本文主要讨论“中国当代作家寻根意识的演变”，现代意义上的“寻根意识”萌生于“五四”新文化运动时期，集中表现在二十世纪八十年代中期的“寻根文学”当中。虽然作为文化、文学事件的“寻根文学”早已落幕，但由此激发显现的“寻根意识”却长久地留存，表现为一种从无意识到有意识地审视民族传统文化的自觉态度以及融入创作与批评中的文学观念，及至当下，仍在持续影响着当代作家、学者的创作与批评。九十年代以来的“文化散文热”、海外“新儒学”的兴起、“新国学”的提出、“地域性写作”的大放异彩、“非虚构写作中”的乡土意识、新世纪“底层叙事”中的“失根焦虑”等文化、文学现象，都显露出积淀在当代作家内心当中的寻根意识与人文关怀，虽因时代更迭和个体差异而各有不同，但可以根据他们所表露出的个人观点以及创作内容，大体概括出以下几点整体性的表征：1.以现代性的视角，考察传统文化与现代文明之间的冲突，或表现为对传统文化心理的批判，或流露出对现代文明的抵抗，“理性”与“乡情”的矛盾仍是作家内心最深处的“文化两难”；2.城市化进程的迅猛发展导致乡土世界的破碎、消逝以及人性的“异化”，中国深厚悠久的农业文明历史使作家内心积淀着一种崇尚自然、回归土地的冲动；3.城乡物质精神文明差距的扩大使乡村人口向城市大规模流动，“离乡断根”成为常态，“扎根生存”变得异常艰难。世界性的视野与方法是“寻根意识”与“复古意识”的本质区别。“五四”学人与“寻根派”的共识也在于此——唯有将由多元文化构成的“世界”作为镜子，才能反观到一个真实的“自我”，也由此才能够找到重构民族文化、重塑民族精神的有效路径。

九十年代以来，世界性、一体化的文化格局促使当代作家对城市现代文明与民族文化结构之间的矛盾进行反思，现代性的“不确定性”、“实验性”使人类几乎生活在一个充满未知的世界，从这层意义上来讲，“寻根意识”则可以理解为人类在现代文明带来的负面影响的干预下，试图重新寻找确定性的生存需要。与此同时，“根”的内蕴也在不断丰富拓展，新的文化现象与文学文本层出不穷，旧有的研究经验与方法已然无法适应当下民众对于文化之根、生存之根、自然之根、生命之根的全新渴求与追寻。因而，需要一种更加具有概括性、当下性的视野与方法来看待作家持续更新的“寻根意识”。在“寻根文学”发生四十年的文学史节点上，本文试在“寻根文学批评”的坚实基础上，提出以具有普遍意义的“寻根意识”作为研究方法的、更具宏观性与当下性的“寻根批评”，用以考察当代作家在“后寻根”时代中如何处理日益复杂的中西方文化矛盾以及自身的“文化两难”境况，如何使具有民族文化特性的文学叙述和现代性的文学追求实现和谐统一，如何有效地“讲述中国故事”，以期实现“对话世界文学”的宏大目标。

绪论题为“作为研究方法的寻根意识”，共分为四个部分：论题缘起、概念界定、研究现状以及研究方法。在百年中国文学和文化全球化的双重视域下，对本文的重要概念——寻根文学、寻根意识、寻根批评分别进行描述与界定，并说明作为研究方法的“寻根”具有当下性的外延与内涵，具体包括文化与文学、物质与生存、自然与生命三个方面。

第一章“从‘新文学’到当代：寻根意识的源与流”，主要讨论现代寻根意识的初始发端与集中体现。现代寻根意识萌发于“五四”新文化运动当中，这基于鲁迅、胡适、周作人、茅盾、沈从文等现代知识分子世界视野的开拓以及现代乡土视角的出现。随着西方现代城市文明的入侵，作为现代启蒙运动产物的“乡土文学”得以现身。现代民俗学者对“民间”的关注也使更多“五四”学人将目光投向乡村空间，乡土与民间两个文学场域不仅相互融合，也相互促生。社会主义建设初期，传统文化之根经历了第二次断裂。世界视野的重现使寻根意识集中体现在八十年代中期的寻根文学当中。在“世界性文化寻根思潮”、“拉美爆炸文学”等域外文化、文学现象的影响与启示下，韩少功、阿城、王安忆、张承志等一批知青作家率先转向“非规范文化”场域，实现了从“知青作家”向“寻根作家”的身份转变。本章还将“文化寻根”与“文学寻根”视作寻根意识的一体两面，在文化寻根的过程当中，文学性的复苏也在悄然进行，这重点体现在叙述形式的继承与探索上，也即“文体寻根”。

