The Spiritual Evolution and Integration of the Archetype“the Fictitious Land of Peace and Happiness”in Chinese Literature and the Archetype“the Wilderness”in American Literature

Mu Xiuli

(School of Foreign Studies Henan University of Urban Construction，Pingdingshan Henan 467001)

Ⅰ．Introduction

Literature archetype refers to a literature image which is conventional，occurs frequently and returns constantly．It is a transpersonal collective unconsciousness which bears the mark of race．Literature archetype is a common phenomenon in Chinese and American literature，but it is manifested in different forms according to respective cultural traditions，thought value systems and national characteristics．“The fictitious land of peace and happiness”and “the wilderness”belong to a typical group of literature archetype that indicate collective unconsciousness．“The fictitious land of peace and happiness”，as a sign of Chinese culture，embodies people’s pursuit of ideal life style and carries the cultural psychology of spiritual habitat．“The wilderness”in American literature is also regarded as a cultural image of taking risks freely，conquering natural wildness and further exploring spiritual wildness and seeking spiritual salvation．The two image which seem to be quite different from each other have accidently encountered with the constant development of cultural situation，and even blended with each other and given rise to a precious treasure of world literature— ecological literature．

Ⅱ．The traditional narration concerning the fictitious land of peace and happiness and the wilderness

1．Paradise— the traditional narration concerning the fictitious land of peace and happiness

The chant of paradise and the imagination of Kunlun Mountain in Mountain and Sea Classics are the earliest fantasy of paradise in China．Then the idea of benevolence，justice，honesty，selflessness，good virtue and morality advocated by Confucian school and Mohist School is the imagination of ideal social order in the early stage．

Due to frequent wars in the Wei and Jin Dynasties，people were plunged into an abyss of misery．The group anxiety caused by the hostile social environment coincided with the disappointed mind of literati．As a result，they tried to escape from reality and return to unsophisticated nature where they could live a detached world and strive to build a spiritual homeland，thus giving rise to the narration of the fictitious land of peace and happiness．Thanks to the excellent writing skill of Tao Yuanming，the fictitious land of peace and happiness has become poetic reality．

“The fictitious land of peace and happiness”was once regarded as an oriental Utopia．However，Tao Yuanming skillfully employed unreliable narration and managed to create detailed distortion．The fictitious land of peace and happiness was described as a peaceful，self－ sufficient pure land without exploitation and oppression，which showed strong contrast to the then social reality．Therefore，Peach－ Blossom Spring not only describes a pleasant pastoral life，but also ponders over history and culture．It rationally contemplates the ideal life of human in beautiful，relaxing narration．It is both literature and documentary，thus becoming a classic in the treasure house of literature．

2．The dangerous land of hope— the traditional narration concerning the wilderness

The wild American Continent showed unparalleled attraction to the European immigrants who were eager to take“May Flower”．They experienced vivid adventure stories on this deserted land，which provided objective advantages for American writers in their writing of wildness image．Although Pilgrims knew the life would be risky，their aspiration for freedom defeated everything．They were sick of the decayed and vulgar life of continent of Europe．Fortunately，this pure land was full of justice and fairness without churches and bigwigs，thus becoming the“l(fā)and of hope”granted by God．

Ⅲ．The spiritual evolution of the fictitious land of peace and happiness and the wilderness

1．The reclusive fairyland — the fictitious land of peace and happiness

The tradition of the fictitious land of peace and happiness kept passing on in the Tang，Song，Ming and Qing Dynasties．It was more frequently referred to as“the reclusive fairyland”．Especially in the Tang Dynasty when Taosim prevailed，people’s pursuit of high position and great wealth and hedonic psychology transformed the fictitious land of peace and happiness into the reclusive fairyland，an Elysian Fields of secular world．Men of letters，such as Li Bai，Wang Wei，Han Yu，Liu Yuxi，poets of the Tang Dynasty and Wang Anshi，poet of the Song Dynasty，all depicted the ideal life in their works．Being particularly sensitive to the miserable reality，they kept exploring by their own understanding of the fictitious land of peace and happiness，showing their care for people’s destiny．However，the fetters of reality threw them into dilemma，and as a result，the pursuit of the fictitious land of peace and happiness has become the spiritual conversion of ideal fairyland．

2．The spiritual home— the wilderness

American’s patriotism has inspired their love for the wilderness since the Independence War，and they believe that the boundless wilderness is the real cultural feature of America．People has begun to adore simple，pure nature．Romanticism has been inspired by the wilderness at the beginning of the 19th century．Ideal significance has been given to the wilderness，which has been depicted as an ideal kingdom without the restriction of reality．

Emerson put his philosophical understanding of Concord forest into practice，holding that people can only find sense and belief in the wood and break away from the shackles of society．He maintained that literature should move toward the wilderness and that only by getting close to nature can we create great works．

Such writers also include Fitzgerald and Mark Twain，in whose works the wilderness is the symbol of freedom，manifesting the importance of close contact and communication between human and nature．People can acquire spiritual ballast and get away from the shackles of society，which reflects the writers’attempt to pursue spiritual conversion in the cultural dilemma．

