A critical study of Lu Lun and his literary writings = 侶倫的生平與創作研究

Abstract

Lu Lun (1911-1988) was a native Hong Kong writer and a pioneer of Hong Kong literature. He entered the literary scene in the 1920s. In the decades that followed, he authored prose, novels, poems and screenplays, but novels were his most significant achievements. Throughout his life, he published more than 20 personal collections. There were some research outputs being made to evaluate Lu Lun’s works and contributions to Hong Kong literature, but most of them were incomprehensive or even lopsided. It could not truly reflect the writer’s role and value in Hong Kong literary scene. In view of the inadequacy of previous studies, a more comprehensive and in-depth research on Lu Lun has been conducted.

This thesis studies Lu Lun’s life and his creative works from different perspectives. It is divided into seven chapters, each focusing on a particular issue. Chapter One serves as an introduction, reviewing current and previous studies on Lu Lun and his works, and highlighting the merits and limitations of these researches. Then the research objectives, methods employed and the structure of the thesis are clearly introduced.

Chapter Two examines Lu Lun’s philosophy of creative writing. In many articles, Lu Lun discussed various kinds of writing techniques which could be observed in his own creative works. By summarising his views, Lu Lun’s unique artistic thoughts would be understood.

Chapter Three focuses on his ‘marriage novels’. Lu Lun has published a considerable number of works on the theme of love and marriage. Many of them expressed the discontent with traditional marriage institution and a desire for the freedom of love. By analysing the subject matters of these works, Lu Lun’s attitude towards ‘women issues’ in his novels would be explored.

Chapter Four is devoted to his ‘occupation novels’. It first illustrates how Lu Lun’s short stories and novellas portrayed the physical and psychological trauma that caused by war. It argues that previous researches failed to consider the novel The Special House that he had serialised in Ta-kung-pao. Therefore, this chapter analyses how this novel depicts the social environment of Hong Kong, its people’s ways of life as well as the complex psychological changes in between.

Chapter Five draws the attention to Lu Lun’s ‘realistic novels’. Through the analysis of his works, it realizes how Lu Lun dissected social reality in plain language, keeping concerns on the challenges that Hong Kong people faced in housing, poverty and unemployment.

Chapter Six investigates the features of Lu Lun’s prose and column writings. He published many prose collections, especially lyrical prose and essays. From 1977 to 1983, he wrote more than 200 essays in Ta-kung-pao, covering a wide range of topics. Their themes and techniques would be scrutinized.

Chapter Seven is the conclusion. It highlights the Hong Kong features in Lu Lun’s works and demonstrates how his own experiences and the specific context of Hong Kong influenced his creative writings. Finally, the research findings are summed up and an objective evaluation of Lu Lun would be put forward.