中國70後小說中的城鄉流動經驗──脈絡及其內容考察

Underscored with keywords like eroticized narratives, writers of post-70s savor less sufficient discussion in contemporary Chinese Literature. The project aims to point out that the most noteworthy part of post-70s is the flows of urban-rural experience, which also implies emerging self-identity of Chinese writers of 1990s. This is a three-year project. The first year’s (107.8-108.7) project “The Inheritance and Variation of Nativist Romantic Narratives” first reviews romantic nativist since Congwen Shen and connects to writers of post-70s to distinguish change/unchanged and inheritance/variation. The second year’s (108.8-109.7) project “The Experience Description from Suffering Narratives to Depression Narratives” focuses on characteristics of space and expression of affection shown in “urban narratives,” which is the intermediary between the country and the city. In the first two years, I discuss the writers’ retrospect on the nativist and their observations on society and humanity in the background of emerging towns. The focus of the third year (109.8-110.7) is the dynamic process of urban and rural departure/return presented by post-70s writers. Since the opening of 1978 reform, Chinese officials have regarded economic development as a central task. However, the gap between the coastal and inland areas is quite large, either in economy, politics or culture. Therefore, most post-70s writers experienced rural life in their childhood and a changing hometown when they grew up. Their childhood/juvenile memories form a sharp contrast to the countryside after adulthood. From this generation, “nativist” began to decline rapidly in substance. Therefore, one focus of nativist narratives of post-70s is returning to hometown, while the other shifts from the countryside to the city, creating a new important figure “urban strangers.” This year, I study works of Keyi Sheng, Zechen Xu and Shi Yifeng, as well as related materials, to conduct extensive and profound text reading and comparison of social conditions. I intend to clarify how writers of post-70s stare at the nativist and contemplate turbulence of urban-rural flows in diverse situations of dramatic change. These nativist experiences are related to huge split of reality, such as differentiation of the rich and the poor, the differentiation of social classes, etc. In the dilemma of the old and the new, how to deal with the dialogue between literature and society? how to describe people’s reaction toward “urban-rural flows”? what are the significance and blind spots of underclass? These are the concern of this year's project.