Ⅳ．The changed fictitious land of peace and happiness and wilderness—exploration of spiritual salvation

1．The changed image of the fictitious land of peace and happiness

With the gradual dissolution of traditional values in the turbulent modern historical environment，people have become more and more eager to escape from reality．The archetype of“the fictitious land of peace and happiness”in the cultural context in the transitional period caters to the traditional psychological structure of returning to nature in the depth mind of modern writers．As a result，the decon-struction of traditional fictitious land of peace and happiness has constructed the beautiful dream which is absent in reality and spiritual salvation has become the theme of narration in the new period．

2．The changed image of the wilderness

The First World War strongly has shocked the depth of western people’s heart with the decaying of the once splendid western civilization and morality．The favorite son of God got stuck in the plight，keeping degrading．Interpersonal relations have been totally changed．All of these give rise to the spiritual wilderness after the war，which is reflected as the change of the traditional image of wilderness．The literary works have constituted an elegy of the modern western civilization．The prevalent wilderness awareness has become the symbolic expression of people’s spiritual life，indicating the positive exploration of writers to save the spiritual plight of modern people．

Ⅴ．Reference between the image of the fictitious land of peace and happiness and the image of wilderness

The deep despair for modern western civilization and strong spirit of negation reflected by the image of“wilderness”has profoundly influenced the cultural psychology of Chinese modern writers，who retrospect on the dark reality of China and create“wilderness”poems and novels full of critical consciousness．

All of the literary works，both home and abroad，are products of their traditional culture and the acceptancy of foreign literature without copying the creation mode of each other nor returning to traditional literature．Instead，they are products of literature collision between China and America，which is the only road of the creation of modern writers．

Ⅵ．The spiritual evolution and integration of fictitious land of peace and happiness and the wilderness—the ecological literature

Spiritual civilization has failed to keep up with the highly developed material civilization since the 1950s．The relations between people，human and nature，as well as human and society have all gradually changed，leading to an unprecedented spiritual dilemma．

Thanks to the long history of agricultural society in China，the traditional eco－culture of“Nature and Man in One”is deeply rooted．The close relation between human and nature has become a constant cultural psychology．Contemporary writers in China have tried to appreciate the beauty of life by the integration of human and nature．

Despite that the ecological literature in the real sense started late in China，its creation and research have constantly expanded with increasingly abundant relevant theoretical works．Ecological literature has been gradually constructing the ecological belief of the mass，which shows the pursuit of the poetic spiritual homeland of Chinese writers in the age of ecological crisis．

Ⅶ．Conclusion

In the final sense，the traditional image of the fictitious land of peace and happiness is the adherence and return to homeland，which encourages people to retrospect on the relations between human and nature，human and society and self－ relation．It points out that only by returning to the“fictitious land of peace and happiness”in our mind can we get the chance of salvation and realize the peaceful and harmonious coexistence between human and nature．The ultimate goal of the depiction of wilderness in American literature also aims at asking people to go back to nature and wilderness，the origin of spiritual and cultural creation，so as to rescue people’s spiritual plight，arouse the environmental awareness by literary art and change the destruction of natural environment by anthropocentrism．Despite of the similar mind experience of individual authors，different cultural symbols and archetypes will be produced through the iltering mechanism of traditional cultural structure in different cultural situations．However，Chinese writers and American writers attempt to communicate and blend the literature archetype of“fictitious land of peace and happiness”and“the wilderness”，which indicates that there is something in common between different national cultures．It is the shared aspiration for one culture to merge with another，which shows the humanistic concern of Chinese and A-merican writers to the living state of all humans．Therefore，we can see that ecological literature is the result of the spiritual evolvement of“fictitious land of peace and happiness”and “the wilderness”，which undoubtedly has realistic significance and inspiration to the current construction of eco－civilization and eco － culture．The blending of Chinese and American culture is the inexorable trend of the development of times and society．As long as people coexist peacefully，gradually dissolve the binary opposition in Chinese and American culture from the perspective of cultural exchange，a diversified cultural landscape featuring the harmonious coexistence between human and nature will be definitely constructed．

Notes:

〔1〕張智彥:《老子與中國文化》，貴陽:貴州人民出版社，1996年。

〔2〕宋刻遞修本《陶淵明集》卷六．北京:北京圖書館出版社，2003年。

〔3〕陳寅恪:《桃花源記旁證》，金明館叢稿初編，三聯(lián)書店，1959年，第188－200頁。

〔4〕John Winthrop， “Journal”in American Literature Survey，Colonial and Federal to 1800，ed．Milton R．Stern and Seymour L．Gross，New York:the Viking Press，1968，p．59．

〔5〕William Bradford， Of Plymouth plantation，New York:Alfred A Knopf，1959，p．62．

〔6〕Nash，Roderick， Wilderness and the American Mind，New Haven:Yale University Press，1968，p．78．

〔7〕王光林:《T．S．艾略特的精神追求——從 T．S．艾略特的宗教觀看他的詩歌發(fā)展》，《當代外國文學》1996年第1期。

〔8〕張巖:《荒原意象與西方文學的精神流變觀》，《同濟大學學報(社會科學版)》2007年第5期，第104頁。