This is a study of the prose poem collection Yecao (Wild Grass), first published in 1927 by the foremost Chinese writer of the twentieth century, Lu Xun (1881-1936). This dissertation fills a significant gap in Lu Xun scholarship, by providing a much-needed full-length English-language study of this important work. An equally important feature of the dissertation is its elaboration and application of an aesthetic theory and praxis that are best suited for studying works of literature such as Yecao. This will aid scholars both in their future studies of modern Chinese poetry, and in their classroom teaching of Chinese literature.; Another purpose of this dissertation is to fill this gap in Lu Xun scholarship, by treating the work in its entirety and devoting significant space to the analysis of each poem. The core of my method involves working through each poem, in a series of close readings which reveals the complex network of meanings and emotions that are contained in Yecao's poetic language and imagery. These close readings do not in any way neglect the work's original historical context, but will provide the reader with a way of understanding the interrelationship between historical events and the unconscious of the poet, as it is manifested in each poem. In this way, I reveal the historical significance of these highly personal and symbolic poems without reducing their language, imagery, and emotional force to a mere index of past social and historical phenomena.; Through this approach, I fulfill another, more general goal; to show how literary images--in poetry or fiction--can embody the complex dynamic connections between lived experience and the unconscious of the individual. This dissertation thereby demonstrates that attunement to the historical and psychological density that is contained within literary forms and the literary image as the key to both a rigorous understanding of literary works and to a more comprehensive notion of subjectivity. Such an attunement is also a requisite to perceiving the full social relevance of literary texts, and the indispensable basis of a classroom pedagogy for studying the literatures of other cultures.
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