Chapter 17 The second section "pioneering literature" multi-faceted literature exploration experiments

Chinese poetry is the earliest literary genre in Chinese literature, and poetry is always the first to respond sensitively to major changes in Chinese society in the past dynasties.Looking at it today, the main achievements of the reform movement at the end of the 19th century may have been in literature rather than politics.The "Poetry Revolution" movement launched by Xia Zengyou, Tan Sitong, Liang Qichao, Huang Zunxian and others has dual meanings of literature and enlightenment. In the Chinese literature of the 20th century, Hu Shi’s (17) and other poems are the pioneering works of the “May Fourth” new literature; the “Fourth Five-Year” Tiananmen Poetry Movement in 1976 is regarded by most people in the academic circle as the prelude and beginning of the new era of literature ; while in the new period, the literary trend of thought with a modernist tendency that first attracted widespread attention in the academic circles was the trend of obscurity poetry.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, a group of young poets entered the poetry circle, and their styles were quite different from the previous poetry circles.The main representatives of them are: Index Finger, Bei Dao, Shu Ting, Mang Ke, Duo Duo, Gu Cheng, Jiang He, Yang Lian, Lin Mang, Liang Xiaobin, Wang Xiaoni, and so on.The new wave of poetry triggered by this group of young poets had its specific context and historical accumulation at that time. The occurrence and development of the tide of obscurity poetry is firstly inextricably linked with the poetry groups created underground during the "Cultural Revolution" period. During the "Cultural Revolution" period, many intellectual youths who went to the mountains and went to the countryside were exposed to Western modernist literature and philosophy, which deeply revealed the irrational level of human beings and questioned the rationality of human existence, as well as The display of the absurdity of existence coincides with the background and life exploration of the intellectual youth at that time. Many of them quickly accepted the influence of Western modernist literature and philosophy, and started the underground creation of modernist literature. . During the "Cultural Revolution", many poetry creation groups emerged around some educated youth spots. Among the underground creation groups of modernist literature, the Baiyangdian poetry group had the most extensive influence.From 1969 to 1976, a poetry creation group composed of a group of educated youths from Beijing who went to Baiyangdian, Hebei to join the queue. Its main members include Mang Ke (Jiang Shiwei), Duo Duo (Li Shizheng), Genzi (Yue Zhong), Lin Mang, Song Haiquan, etc. .Baiyangdian is relatively close to Beijing, and various new trends of thought tend to spread here quickly. In the early 1970s, the underground reading of Beijing youths, etc., were also quickly circulated in Baiyangdian.Here formed a unique humanistic environment very suitable for the growth of modernist literature, and many members of the Baiyangdian poetry group also became the main characters of the obscurity poetry trend in the future.Due to the adherence to the mainstream aesthetic habits of poetry since 1949, it was difficult for their poems to be generally accepted by the poetry circles at that time, and it was difficult for their works to be officially published.In order to publish their poems, they could only adopt an informal way at first, so many cities at that time established folk poetry publications.Among them, "Today" in Beijing is of great significance to the occurrence of this poetic wave.

