Exploring the Formation of Eileen Chang's “Dramatic” Writing through Situational Allusion and Psychological Projection in the Heart Sutra

Abstract

The Heart Sutra is a representative work of Eileen Chang's dramatic writing. The article enriches the novel's perception through the dramatic form, and carries metaphorical hints through the novel's genre. In this fusion of the explicit words and metaphors, the setting of the scenario creates the dramatic conflicts and suspense, and the dialogues among the characters reflect their psychological actions. This paper analyzes the dramatic performance of The Heart Sutra through textual analysis, in order to interpret the human nature behind the character shaping. Then tracing back to the time and social background of Chang’s writing, so as to observe the appearance of the people of the times during the period of transformation between the old and the new ideas. This study analyzes the modern fiction ‘The Heart Sutra’ from a contemporary perspective, interpreting the human distortion in it as a symptom of the peculiar conflict of the vanguard character during the period of change. The study discusses the microcosm of Eileen Chang’s original family inside the fiction, which also provides a context of her insights of the times. As a result, the article emphasizes the re-creation value of literary appreciation through the subjective and objective viewpoints to appreciate the text of The Heart Sutra in an all-round way.