第二章“个体与边缘：‘新历史主义’时期的寻根意识”，讨论“寻根文学思潮”结束之后，当代作家在接续而来的“新历史主义”时期寻根意识的具体表征，突出呈现在“先锋—新历史小说”、“后知青写作”、“地域性写作”等文学样态的创作中。历经了八十年代启蒙历史主义时期的寻根文学热潮，进入“新历史主义”时期，面对急剧变化的社会语境，精神、文化矛盾愈发难以调和。从“寻根”到“新历史主义”的转换是在寻根意识与先锋精神的缠绕中逐步完成的，二者指向的目标是当代文学“写什么”和“怎么写”，也即题材与方法的问题。“后知青写作”中的“民间”是真正文学、文化意义上的、自足自觉的独立审美空间。这一阶段，韩少功的“怀旧情结”，王安忆的“媒介寻根”，王小波式的“怀疑主义”、李洱式的“反讽”修辞、池莉式的“新写实”存在哲学，不仅重构了知青形象和上山下乡运动的意义，也对九十年代以来的城市生活进行了解构。“地域性写作”在这一阶段取得了不凡的成果，包括韩少功、迟子建、阿来、张承志等作家的边地小说，作为文化、文学事件的“陕军东征”，以及“文学豫军”的“中原突破”，它们共同指涉的是文明全球化背景下的某种忧思——被现代性所主导的同质化写作变得越来越简单，如何对抗现代性的入侵所带来的新旧文明冲突，寻找到具有中华民族文明独特性的写作方式，这一切都显示出比八十年代更大的困难。在断裂的、个体的、边缘化的“新历史主义”时期，怀有传统意识的地域性写作是为了寻找到中华民族健康、蓬勃的生命意识与地域伦理传统中的宗族血脉意识，以此来对抗被市场经济、消费主义带来的疲软的文学精神，确保中华文明不至在现代性的冲击下，成为一种“失落的文明”。

第三章“从‘乡土中国’到‘后乡土中国’：新世纪以来的寻根意识书写”，主要讨论新乡土小说、非虚构写作、“70后写作”、“底层叙事”等文学样态当中的寻根意识书写。与八十年代的文化启蒙意识、九十年代的文学探索精神不同，新世纪以来当代作家的寻根意识主要体现在对底层生存困境的关怀与焦虑、对乡土乌托邦瓦解的无奈与失落、对城镇美好想象破碎后的茫然与彷徨。城镇化进程的迅猛发展促使城乡人口发生了大规模位移，因而，“在乡”、“离乡”、“返乡”等文学主题重新焕发生机。由人口的空间位移产生的“底层叙事”以及包含其中的“打工文学”，解决了知识分子为底层代言的合法性问题。打工者作为叙述主体，展现出笼罩在城乡焦虑之下的底层“小人物”的命运苦难以及他们在政治、经济、文化上贫瘠无根的生存状态，但也正因如此，更显示出积极向上的抗争精神的珍贵。他们从故乡“拔根”而走，向往着城市生活的物质丰盈、条件优越，然而难以融入的城市让没有学历、技术、资本的“乡下人”无法“扎根”，对生存之根的渴求与追寻是此类叙事中的精神内核。

第四章“‘寻根批评’：视野与路径”，是对本文所提出并使用的研究方法的概括与总结。本文在“寻根文学批评”的基础上，提出更具当下性、概括性、文学性的“寻根批评”，用以考察八十年代至今的作家创作与思想脉络的演变。首先，梳理“寻根”作为批评方法的源流，以获得方法上的合理性；其次，梳理“寻根文学批评史”，讨论寻根文学创作与批评互相促进与互为局限的复杂关系，分析其学术价值以及当下困境，提出须在“寻根文学批评”的研究基础上，建构一种适应当下语境的、以“寻根意识”作为研究路径的“寻根批评”；第三，对作为批评方法的“寻根意识”进行详细论述，讨论其在新时期以来的流变形态以及三种思想内涵：1.文化与文学；2.物质与生存；3.自然与生命；最后，指出本文所提出的“寻根批评”的缺失与不足，期望构建具有宏大性、文学性的“寻根批评”。

结语题为“寻根意识演化的逻辑与意义”，收束全文，“寻根意识”的复杂内涵与演变逻辑进行归纳总结，说明本文的研究意义与价值，并反思本文的缺失与不足，为此后的进一步研究做好准备。