On December 13, 1978, the founding of the private publication "Today" (18) meant that underground poetry with the characteristics of modernist literature gradually surfaced.Bei Dao did not go to the countryside to Baiyangdian during the "Cultural Revolution", but he had close contacts with members of the Baiyangdian poetry group. The "Today" edited by him mostly published poems by intellectual young poets, and their poems had a strong rebellious spirit.Poets such as Bei Dao, Gu Cheng, Jiang He, Yang Lian, and Shu Ting entered the poetry world from here. Around "Today", they formed the first school of poetry that had a profound impact in the new era, known as the Today School.The poetic influence of this group of young poets gradually expanded, and the trend of literary change also showed an inevitable trend, which became the direct source of obscurity poetry.They attracted the attention of the academic circle after their poems were published. Beginning in 1979, some of their works began to be accepted in some public publications to a limited extent. In March 1979, "Poetry Magazine" published Bei Dao's poems, which marked that the obscurity poetry trend had officially entered the poetry circle from the underground, and then the poems of Shu Ting, Gu Cheng and others began to be published publicly.Since most of these young poets experienced the disillusionment of their ideals during the "Cultural Revolution", they were inevitably somewhat lost and confused.As a result, they began to have a suspicion and rebellious psychology, but they did not sink, but started a new pursuit in confusion, and even had a conscious sense of responsibility.It is very difficult to express their emotions with straightforward and shallow poetic means, but the expression of Western modernist poetry has formed an unexpected fit with their inner emotions to a certain extent.Therefore, they adopted new ways of expression, such as metaphor, symbol, irony, deformation, synaesthesia, suggestion, breaking the order of time and space, etc., which made their poems present a hazy poetic style.At the same time, they abandoned the lack of individual "self" in the previous poems, but highlighted the existence of "self", and they put the writing of poems on the basis of the confirmation of human value.

This kind of poetry with modernist style is completely different from the style of poetry for a long time, which has aroused doubts from some people. In August 1980, "Poetry Magazine" published Zhang Ming's article "Depressing Obscurity", which launched a debate on this wave of poetry from the perspective of the obscurity and difficulty in reading poetry. The creation of this group of young poets therefore Gained the name of "Misty Poetry".This initially derogatory "misty poetry" has been widely recognized as a positive concept in the debate.After the publication of Zhang Ming's "Depressing Obscurity", a heated debate was launched around "obscure poetry".In the debate, there is a party who holds a negative and critical attitude towards "obscure poetry", represented by Ding Li, Cheng Daixi, Zheng Bonong and others.They observe poetry from the perspective of historical tradition and real politics, and think that obscure poetry is obscure and weird poetry.Old poets Ai Qing and Zang Kejia basically held a negative attitude towards obscurity poetry.But there is also a party who definitely appreciates it, the main representatives of this party are Xie Mian, Sun Shaozhen, Xu Jingya and so on. On May 7, 1980, "Guangming Daily" published critic Xie Mian's "Facing the New Rise", which fully affirmed the exploration and innovation of the new wave of poetry. , look, think, don't rush to take action", the article gives some rationality to the exploration of new poetry.Afterwards, "Poetry Magazine" published Sun Shaozhen's "New Aesthetic Principles Are Rising" (19). He supported Xie Mian's view and raised it to the height of aesthetics. I disdain to be the trumpet of the spirit of the times, and I disdain to express great achievements outside my emotional world."And Xu Jingya's "The Rising Poetry Group" (20) systematically explained the social and historical roots of Misty poetry, the poet's poetic attitude, text experiments and style characteristics.At that time, there were many articles participating in the debate around the "three rises". Dozens of domestic newspapers and periodicals published relevant articles, and the key point of the debate finally turned to the question of how to view modernist literature. People who deny modernist literature often confuse modernism with modernism. Realism opposes it and leads it to the direction of political science and sociology. Therefore, the debate often ends up in a non-literary perspective.Although this controversy seemed to subside after the young poet Xu Jingya's "self-criticism" and there was no further controversy because of it, the Obscure Poetry Trend has been recognized by the academic circle and written into the history of literature. (twenty one)

