Midnight
《子夜》
A s a comprehensive analysis of the abnormal political，economic and social life of modern metropolises，Mid night，written by Mao Dun，vividly portrays the inevitable tragic destiny of the Chinese national bourgeoisie under the multiple pressure of the imperialists，the comprador bourgeoisie and the ruling class. The book reflects truthfully the crises of the time by drawing a capacious panorama of the Chinese social life in the early 1930's. It concentrates on the characterization of Wu Sunfu，the defeated hero whose image epitomizes accurately the historical destiny of the Chinese national bourgeoisie and becomes one of the representative images in the gallery of the eminent literary figures in the history of modern Chinese literature. The manifestation of the complicated social life tom- biped with the demonstration of the historical course and the description of daily life endows the book with a precise and magnificent structure. All these threads are interwoven into a splendid and intricate framework of art. Adeptly，the author arranges，in a network structure，the conflicts and plots in accordance with the logic of the personality development of his main characters. He also makes a lively portrayal of the mentality sub-consciousness and illusion of his characters via the symbolic technique，which greatly enhances the expressive force and artistic appeal of the book. Midnight is the first book ever written to reflect，from a positive perspective，the fundamental contradictions in the modernization course of Chinese history. It is widely recognized both as an epic masterpiece with a modern metropolitan demeanor and as a monumental masterpiece of revolutionary realism.
矛盾的长篇小说《子夜》，对旧中国都市畸形的政治、经济、社会作了全面剖析，突出描写了中国民族资产阶级在帝国主义、买办资产阶级和统治阶级几重压迫下的必然的悲剧命运，真实地反映出了那个时代的危机，绘制出一幅30年代初中国社会生活的广阔画卷。小说着力塑造了一个战败了的英雄形象吴荪甫，他的形象精确地概括出了中国民族资产阶级的历史命运，是中国现代文学史人物画廊中的一个典型。《子夜》结构恢宏严谨，纷繁的社会生活的展现、历史进程的演示以及日常生活的描写，各条线索合成一个庞大复杂的艺术构架。作者善于根据中心人物性格发展的逻辑，来安排矛盾冲突和故事情节，形成一个网状结构。另外，作者擅长细腻地刻画人物心理，运用象征主义手法描写人物的下意识和幻觉，增强了作品的表现力和感染力。《子夜》是中国现代文学史上第一部正面反映中国历史现代化进程基本矛盾，并具有现代都市文学风采的史诗性作品，是一部革命现实主义里程碑式的作品。
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