This dissertation mainly focuses on the evolution of contemporary Chinese writers' Root-seeking Consciousness, which originated in the New Culture Movement and was concentrated in Root-seeking Literature in the mid-1980s. Although the Root-Seeking literature as a cultural and literary event has long ended, the Root-Seeking consciousness it inspired has persisted, characterized by a conscious attitude of examining traditional culture and integrating it into literary creation and criticism. It continues to influence the works and critiques of contemporary writers and scholars even at present. Since the 1990s, such as the Cultural Prose Fever, the rise of overseas New Confucianism, the New Sinology, Regional Writing, the Local Consciousness in Non-Fiction Writing, the Root-loss anxiety in the Bottom Narrative and the other cultural and literary phenomena in the new century, all have revealed the Root-seeking Consciousness and humanistic care embedded in the hearts of contemporary writers. Although it varies according to the changing times and individual differences, we can summarize the common characteristics of their viewpoints and the content they created, 1. From the perspective of modernity, investigate the conflict between traditional culture and modern civilization, expressing criticism towards traditional cultural psychology, or revealing resistance to modern civilization. The contradiction between rationality and nostalgia is still the deepest cultural dilemma in the writer's consciousness; 2. The rapid development of urbanization leads to the fragmentation and disappearance of the rural world and the alienation of human nature, China's profound and long history of agricultural civilization makes the writer accumulate an impulse to admire nature and return to the land; 3. The widening of the gap between urban and rural material and spiritual civilization makes the large-scale flow of rural population to cities, leaving home and breaking the roots has become the norm, searching for roots becomes very difficult. It should be noted that the global perspective is the essential difference between the Root-seeking Consciousness and the Retro Consciousness. The consensus between the May 4th scholars and the Root-seeking advocates also lies in the belief that only by using the “world” composed of diverse cultures as a mirror can one reflect a true “self,” and only then can an effective way to reconstruct the national culture and reshape the national spirit be found.

Since the 1990s, the integration of cultural patterns prompted contemporary writers to reflect on the contradiction between modern civilization and national cultural structure, modernity of uncertainty and experimentation make humans almost live in a world full of unknown and uncontrollable factors. In this sense, Root-seeking Consciousness can be understood as an attempt by humans to re-find the need for certainty in survival under the negative influence brought by modern civilization. At the same time, the connotation of the root is also constantly enriched and expanded. New cultural phenomena and literary texts emerge in an endless stream. The old research experiences and methods have been unable to adapt to the current people's new desire and pursuit of the cultural root, survival, nature, and life. Therefore, it is necessary for a more general and contemporary vision and method to view the writers' continuously updated Root-seeking Consciousness. In the node of the Root-seeking Literature forty years, this dissertation is built up on the solid basis of the Root-seeking Literature Criticism, put forward with universal significance the Root-seeking Consciousness as the ideological path, more macroscopic and present the Root-seeking Criticism, to examine the way contemporary writers in the era of the Post-Root-seeking deal with increasingly complex contradictions and its cultural dilemma situation, the method to make the national cultural characteristics of literary narrative and modern literary pursuit of harmonious unity, the standpoint to tell the Chinese story effectively, in order to achieve the grand goal of dialoguing the World Literature.

The introduction is entitled Root-seeking Consciousness as a Method, which is divided into four parts: the origin of the topic, concept definition, research status quo, and research method. Under the dual perspectives of the Chinese Centenary New Literature tradition and the cultural pattern of globalization and integration, describing and defining the important concept of this article: the Root-seeking Literature, the Root-seeking Consciousness, and the Root-seeking Criticism. This part also explains the extension and connotation of the “roots,” such as a kind of thought method, which includes culture and literature, material and survival, nature and life three aspects.

The first chapter, “From the May 4th Movement to the 1980s: the Source and Flow of the Root-seeking Consciousness,” primarily discusses the initial emergence and concentrated expression of modern root-seeking consciousness. The modern consciousness of seeking roots originated in the New Culture Movement, which was based on the development of the world vision of modern intellectuals such as Lu Xun, Hu Shi, Zhou Zuoren, Mao Dun, Shen Congwen, and so on, and the emergence of modern local perspective. With the invasion of the western modern urban civilization, Local Literature, as a product of the modern enlightenment movement, emerged. The attention of modern folklorists to “folk culture” also led more May Fourth intellectuals to focus on rural spaces. The two literary fields of rural and folk literature not only integrate but also inter-promote. After the May Fourth period, in the early stage of socialist construction, the toot of traditional culture experienced a second fracture. The reappearance of the world vision makes the consciousness of seeking roots concentrated in the Root-seeking literature in the mid-1980s. Under the influence and inspiration of foreign cultural and literary phenomena such as the Global Culture Root-seeking Trend and the Latin American Explosive Literature, many educated youth writers such as Han Shaogong, A Cheng, Wang Anyi, and Zhang Chengzhi took the lead in turning to the field of Non-Standard Culture, realizing the transformation from the Educated Youth Writer to the Root-seeking Writer. This chapter also regards the Cultural Seeking for Roots and Root-seeking literature as two sides of the root-seeking consciousness. In the process of cultural searching for roots, the recovery of literature is also quietly proceeded, which is mainly reflected in the inheritance and exploration of narrative forms, namely Stylistic Root-Seeking.