The first obscurity wave of poetry with modernist tendencies in the new era was prepared during the "Cultural Revolution". It emerged from the ground in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and grew and thrived amid controversy. After 1983, the obscurity poetry trend gradually declined. In 1986, Liang Xiaobin, a representative of the tide of obscurity poetry, declared the decline of the tide of obscurity poetry in his article "The Poet's Collapse". (twenty two) Almost at the same time as the wave of obscurity poetry, novels and dramas also appeared with modernist tendencies. Modernism in contemporary Chinese novels began with stream-of-consciousness novels. "The Red Sailboat of the Neihu Lake in Literature". (23) Stream of consciousness (stream of consciousness) is originally a psychological term, and its name was proposed by American psychologist William James (James William) in 1884 in the article "On Several Issues Neglected by Introspective Psychology", William James believes that "consciousness is not put together section by section. It is appropriate to describe it with the metaphor of 'river' or 'flow'. When we talk about it later, we will call it Be it stream of thought, stream of consciousness, or stream of subjective life." (24) By the beginning of the 20th century, the intuitionist philosophy of the French philosopher Bergson and the psychoanalysis of the Austrian psychologist Freud had become the philosophical basis of stream-of-consciousness novels.In the 20th century, the West produced far-reaching stream-of-consciousness novels: those of Marcel Proust in France and James Joyce in Ireland.Stream of consciousness mainly focuses on the irrational level of human beings. It emphasizes subconsciousness, subconsciousness, intuition, and hallucinations. It believes that human nature at the irrational level is the most real. Therefore, the real stream of consciousness does not only refer to a creative method, but a kind of literary concept.Western stream-of-consciousness novels express deep-level things such as human unconsciousness. It has the following three main characteristics: one is to focus on inner consciousness activities, and the unconsciousness is the main focus. Therefore, its time is mainly related to psychological processes. Time, rather than the traditional physical time; second, the novel has a strong metaphor and enlightenment of social life; third, it does not have a unified storyline.The literature of the new era initially borrowed from the stream of consciousness mainly in terms of methods and techniques, so the repercussions it aroused were not as enthusiastic as that of the Misty Poetry Trend, and its role in the spread of modernism was not as great as that of the Misty Poetry Trend.

Since 1979, Wang Meng has published novels such as ,,,,,, etc. The novels have attracted the attention and discussion of the literary circles because of their obvious stream-of-consciousness characteristics, and have been called "cluster grenades" by critics.Wang Meng's novels draw on the techniques of stream-of-consciousness novels. In the novel, Zhang Siyuan revisits the mountain village where he worked, and looks back on his life experience on the way to the mountain village.He made two free associations in the car and on the sofa at home, and completed his memories of decades of ups and downs in the associations. All memories are not limited by time and space, and are very free.The author also uses the allusion of "Zhuang Zhou's Dream of a Butterfly" to point out the theme of life as a dream in the novel, and the whole work shows the strong characteristics of western stream-of-consciousness novels.The common feature of Wang Meng's novels published in this period is that no matter how they are laid out, the center of the novel is the protagonist's psychological process at a specific moment.It shows the psychological process of Yue Zhifeng's two novels on the way back to his hometown, and Zhong Yicheng's life experience of more than 20 years is still completed through his psychological process.Comparing Wang Meng's novels of this period with western stream-of-consciousness novels, we will find that Wang Meng's novels have the characteristics of stream-of-consciousness novels in terms of the time and metaphor of psychological processes and the enlightenment of social life, and use a large number of associative monologues and other methods.However, in terms of plot, Wang Meng's novels have inherited the style of traditional Chinese novels that emphasize plots. He still maintains a typical Chinese traditional style on the basis of extensive use of stream-of-consciousness novels. Therefore, the novels represented by Wang Meng The stream-of-consciousness novels of this period are naturally called "Orientalized stream-of-consciousness". (25)

Writers who actively explored modernist literature together with Wang Meng during this period included Li Guowen, Zong Pu, Ru Zhijuan, Li Tuo, Zhang Xinxin, Zhang Xianliang, Ye Wenling, Zhang Chengzhi, Lu Xinger, Huang Beijia and others. They still have the characteristics of traditional literature in terms of plot and character, but they have injected the expression skills of stream of consciousness into the novel, and strive to reveal the deep things of the characters' hearts. The experimental dramas of Gao Xingjian, Meng Jinghui and others also carried out the exploration and practice of modernism.Experimental dramas are also called avant-garde dramas and exploratory dramas.As a trend of thought, it has a distinct experimental tendency, so we use the name of experimental drama here.The rise of experimental drama in China in the 1980s is of great significance. It broke through the existing mode of modern Chinese drama, carried out bold exploration and practice in theory and practice, and brought a huge impact to the Chinese drama stage. The change.Chinese drama was introduced from Japan at the beginning of the last century. For example, the "civilized drama" in the early 20th century was produced under the influence of Japanese "new drama". It learned from Western drama while having the characteristics of traditional drama. Overwhelmed by the drama that followed.In the 1930s and 1940s, Chinese drama flourished for the first time, and its propaganda function was discovered and utilized. The drama in this period had a strong utilitarian color. From 1949 to the end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s, the mainstream of drama was still realistic, and it was not until the experimental dramas that appeared in the 1980s that this single situation was broken.It can be said that experimental dramas appeared in a non-mainstream attitude from the very beginning.

