From the Kiss of Salome to the Tear of Mothers——The Female Images of Irish Drama Mirrored in Chinese Literature

While Oscar Wilde portrayed a bold, enthusiastic Salome with rich colour of aestheticism, Tian Han and other Chinese writers transformed her into an envoy for art, which meant a break from the tradition. The Chinese Salome turned to be the significant symbol of the NeoRomantic Spirit in China. It was also the pioneer of Chinese aestheticism. Meanwhile, Li Jianwu’s (a member of the Literearture Research Association) works were under the influence of John Millington Synge. He depicted the trials and tribulations of the lower classes, emphasized the fight of those mothers against the torturous fate and focused on the life of the masses. From Salome to those tearful mothers, the Chinese literature, when it mirrored the Irish literary images, highlighted its nationality and echoed the call of the epoch, the subject matter of the discourse in order to combine the female voice into the nationstate discourse.