Children or Youth?--Ye Shengtao's Education Fiction and the Changes in Discourses about Youth and Enlightenment during the 1920's
Resource
人文藝術, 2, 079-104
Journal
臺灣文學研究集刊
Journal Issue
2
Pages
079-104
Date Issued
2006-11
Date
2006-11
Author(s)
Abstract
In the history of modern Chinese fiction, Ye Shengtao is generally acknowledged to be the most important writer of “education fiction.” His grand oeuvre Ni Huanzhi (1928) has been called “a masterpiece of new literature” by Mao Dun. Most of Ye's works are reflections of his own experience as an educator. The young protagonist in Ni Huanzhi, too, throws himself into the cause of education; his growing up and the ensuing disillusionment are thus expression not just of the rise and fall of an individual career. Rather, they mirror the multiple changes of discourse about youth and enlightenment. from the late Qing through the 1920's, as reflected in fictional narratives and historical context. This article first of all tracks the development of “youth images” and “education fiction” since the late Qing and their complex relations to the Western Bildungsroman. Using the example of Ye Shengtao's “education fiction.” the article then explores the interaction of “youth” and “children,” as well as the tension between “education” and “fiction;” finally, it maps the changes of the “youth/enlightenment discourse” in the fiction of the 1920's. The article consists of four sections: (1) Ye Shengtao and the problematic of his “education fiction;” (2) “Youth image” and “education fiction;” (3) Children or youth? Ye Shengtao's “education fiction” and the changes in the “youth/enlightenment discourse;” (4) Summary: Education or anti-education? Ye Shengtao, Ni Huanzhi, and the tension in “youth/enlightenment fiction.”
Subjects
葉聖陶
教育小說
二○年代
青春
啟蒙論述
Ye Shengtao
Education fiction
1920's
Youth
Enlightenment discourse
Type
journal article
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