Gao Xingjian is undoubtedly the pioneer of experimental drama. From 1982 to 1986, Gao Xingjian published six plays: "Absolute Signal", "Modern Excerpts", "Monologue", and .Among them, the three plays "Absolute Signal", ", and "" were all staged by Beijing People's Art, and aroused great repercussions at that time.The non-scene drama "Absolute Signal" is Gao Xingjian's first play. Compared with Gao Xingjian's other plays, its degree of experimentation is not very high, and its structure is not as open as Gao Xingjian's other plays. Strong impact, the symbolism of its stage and the new artistic means injected into the performance have changed the traditional relationship between watching and performing. The performance of "Absolute Signal" (1982) won the praise of some people, but some people raised doubts, thinking that the characters were not representative and typical.Runsheng's "Summary of the Discussion on the Drama "Absolute Signal"" (26) summarizes the comments of major newspapers and periodicals after the performance of "Absolute Signal". (1983) is another non-scene drama multi-part life lyrical comedy after "Absolute Signal", which is also the most controversial one among Gao Xingjian's plays.Gao Xingjian carried out his multi-voice drama experiment in this play. He made two or more multiple voices speak at the same time, and the maximum number of voices reached seven.He wanted to use music to achieve a special artistic effect, so he also borrowed the sonata and roundabout forms in music in terms of structure, instead of the closed Ibsen-style dramatic plot structure usually adopted.The play was first staged by Beijing Renyi on a small scale, but it was soon banned because the focus of criticism at the time was still on the theme of the script.The ban is also due to its theme, which is also very similar to the theme of waiting in Beckett's "Waiting for Godot", and it also uses the absurd technique of Western modernism. "Waiting for Godot" is connected, and I think it is a seriously distorted description and reflection of our society, showing strong doubts about our real life.However, the play was affirmed by Cao Yu, Yu Zhi and others, and thus obtained the qualification to continue rehearsal and performance.The performance of the play aroused great controversy, and many comments were published at that time. Cidda’s "The Drama "Station" is in Debate" (27) summarized the comments on the play at that time. The article excerpted He Wen, Qu Liuyi, Key points of related review articles by Xi Yan, Tang Yin et al.In the discussion about the play, most people think that the play distorts real life, does not believe in existing things, and the emotions of the passengers in the work are too pessimistic and depressed, which should be denied.At that time, only Qu Liuyi recognized the theme of the play. He believed that the theme was not waiting, but a kind of inspiration, which inspired people not to wait, but to be the master of time.Comparing it with "Waiting for Godot", you will find that the characters, time, content, and details of the former still have the characteristics of realism, while the latter is a classic text of modernism; the former negates waiting through the active actions of the characters, Negating the despair and absurdity of human existence, the latter shows the despair and absurdity of life with the characters' endless waiting.As Shi Hang recalled many years later, the dramas of Gao Xingjian and others at that time were "writing the absurd with high spirits, and rehearsing desperately with perseverance". (28)

The artistic technique of "Waiting for Godot" is only partially borrowed, and bold innovations are made in the assumptions and narrative techniques of the drama, rather than a complete imitation of "Waiting for Godot".Gao Xingjian is one of the earliest writers in Chinese contemporary literature who faced the problem of how to deal with foreign culture and traditional culture. He borrowed a lot of nutrients from Chinese traditional culture while boldly borrowing from Western modernist art.He has never concealed his love for traditional Chinese culture, "I like Chinese culture, and I have never been against traditional culture... I first learned, and what I especially appreciate is the natural philosophy of Chinese Taoism, which is a source of my starting point. In addition, there is Zen