Wong, Tak-wei. Victor Hugo in China [ID D21040].
Wong Tak-wai : Such important aspects as Hugo's literary concepts and aethetics, Hugo as a Romantic or/and Realist writer, Hugo's humanism, the role of history and revolution and the use of anti-thesis as structuring strategy in Hugo's works are covered in the Chinese studies, much attention has been directed primarily to ideological readings of Notre-Dame de Paris, Les misérables, Quatrevingt-treize and L'homme qui rit. Generally speaking, the critical positions assumed by Chinese scholars are based on Marx-Engels’ open remarks on Hugo's 'wrong attitudes' towards the changing political realities of nineteenth century France, either as guidelines for exploration of the limitations of his novels or as references for explanation of the strategies adopted in his narratives. Most of them attempt to align Hugo's 'progress' from royalism to jacobinism to republicanism with his writing career moving from romanticism to realism. They have adopted terms like 'progressive romanticism', 'critical realism', 'revolutionary humanism', 'abstract humanism', 'pseudo-classicism', 'utopian socialism', etc. To explicate and evaluate Hugo's merits and inadequacies as a writer. To them, the greatness of Hugo lies in his explicit attacks on the corrupt feudal society, on the inhumane capitalist society by exposing their evils and vices and their subsequent effects on ordinary people, in his deep sympathy toward the oppressed and the suffering, and in his moral support of the poor's struggle or revolution against the ruling class, the institution. Hence Hugo's humanism, which gives his works immensely moving power and justifies to a certain extent his romantic tendency toward fantasy and hyperbole, is understood to have emerged from his deep-felt revolt against all forms of tyranny, the monarch or the church, materializing into his promotion of human good and love as ultimate solution to social misfortunes. To the Chinese scholars, Hugo's belief in the ultimate triumph of good over evil distorts the tragic reality of the poor as it directs one away from the cause of such an existential misery.
Literature : Occident : France