Xiao Yu, M.A.
Abstract (Summary)
The Beijing novelist Wang Shuo is one of the most popular writers to emerge in the late 1980s. The exceptional popularity of his writings, films and TV series is referred to as the "Wang Shuo Phenomenon."
This thesis, aiming to introduce to the western reader Wang Shuo and the Chinese society he reflects in his works, consists of an annotated translation of a most representative but much-ignored work of his, "All in Fun" (yidian zhengjing meiyou), and a detailed introduction of the author, the "Wang Shuo Phenomenon," the language of his fiction, as well as the translated novella, which is in many ways a more significant work than the extremely well-known "The Troubleshooters" (wanzhu), especially in its thorough mockery of intellectuals, writers, and the literary and art circles in general, one of the most important themes of Wang Shuo's works.
Advisor: Hayden, George