in Buddhism. I don't see it as a religion. Zen is a way of thinking and feeling, it is so close to the artist's thinking. This is another source. There is another source, in Chinese literature There is one of the most wonderful things in the book, which is called "reclusive spirit". In fact, it is escape, or the so-called mountain literature, to escape political oppression, escape from imperial power, stay away from the regime, stay away from the court, and keep one's own independent thinking and feeling... I think Chinese literature has a hermit spirit. This is also a source of mine." (29) From his creation, we can clearly find the source of traditional culture.As early as the performance of "Absolute Signal", he emphasized the reference to the art of Peking Opera: "Actors need to learn from Peking Opera actors to arouse impromptu theater effects." (30) He said: "The drama style of drama originally came from the West. Western dramatists are now studying traditional Eastern drama in order to innovate. I think that when I explore modern drama, instead of following Western People’s pursuit of modern drama is not as good as starting from our traditional oriental drama concept, which is more effective.” (31) "The exploration of contemporary Western dramatists is a very useful frame of reference for my drama experiment. When I was looking for a modern drama, I mainly started from the traditional Eastern drama concept." (32) Therefore, Gao Xingjian's experimental drama is an experiment in Chinese drama under the influence of Western absurd drama. He creatively transformed traditional Chinese drama art while borrowing boldly from Western modernist art.

If we say that the wave of obscurity poetry, stream-of-consciousness novels, and experimental dramas have only adopted selective acceptance and technical reference of Western modernism, then the emergence of avant-garde novels means the official landing of modernism in China.Pioneer novels are also called trendy novels, experimental novels, exploratory novels, represented by Ma Yuan, Can Xue, Liu Suola, Xu Xing, Hong Feng, Mo Yan, Ge Fei, Yu Hua, Sun Ganlu, Su Tong and others. The reference of modernist art forms and the recognition of modern themes triggered a novel exploration and experiment movement in a form that was extremely novel to China at that time. The efforts of pioneer novels were mainly manifested in narrative, meaning, language and other levels.

The vanguard attitude is firstly expressed at the narrative level.The exploration of avant-garde novels started from the text, and they carried out a complete revolution on the narrative from the text.Ma Yuan is known as the pioneer of avant-garde novels. His short story "The Lhasa River Goddess" published in "Tibetan Literature" in August 1984 attracted the attention of the literary world with a brand-new narrative method and structure.Since then, his series of works such as "The Temptation of Gangdise" set off a wave of pioneer novels in the literary world in a revolutionary form.The novels "Eve—But...But", "The Temptation of Gandese", "Fiction" and other works show characteristics that are very different from realistic works, and are called "narrative traps" (33) by critics. The form completely breaks the tradition of realistic novels. "Eve—But...But" uses a dual narrative structure. In this novel, each narrator has multiple identities. They are not only the narrator, but also the narrated in the work, and at the same time The author of the story in the novel, the author, the narrator, and the characters of the novel are actually a trinity here.Ma Yuan demonstrated through experiments how people believe a fictional story is true, that is the effect of narrative, and this truth comes from fiction.This process itself is a process of making and believing lies, which has been the tradition of fiction for many years, but Ma Yuan ruthlessly exposed the fact that the novel is fabricated by the author to the readers.He takes the trouble to appear in the novel to tell readers that he is a real author.The most representative is the passage in his novel "Fiction": "I am the Han Chinese named Ma Yuan, and I write novels. I like unconstrained imagination, and my stories are more or less sensational."This novel narrates "I"'s experience in a leprosy village in Tibet for several days, and both the narrator and the object of