The role Mao Dun played under the Chinese communist regime has earned him vastly different epithets--from "a liberal-minded leader of literature and art" to "a communist literary hack." This controversial issue is investigated in this study through a reassessment of the development of Mao Dun's concept of literary realism--a reassesament arrived at by examining one of Mao Dun's later theoretical works "Ye du ou ji" (Rambling notes on literature, 1958) in light of his earlier literary views.;In order to resolve this contradiction, I compared the "Notes" with Mao Dun's previous literary views. Two preliminary conclusions are drawn from this undertaking: first, Mao Dun's promotion of the formula has an implicit connection to his involvement in the series of literary polemics in modern Chinese history. Second, Mao Dun's promotion of the formula may not be a sign of his political conformity. Quite the contrary, the formula may be an indication of his political subversion.;The first conclusion results from a review of the role that realism played in modern China. Mao Dun's endeavor to establish a European-style realism in China and his involvement in the subsequent literary skirmishes against the romanticist/nonrealist school are examined in chapters one and two.;The second conclusion is arrived at by examining the historical, ideological, and literary circumstances that prompted Mao Dun to write the "Notes," which is carried out in chapters three and four.;In the "Rambling Notes on Literature" Mao Dun expresses his opinions on two current literary debates--the validity of an allegedly Soviet-coined formula "literary history is a history of realism versus anti-realism," and the polemics of socialist realism versus "realism in the socialist era." Mao Dun upholds the concept of socialist realism, which he regards as a radical departure from the nineteenth-century critical-realism. Yet, he also passionately supports the formula realism versus anti-realism, which presumes the existence of a timeless but class-defined realism. A contradiction is clearly present in Mao Dun's "dual support:" the notion of an ageless realism precludes the necessity of developing newer creative methods, including socialist realism.
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