THE DIFFERENT INTERPRETATIONS OF GORKY’S THOUGHTS IN CHINESE LITERATURE OF THE 1930s

Abstract

Joseph Stalin, as the ruler of the USSR, invited Maxim Gorky (who was living in Europe at that time) to return home to preach and consolidate socialist realism, and so socialist realism was established in Russia in the 1930s. Gorky played an important role in Russian literature during this time, while in China, different writers also introduced socialist realism through various literary translations of Russian writers, among which Gorky’s works were the most translated. Gorky advocated for the combination of realism and romanticism. He described positive heroes in his works and valued humanity. These thoughts, however, were interpreted in diverse ways by various Chinese writers, which were split into two teams. One team was represented by Zhou Yang (周 扬) and Xiao San (萧三), who underlined the political function of literature; the other team was represented by Hu Feng (胡风) and Mao Dun (茅盾), who were instead in favor of the fusion of the idea of humanism with socialist realism. This article begins with an introduction of Gorky’s thought through various literary works translated in the 1930s, representing the spread of Gorky’s ideas throughout China. The author then focuses on the different interpretations of his thoughts presented by Zhou Yang, Xiao San together with Hu Feng, and Mao Dun. The purpose of this article is first to elaborate on the significance of Gorky’s thoughts for Chinese literature in the 1930s, then to analyze the different interpretations of his thoughts, which serves to explain the reasoning for different interpretations and the objectives of these Chinese writers who put forward different perceptions of Gorky’s word. Finally, this article will conclude by analyzing whose interpretation is closer to Gorky’s original thoughts.