the narration are "I".At the end of the novel, the author and narrator jumped out to speak: "Readers, after telling this tragic story, I must say that the following story is fabricated. Like many people who write stories, I am afraid that you Some people in the middle became serious: Because I am staying in Anding Hospital temporarily, I always have to come out and return to you. I am tall and full of beards. I am a male citizen with a name and surname. Maybe many of you will Recognize me in a crowd. I don't want serious people to read the story and say I've had leprosy...hence the following ending".In fact, in this novel called "Fiction", the narrator and the author are not completely equal. Ma Yuan's purpose is to break the boundaries between the author, narrator, and characters, and to break the boundary between reality and fiction.At the end of the novel, the dream exposes the previous fiction to the readers. "I" entered the leprosy village on May 3rd, but when I woke up it was May 4th, that is to say, all the stories in the novel are just a dream of "I". To a certain extent, Ma Yuan's exposure of the novel technique of fiction makes the novel return to the novel itself, that is, fiction.In "The Temptation of Gangdis", Ma Yuan put aside three seemingly unrelated things at the same time, and connected them together with two flickering narrators, who are narrating and being narrated Wandering between the three states of disappearing and disappearing, thus specially setting up reading barriers for readers, it is called Ma Yuan's "narrative trap".The most important thing in Chinese traditional novels is the storyline. In the traditional concept, novels are just gossip. Whether the storyline can attract readers is very important. Traditional novels focus on the narrative story, not the narrative behavior. itself.Even in the stage of modern Chinese literature, this kind of concept still exists. Lu Xun once mentioned the function of "enjoyment and entertainment" of literature more than once.But from the "May 4th Movement" to the end of the 1970s, due to various complicated reasons, this function of literature has not attracted people's attention.After the beginning of literature in the new period, people began to try to get rid of the previous status of literature being subordinate to politics. At the same time, a large number of western literary theories and works poured into the country, which formed a huge impact and influence on many writers.Today, it seems superfluous and futile to talk about the authenticity of literature, but at that time, most readers regarded the things written in novels as records of real things, and many readers even equated novels with reportage literature. In addition, previous novelists are also using some narrative techniques to make readers regard the plot of the novel as a real story, and readers believe it more and more, and they never tire of it.The avant-garde novelists represented by Ma Yuan completely resisted this phenomenon. They denied the significance of the storyline in novels for thousands of years, making readers strongly aware of the existence of narration for the first time, and making the story meaning after the narrative.Regarding the characteristics of Ma Yuan’s meta-fiction, Wang Youping once made a metaphor: “It’s like a magician performing a dramatic transformation. When the audience is immersed in the atmosphere he created, the actor suddenly stands up to expose the magician’s mysterious tricks. Same as the backstage scenery." (34) The Chinese say that magic depends entirely on the blanket, which is equivalent to the magician's blanket being torn to pieces by his actors. We can imagine the audience's various reactions to this behavior, but the audience still Magic is needed, so the magician will also look for a blanket that will not tear easily to create new tricks to attract the audience.Today's novels are in such a search process. After negating the rules of traditional novels, Ma Yuan and others began to re-explore the various possibilities of novel writing, which is the basis for the novels in contemporary Chinese literature. Creation opens up a vast new space of possibilities.The narrative techniques used in Ma Yuan's novels do not conform to the reading habits of the majority of readers, so his name is often associated with "narrative traps".In this respect, Ge