| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立中興大學 === 中國文學系所 === 94 === Yuan Zhesheng, the young writer who committed suicide, left his readers an impenetrable enigma. His writing style, various subject matters, and over-due recognition also caused uncertain evaluation regarding his status in contemporary literary circle. While some consider his writing conformable to Chinese shijiao (poetry teachings) tradition, others call him the founder of New Native Fiction or juvenile humorist writer. Opinions vary drastically.
This thesis studies the fiction of Yuan Zhesheng. To avoid conflicting arguments from other’s discourses, I will base my discussion on close-reading of the texts. I will establish three different axes, namely time, space, and between people, and analyze Yuan Zhesheng’s concepts of time, space and his projection of aspects of man’s world accordingly.
Time and space are the most important factors that decide the “being” of a person’s existence. Particularly with fiction writing, it serves as the fictionist’s mirror image that reflects his or her abandoned or inlaid being. The human world offers conditions for all kinds of interrelations---such as between parents, families, love and religion---that present myriad facets of man’s lives. Yuan Zhesheng’s fiction often recounts family and father-son stories. His most celebrated feature is his speculation on time. Imaginative games in enclosed space also turn up frequently in his writings. Therefore, a research framework consists of time, space and human world is a criterion that delineates a fictionist’s image of mind in three-dimensions.
In addition, to clarify Yuan Zhesheng’s still-uncertain status in literary history, this thesis dedicates one chapter to discuss the ways Yuan’s writings interact with his time, including his writing style that is labeled New Nativism (or soft Nativist) by researchers, if his short-lived years of creation presents noticeable transitions between different phases; as well as studies on his influences. After thorough consideration, this thesis is more inclined to call Yuan Zhesheng a modernist writer who excels in depicting fragments of lives and the alienation of modern people, rather than simply a nativist writer who presents circumstances of the native country life.
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