Chinese Journal of Literary Criticism

No.4, 2020

Artistic Dialectics in Xu Huaizhong’s Novels

(Abstract)

Li Yunlei

Xu Huaizhong’s works reflect the dialectics of art, between less and more, small and big, simple and complicated. The total amount of his works is relatively “less,” but his classic works are very “many.” Most of the works start from the “small,” but they can reflect the mainstream of life in the “big” era, and write a new literary mainstream. He wrote a very complicated history with his simple and clean style. A Story of Towing the Wind is Xu Huaizhong’s further and more difficult exploration on the extension line of the relationship between life and art. It is the integration of romanticism and symbolism, but it still has the foundation of life and history and the background of realism. He insisted on “lyric tradition” and “flexible beauty,” but also absorbed the influence of the new trend of literature and art with an open mind, and constantly opened up a new realm of art.