Fei went further, he pushed the narrative revolution to the extreme, and some of his works are often regarded as extreme stylistic experiments.For example, the narration of the two stories in "Brown Birds" is almost obscure, and many readers think this kind of novel is like a record of dreams.The novelists, on the other hand, expressed their inner reality through the revolution of narrative, and constantly searched for the source of spirit from Western modernist literature. Ma Yuan and Ge Fei completely rebelled against the narrative of traditional novels, while Liu Suola, Xu Xing, Can Xue, and Yu Hua, who later entered the literary world, focused on the meaning of the novel.Both Liu Suola's and Xu Xing's "Variations Without Theme" were published in 1985. These two novellas are regarded by critics as representative works of the development of Western modernism in China. Their most important contribution is the partial recognition of modern themes. , and truly introduced the absurd consciousness of Western modernism into Chinese novels, showing the alienation of human beings and the rebellious and irrational characteristics of traditional values.If you compare Gao Xingjian's experimental dramas with the avant-garde novels, you will find that the experimental dramas take a negative attitude towards the absurd, while the avant-garde novels affirm the absurdity of human existence, which is completely consistent with Western modernism.Through the rebellious behavior of a group of college students in the music department, it shows an absurd atmosphere and uses it to rebel against traditional conservative social forces.Every character in the novel is full of confusion and irritability about life.The reason is that their lives are mechanically rigid and under heavy pressure. Young people who should be vigorous hope that "the sky will never light up."Li Ming wanted to drop out of school more than once, but he didn't drop out in the end because he had no choice but to continue to live like this.As soon as this novel was published, it was pointed out that it was very similar to the American black humor novelist Joseph Heller. Indeed, both Li Ming and Unai Lin are absurd existences. The two novels have absurd atmosphere and rebellion against traditional social forces. There are striking similarities, and there are obvious traces of reference in the art form of the novels. They have no intention of weaving complicated and charming plots, pursuing the storyline of novels, or shaping typical images, but with a coherent anxious The restless emotions unify some incoherent plots. The rationality of realism is completely abandoned here, replaced by the irrational emotions of modernism. Modernism here becomes an inevitable expression of irrational meaning. . "Variations Without A Theme" also has the characteristics of modernism. It expresses the confusion of life is deeper than that. At the beginning of the novel, it asks: "I don't know what else I should want besides everything I have. What am I? What's more, I don't wait for anything."This sense of aimlessness pervades the work. "I" is a restaurant waiter and a dropout, but I have a high self-esteem, thinking that college is too vulgar, and nothing is more meaningful than realizing self-worth. "I" and old Q met because of a ticket, and became confidants because of their laughter and eyes.But when old Q repeatedly persuaded "I" to be a learned person, "I" broke up with her, because "I" didn't want to be a scholar, "I" saw through the absurdity of this world, and still continued my own personality Life.The "I" in the novel is a very unique character. He is cynical on the surface, but actually cares about social politics, literature and philosophy issues.In contrast, those pretending to be elegant in the novel are hypocritical and funny, and they will all show their original shape in the eyes of "I" - they are just mediocre and liars. As soon as the image of "I" appeared, it attracted the attention of the critics. Some people thought that such a character should not appear, because "today's Chinese youth have no right to be cynical." (35) This kind of view is also the opinion of the whole family, but behind all the self-destructive behaviors of "I" are the torture of the value of survival. If this character is completely negated, it means simplifying the complex inner world of