Chapter Two, “Individual and Edge: the Root-seeking Consciousness in the Period of New Historicism,” unveils the specific manifestations of root-seeking consciousness among contemporary writers during the period of New Historicism after the end of the Root-seeking Literary Trend. It is prominently manifested in the creation of avant-garde - New Historical novels, Post-educated Youth Writing, and Regional Writing. After the upsurge of Root-seeking literature in the period of enlightenment historicism in the 1980s, entering the period of New Historicism, facing the rapidly changing social context, the spiritual and cultural contradictions are increasingly difficult to reconcile. The transformation from seeking roots to New Historicism is gradually completed in the entanglement of seeking roots consciousness and pioneer spirit. The objectives they aimed at were what contemporary literature should be written and how to write, which were regarded as issues of subject matter and method. The Folk in the Post-educated Youth Writing is the independent aesthetic space of self-sufficiency and consciousness in the sense of real literature and culture.Regional writing gained significant results during the era, achieved by writers such as Han Shaogong, Chi Zijian, A Lai, and Zhang Chengzhi, representing events in cultural and literary realms especially in Shannxi and Henan. They collectively point to the concern under the background of civilization globalization that the homogenization of writing dominated by modernity has become increasingly simple. How to fight the invasion of the old and new civilizations, and how to find the uniqueness of Chinese national civilization- all of this reveals even greater barriers than those faced in the 1980s. In the fractured, individual, marginalized New Historicism period, the traditional consciousness of regional writing is to find the Chinese nation’s health, vigorous life consciousness, and regional ethics of traditional clan blood consciousness, in order to fight the market economy, weak consumerism of literary spirit, to ensure that the Chinese civilization to under the impact of modernity, become a kind of lost civilization.

The third chapter, “From Rural China to Post-Rural China: The writing of the Root-seeking Consciousness Since the New Century,” mainly discusses the writing of Root-seeking consciousness in new local novels, non-fiction writing, post-70s writing, and their underlying narrative. Unlike the cultural enlightenment consciousness in the 1980s and the spirit of literary exploration in the 1990s, the consciousness of contemporary writers to search for roots since the new century is mainly reflected i n the concern and anxiety about the survival predicament of the lower class, the helplessness and loss of the disintegration of local utopia, and the loss and hesitation of the broken imagination of the beautiful town. The rapid development of urbanization has promoted the large-scale displacement of urban and rural populations, therefore, literary themes such as “in the countryside,” “leaving the countryside,” and “returning to the countryside” have regained vitality in literature. The Bottom Narrative generated by the spatial displacement of the population and the Migrant Literature contained in it solve the problem of the legitimacy of intellectuals speaking for the lower class. As the main body of the narrative, the workers show the fate and suffering of the bottom people under the anxiety of urban and rural areas, as well as their barren and rootless living state in politics, economy, and culture. However, it is also because of this that the precious spirit of positive struggle is highlighted. They pull the roots from their hometown, yearning for the material abundance and superior conditions of urban life. However, the difficulty in integrating makes the villagers without education, technology, and capital unable to take root. The desire for and pursuing the roots of survival is the spiritual core of such narratives.

The fourth chapter, the “Root-seeking Criticism: Vision and Path,” is a summary of the research methods proposed and used in this dissertation. On the basis of the Root-seeking Literature Criticism, this paper puts forward more contemporary, general and the literary Root-seeking criticism to investigate the writers' creation and evolution of ideological context since the 1980s. First, it traces the origin and development of “root-seeking” as a method of criticism to establish its methodological rationality. Second, combing through the history of the Root-seeking Literature Criticism, the dissertation discusses the complex relationship between the mutual promotion and the mutual limitation of the Root-seeking literature creation and criticism, analyzing its academic value and its current difficulties. On the basis of the research of "Root-seeking literary criticism", constructing the Root-seeking criticism which is adapted to the current context and takes the Root-seeking Consciousness as the ideological method. Third, discussing the Root-seeking Consciousness as a method of criticism, trying to show its dynamic and threefold ideological connotations since the New Period: 1) Culture and Literature; 2) Matter and Survival; 3) Nature and Life. Finally, pointing out the shortcomings and deficiency of the Root-seeking Criticism proposed in this dissertation, seeking to construct a more comprehensive and literary Root-seeking Criticism.

The conclusion, entitled “Logic and significance of the evolution of the Root-seeking consciousness,” summarizes the complex connotation and evolution logic of the Root-seeking Consciousness used as the thought method, unveils the significance and value of this dissertation, and reflects on the lack and deficiency of this research, and prepare for further research in the future.