banned works. In 1991, the situation took a sharp turn, with intensified struggles among top leaders of the Soviet Communist Party, various contradictions came to the fore, ultimately leading to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, which had existed for over 70 years, and Soviet literature became a part of history. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russian writers, due to long-standing grievances and differing political views, were divided into opposing factions, engaging in fierce verbal battles. Russian literature entered a harsh winter. After a few years, the fierce battle in the literary world gradually subsided, with works of all kinds emerging, both excellent and mediocre. In recent years, many veteran writers have passed away, and those who remain seem somewhat exhausted. Meanwhile, writers born around the 1940s have gradually become the backbone of literature, while a group of middle-aged and young writers born in the 1950s and 1960s have emerged, adding a touch of spring to Russian literature. However, for Russian literature to regain its former glory, it may still need to "bloom slowly for the coming years."
The countries of Eastern Europe (now known as Central and Southeastern Europe) were similar to the Soviet Union in many ways. In Poland, during the two five-year plans (1961–1970) under Gomulka's leadership as General Secretary, the national economy was severely imbalanced. In late 1970, workers in coastal cities like Gdansk went on strike. In the late 1970s, the national economy deteriorated, leading to nationwide strikes, and the Solidarity trade union emerged. In 1981, Jaruzelski was elected General Secretary of the Central Committee, and in the same year, Poland declared a state of emergency, dissolving all literary organizations, closing all publishing institutions, suspending literary publications, and forcing some writers to emigrate abroad. In July 1983, the state of emergency ended, and on December 29, 1989, the People's Republic of Poland was renamed the Republic of Poland. Poetry held a special position in Polish literature, especially with the Nobel Prize-winning poets Czes?aw Mi?osz and Wis?awa Szymborska, who added weight to contemporary Polish lyric poetry. Besides these two, other renowned elderly poets include Herbert and Ró?ewicz, as well as the younger generation of poets such as Jaros?aw Iwaszkiewicz and Tadeusz Ró?ewicz, and the youth, including the avant-garde poet S?awomir Mro?ek. The poetry of these generations, with their distinct artistic forms and aesthetic pursuits, reflects the pluralistic development trend of Polish poetry.
Hungary began implementing economic reforms in 1968, leading to significant changes in domestic political life. On October 8, 1989, at the Socialist Workers' Party Congress, the party ceased operations and was replaced by the Hungarian Socialist Party. In the same month, the parliament amended the constitution, establishing a multi-party system and renaming the Hungarian People's Republic as the Republic of Hungary. In the 1970s and 1980s, apart from realist writers, literary creation also saw the emergence of the "New Generation" writers, represented by József Szabó and Mihály, and the "Renewal" writers, represented by Sándor Ferenczi and András Fáy.
The 1968 "Prague Spring" in Czechoslovakia led to Soviet intervention, with its leader Dub?ek arrested; writers like Kundera were expelled from the Communist Party and forced into exile; Havel and others were imprisoned; and many writers were exiled; the Writers' Union, chaired by Jaroslav Seifert, was dissolved. In 1969, Husák became General Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, and in 1987, he resigned from the position of General Secretary but remained President; in 1989, he resigned from the presidency, and that same year, Dub?ek was elected President of the Federal Assembly, with playwright Václav Havel becoming President. On January 1, 1993, Czechoslovakia was divided into two independent countries: the Czech Republic and Slovakia. During this period, the most renowned literary figure in Czechoslovakia was the poet Jaroslav Seifert, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1984, and Milan Kundera, a writer who had emigrated and acquired French citizenship.