contemporary people into a unified one. The big "I" obliterates the existence value of a person as an individual.Therefore, Mr. Radar believes that "Variations Without A Theme" is a work that "has reached a considerable spiritual level and literary realm". (36) is a confirmation. "Variations Without A Theme" is still very obvious for reference to Western modernism. "I"'s rebellion against traditional ideas and existing social customs is similar to that of Holden in Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye" and Gide's "Counterfeiting". The rebellious spirit of Bernard in "The Defender" is in the same line.Can Xue has the deepest understanding of the connotation of Western modernism. She was the most unique female writer in the Chinese literary world in the 1980s. Sha Shui once commented on Can Xue: "If there is any influence on Can Xue by Western modernist literature, it is this A utterly absurd consciousness". (37) Can Xue has indeed brought the absurd consciousness to the extreme in the novel, but it is not enough to summarize Can Xue with just two words of absurdity. As far as Can Xue is concerned, what is crucial is that she has a profound understanding of human existence through this extreme form. The meaning is metaphysically questioned, and the novel is used to advance the depth of spiritual exploration. "Old Floating Clouds", "The Cabin on the Mountain", "Amei's Melancholy in an Autumn", etc., without exception, opened up the dark part of human nature, and peeled off layers of it with unimaginable perseverance, This is what makes Can Xue different from other avant-garde novelists, and it is precisely because of this that when talking about her, people will think of Franz Kafka in Austria.In fact, Kafka is a writer that Can Xue likes very much, and the later publications are examples. (38) Since Can Xue entered the literary world, there have been endless comparative studies on her and Kafka. The courage to suffer and the spirit of martyrdom to protect loneliness have a keenness beyond ordinary people and insight into the essence. The devilish humor that ridicules all his sincere determinations and painful tears outside himself, there is a kind of gloomy, hopeless, dark and reckless arrogance that voluntarily ventures into darker places, there is a kind of self-division, The mischievous pleasure of intentionally placing oneself in self-contradiction..." (39) There is indeed an obvious intertextual relationship between Can Xue's novels and Kafka's novels. The imitation of her soul, but when her soul had to make a sound, happened to see a way that was most suitable for her in Kafka, which is fundamentally different from borrowing from Western modernist art forms in the general sense, as she herself said: "There is another fundamental difference between this kind of game and the general word game or structural game, that is, it is a split of the individual's inner self, a direct revelation of the living situation, an extremely serious joke with self-sacrifice, rather than full of The idea-first game in the Chinese literary world". (40) The exploration of avant-garde novels is multi-faceted. Some avant-garde novel writers are deeply infatuated with language, and even show the trend of language supremacy.In traditional Chinese literature, literature is used to convey the truth. During the 17-year literature and the "Cultural Revolution" period, literature was a vassal of politics, novels were a tool to serve politics, and language also existed as a tool. In the world, it has become a tool of a tool, and its humble status goes without saying.The avant-garde novelists saw the special meaning of language from the language turn of Western philosophy and postmodernist literary writers. Saussure’s theory of signifier and signified provided them with a door to language ontology. Joe姆斯基、维特根斯坦等人给了他们进一步的启示，于是，“语言是文学的生命，是文学存在的世界”(41)的观点深入他们的思想，可以说，他们的语言观是对语言工具论的一次彻底反叛，他们所认同的是语言本体论。孙甘露的语言实验就是先锋小说在语言层面进行大胆探索的典范，他对此前语言观进行了一次强有力的冲击。在孙甘露的小说里，语言有它自身存在的必然，它独自成为一个王国，它常常只注重一个语言的能指，而将其所指故意淡化甚至抛弃。所以，从语言学的角度看来，孙甘露小说是一种使语言回到它自身的努力，有着语言本体论的意义。但是，正如只注重语言工具会忽略其自身特征一样，孙甘露小说忽略了语言的所指功能，语言在他的小说中往往难以确定意义。或者可以这样说，孙甘露的小说在突出语言的同时，却削弱了小说的特征，这样的语言实验走向极致便很有可能成为一种语言暴力，离小说越来越远，离读者越来越远。 从以上论述中，可以发现八十年代中国的现代主义文学思潮最重要的特征是对于西方现代主义文学思潮和哲学思潮形式上的模仿，并通过这种模仿比较成功地反叛了之前的文学成规与文学观念，这毫无疑问具有拓宽当代文学创作审美空间的贡献。然而，对于文本与语言的过分重视使得他们的创作在文学内部走向更深的同时远离了文学的非内部因素。