Relationship between Literature and History in Chinese Fiction - Essay Example

Culture is one of the major struggles in capitalist countries. The Marxist theory depicts the struggle of creating and maintaining culture values in generations (Raymond, 242). Chinese literature is a culture in a capitalist land. The history of Chinese literature roots from the 1950s to its transition to modernism in the 1970s. Fiction writing in china presents the image and transition of the Chinese culture since evolution. Many fiction writers in china use the art of literature to present the history of culture revolution. For instance, the novel To live by Yu Hua presents a story of a family that struggles through their forty years in china. The story is set from the period after the World War II in the time of the Mai Zedong culture revolution to the current communist China. The story is told by the main character Fungui who lives with his wife Jiazhen in a moment of culture transmission in china. Yu Hua uses the art of fiction to express the hardship faced by Fungui and his family which includes loss of land, starvation and the death of his children. All this was attributed to the transition of culture which involved the introduction of a communist structure of government. Fungui will eventually lose all his property to Long’er the culture tradition (Yu Hua, 83). Fungui’s suffering is characterized by his bad choices. This is evident in the story when he gambles over all the Xu property (Yu Hua, 23). The story creates a fiction notion of a poor family going through harassment from ruler ship. Fungui acquired debts from gambling in which he pays back but loses his father’s property to the Long’ers as a result of double cross. This presents a form of discrimination of the minority community in china. The Chinese communist structure was made of the rich who were the majority and the poor who were known to be the minority due to oppression from the wealthy counter parts. Yu Hua uses this notion to create a twisted fiction of the culture transition which saw the poor oppressed by the rich in a communist government structure. Fungui loses her wife back to his father-in-law due to his state of poverty. Yu Hua portrays that women in this set up were used as property as they were viewed as a form of financial benefit to their parents. Apart from being a mirror of the society, literature was used to highlight and correct the bad practices brought about by culture in the ancient era. The era characterized by ancient culture used literature as a form of transformation to the modern revised culture. Though the drift between the poor and rich still exists in china, oppression of the minority is suppressed by the modern culture. This depicts the transition of literature and fiction writing. To live is a historical discourse as it uses fiction to discourse the specs of culture transition in china since independence. Narrative literature in china is rooted to the 1970s. Chinese writer Han Shaogong presents a sophisticated insight into the modern Chinese culture with his writings since 1976. This depicts a transition from the historical discourse to the literary narrative which represents the modern art of fiction writing. The novel A Dictionary of Maqiao presents a cultural revolution through language translation in literature. In this case, the novel presents a transformation in the art of writing in china from the use of purely local dialect in fiction writing to the translation of a unanimous language in order for the culture to be viewed in a broad perspective. Historical discourse writers in china used local dialect to portray originality while literary narratives such as Han Shaogong strictly use a unanimous language to depict the Chinese culture. Han Shaogong also presents a sense of gender discourses in literary narrative literature where he cites out the emergence of women writers in fiction writing. Historical discourses did not give women the chance to express themselves freely thus making it hard for them to dominate in the Chinese fiction writing. In his book Leaving the world to enter the world Han Shaogong portrays the history of transition in Chinese literature as women such as Lu Yin and Bei Wei are currently dominating in narrative literature (Mark, 981). As a result, narrative literature differs from history discourses as it presents the modern from of portraying culture through writing. It presents the freedom of women in fiction writing as it portrays the art of women in presenting the Chinese culture through fiction writing. The major role of literature in china is to sensitize the public on current events linking them to past happenings. For instance, the fiction history discourse written by To live by Yu Hua presents a communist form of governance in the lives of the Chinese citizens which was based on the majority rule. In this case, he sensitizes the effects of majority rule in china which is indeed the oppression of the minority poor and alien societies. He presents a case where Fungui lost his property to Long’ers as a result of double cross (Yu Hua, 83). This act made him poor to defend his family as he eventually loses his wife (Yu Hua, 42). The Marxist theory presents a struggle in equality with its affiliation the Chinese culture. Apart from being a mirror, the Marxist theory creates a different role of literature in where it plays a great role in transformation an instilling change in the Chinese society (Raymond, 249). The theory achieves its role in china through the transformation of fiction literature writing in its history which roots to the 1940s. Literature also has the role of creating change in culture. The Chinese culture has changed drastically since the 1940s courtesy of literature writings. Writers in china have effectively used the art of fiction in narrative literature and history discourse to represent a transition of the Chinese culture. The culture is largely focused on literature and its impact on the society. Literature has led to the eradication of feminism in china together with the suppression of majority rule. In this case, literature has impacted to a massive change in the social affairs in china. Work Cited Mark Leenhouts, Leaving the World to Enter the World: Han Shaogong and Chinese Root-Seeking Literature. New York: CNWS. Publications, 2005. (Print) Raymond Williams, “Tragedy and Revolution” in Marxist Literary Theory, 242-260. 1966. Blackwell publisher Ltd: Oxford. (Print) Yu Hua. To Live: A Novel. [Mandarin Chinese: Huo zhe, 1992/1993.] Trans. Michael Berry. New York: Anchor-Random House, 2003. 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