In France, from 1959 to 1963, the national economy experienced rapid growth, but the excessive development of industry exacerbated social conflicts. The social dissatisfaction that erupted in the 1968 "May Storm" shook France, creating a new ideological atmosphere and leading to Charles de Gaulle's resignation from politics in 1969, marking the end of an era. Influenced by linguistics, semiotics, and psychoanalysis, the New Novel movement, which had declined in popularity, began to fade. Its leader, Jean-Paul Sartre, completely broke ties with the magazine Le Rire in 1980, and French literature entered a pluralistic era without a central figure,, or school, with a clear trend toward popularization. The former master of the New Novel movement, Simone de Beauvoir, held a pivotal position in the French literary scene and won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986. Her original and innovative writing style, which combined the creativity of poets and painters with a profound awareness of time, undoubtedly made her a unique literary master of the era. Marguerite Duras, who passed away in 1996, excelled in writing about daily life but rejected the traditional method of relying on plot, instead crafting stories that were enigmatic and deeply emotional, with a focus on the intricate inner worlds of characters. Her novel The Lover, set against the backdrop of a first love in childhood, is passionate and filled with exotic charm. Similarly, the traditional-rejecting Michel Tournier, whether depicting the mysterious adventures of deserts and seas or the frenzied urban life, always intertwined his meticulous and disordered descriptions with absurdity and symbolic generalizations, conveying his strong subjective feelings and critique of social reality. Tony Morrison, the American writer of African descent, won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993, adding another bright spot to American literature, while the Russian émigré poet Joseph Brodsky's Nobel Prize in 1987 brought a mix of frustration and helplessness to Russia.
In the 1960s, Spanish American literature experienced a "literary explosion" that shook the world, giving rise to a group of internationally renowned writers. Magical realism, psychological realism, structural realism, and social realism were among the various schools that flourished. After the 1970s, the literary scene continued to be vibrant, but it became quieter in the 1980s as a number of literary giants like Neruda, Asturias, Carpentier, Cortázar, Borges, Rulfo, and García Márquez passed away. By the 1990s, the literary scene miraculously revived, with both new and established writers beginning a new sprint. Pablo Neruda of Chile, Gabriel García Márquez of Colombia, and Octavio Paz of Mexico each won the Nobel Prize in Literature, their awards being a pride of Spanish American literature and adding glory to the Nobel Prize itself. Borges of Argentina, though not awarded the prize, was no less renowned. His essays and short stories were clear, bright, and exquisite, captivating readers. In the works of Carlos Fuentes, realism once again shone, with history and fantasy intertwined and elevated into a profound and enduring symphony of fate. The structural realist·, in whose works personal love and major political issues intertwined, brought a unique touch of Cuban music and dance to romantic tragedies.
After the literary explosion, some young writers in Latin America emerged. Isabel Allende of Chile, with her magical The House of the Spirits, portrayed the tumultuous history of a nation. Her compatriot Eduardo Galeano won the Cervantes Prize in 1999, becoming the youngest recipient of the award in its history. Laura Esquivel's Like Water for Chocolate once again captivated readers with the magic of magical realism. Juan Carlos Onetti's The Kiss of the Spider Woman returned to plot and incorporated cinematic techniques into the narrative structure. The prolific José Donoso, in The Dogs of the Night, used challenging and high-quality language to showcase the clash between underdeveloped civilizations and the decline of civilization.
Brazil, under Portuguese colonial rule for over three hundred years, experienced a military coup in 1964, which established a military regime. The three governments that followed all implemented authoritarian rule. In 1979, a civilian government took power, granted amnesties, and implemented economic reforms, gradually making Brazil the most powerful economy in Latin America. Jo?o Guimar?es Rosa was Brazil's most famous short story writer, known for his concise and profound works. Clarice Lispector was Brazil's most celebrated female writer, with her delicate and flowing prose exposing the decline of social morality and the erosion of ethics. Carlos Drummond de Andrade was the most renowned poet in post-war Brazilian literature, with a cold, stony lyrical style. José Saramago was Brazil's most famous columnist today.
St. Lucia, a small island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with an area of 616 square kilometers and a population of less than 130,000, where blacks make up 90% of the population, was a British colony until it gained independence in 1979. Its economy is primarily based on banana cultivation. Today, this small island nation is famous for its citizen Derek Walcott, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1992. The Swedish Academy described his narrative epic Omeros as "a grand Caribbean epic," and his numerous poems as "radiating light and heat, with a profound historical perspective, a product of multiculturalism."
By the end of the 20th century, world literature and culture had shown a trend toward pluralism and popularization, a trend that would likely have an undeniable impact on world literature in the 21st century.