Mao tun and the literature of small nations and oppressed peoples

Abstract

This study presents an examination of the critical writings of Mao Tun contributed to the Hsiao-shuo Yue-pao (Short Story Monthly) from 1920 to 1929. Firstly, it follows the development of his ideas on literature through the decade, from his original preference for neo-romantic literature, as a synthesis of romanticism and realism, via his advocacy of realism, in response to the deficiencies he perceived within the internal literary scene, to his eventual espousal of proletarian socialist realistic literature - in his own interpretation. Thus an essential context is provided in which to study his work of translation and introduction of foreign literature, and the reciprocal exchange of influence between this work and his evolving literary views. The investigation which follows makes special reference to the literature of four representative peoples: the Poles, the Hungarians, the Norwegians and the Jews. Mao Tun's concern with the relevance of the social background in which the literature of oppressed peoples was written for the development of a new Chinese literature is also examined. Finally, Mao Tun's perception of the fundamental shortcomings of a large proportion of contemporary Chinese literature, and the remedial measures for which he called, are explored in the light of his study of these 'small and oppressed' literatures.