"Return to a new line does not need to be translated, return as it is, all other Chinese should be translated into English: "Border Town": Pastoral and Chinese Image

Author: Liu Hongtao
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-08-01
Features: Shen Congwen's long《Border Town》 is a masterpiece, and its artistic originality is primarily manifested in two aspects: as the peak work of the pastoral tradition in modern Chinese literature, it consolidates, develops, and deepens the local lyrical mode; following Lu Xun's 《Q》, it reshaped the Chinese image. The pastoral nature of 《Border Town》 and the Chinese image are interdependent, providing a classic model and sentiment for late-developing countries to respond to passive modernization. Further analysis also shows that 《Border Town》, as a literary refinement of the cultural conservatism trend in modern and contemporary times, has deep flaws in its text and issues such as the appropriation of alien cultural resources. This reveals the virtuality and strategic nature of the dominant nation's poetic imagination of itself, as well as its close connection to the alien imagination in Western literature. This paper begins by examining the construction logic of the pastoral scheme in 《Border Town》, with the aim of interpreting its artistic originality and significance.