Abstract

Chinese Avant-Garde novelists of the New Period are sensitive writers，who are aware of Western literary thoughts and consciously exhibit their own comprehension in their works，and who have inherited，the tradition of Chinese literatry in the meantime. Consequently，they have cultivated their own modern tragic consciousness. It is feasible to locate outstanding tragic values proclaimed in their works.

However，the issue of contemporary Chinese Avant-Gardists’ tragic consciousness remains largely unexplored. Examining minute variations and discrepancies of tragic consciousness between Occidental and Oriental theories and it’s representation in literary works，especially those by contemporary writers like Mo Yan，Yu Hua，Ge Fei，Su Tong，Ma Yuan，Can Xue，Ye Zhaoyan，Bei Cun and so on，the present author of this book makes a systematic and thorough study in this field synchronically and diachronically.

Through tracing the similarities and differences of Western tragedy theories，the first chapter intends to point out that the essence of tragedy lies in the tragic consciousness of self-survival and self-development. Referring to Western tragedy theories and traditional Chinese philosophy of heaven，earth and man，the present author puts forward the assumption of three-dimensional tragic consciousness，which includes Tragic Consciousness of the Mandate of Heaven，Tragic Consciousness of Earthly Milieus and Tragic Consciousness of Human Nature，to explore the complex connotation and evolution of Western tragedy and make a prediction on its future creation.

The second chapter explores，the multiple reasons of mutual intelligibility of mysticism and fatalism derived from Tragic Consciousness of the Mandate of Heaven in both Chinese Avant-Garde fiction and traditional tragedy，and argues intrinsic rationality and contemporaneity of Chinese Avant-Garde fiction have absorbed and transformed traditional Chinese and Western tragic consciousness.

In the third chapter，the present author，locates various elements of Chinese Avant-Garde fiction about loneliness and absurdity from Tragic Consciousness of Earthly Milieus which also prevail in Western modern tragedy，and distinguishes local contemporary tragedy spirit from Western tragedy spirit.

The fourth chapter contemplates the great achievements of Tragic Consciousness of Human Nature after the turnaround of Chinese Avant-Garde novelists’ writing since 1990s，showing that the typical writing of Chinese Avant-Garde fiction has revealed group-like tragedy.

Through combining theoretical discussion with case analysis，the present author strives to get a thorough understanding of tragic consciousness in Chinese Avant-Garde fiction，digs out the sophisticated mental activities，presents the fresh and unique temperaments which novelists commence and develop，and finally sums up the complexity，variability and diversity of tragic consciousness in Chinese Avant-Garde fiction. All these efforts aim to make a significant contribution to the correlational research in Chinese contemporary literature.

Keywords：Tragedy；Tragic Consciousness；Three-dimensional Theory of Tragic Consciousness；Tragic Consciousness of the Mandate of Heaven；Tragic Consciousness of Earthly Milieus；Tragic Consciousness of Human Nature