1.ADVENTURE literature originated in Europe. It is generally accepted that the earliest adventure novel is Robinson Crusoe (《鲁滨逊漂流记》)(1719) written by Daniel Defoe (1660-1731) who was an English novelist and journalist. Robinson Crusoe was greatly influential in the development of the adventure novel and heads the list of modern adventure novels. Robinson Crusoe is an exciting tale as well as a study of human character, which Defoe probably intended it to be. Robinson Crusoe was also the first English realistic novel. Living on an island isolated from the world, the hero Robinson Crusoe surprisingly survives starving to death and extreme loneliness, however he creates a new prosperous paradise through hard working and imagination. This is the impression given by Robinson to modern readers. Young people especially love his adventure experience and creative life.
2.The English novelist Robert Louis Stevenson wrote another famous adventure novel in 1883, which was also integral to the establishment of the adventure genre. Treasure Island (《金银岛》) tells an adventure story about a brave and witty boy Jim Hawkins and his adventures with murderous pirates. The tale is told by Jim Hawkins, who gets hold of treasure map and sets off with an adult crew in search of buried treasure. He fights with the pirates and goes through many difficulties and hardships. In the end he finds the treasure. This romantic novel with a fascinating and interesting plot has great value in literature and has made Stevenson well known all over the world.
3. The great American writer Mark Twain promoted the development of adventure literature and made great contribution to world literature. His greatest book was The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (《哈克贝利·芬历险记》)(1884). Funny, powerful, humane and laced with social commentary and criticism, the novel has been called the greatest novel in American literature, with The Adventures of Tom Sawyre (《汤姆索亚历险记》) as its companion volume.
4. Science fiction works, which reveal the social realities and have been refined to an ideal level, are also part of adventure literature. Very popular French author, with HG Wells the founding father of science fiction, Jules Verne’s stories, written for teenagers as well as adults, caught the creative spirit of the 19th century. His works were often written in the form of a travel book, which took the readers in a voyage to the moon in From Earth to the Moon (《从地球到月球》)(1865) or in another direction as in A Journey to the Centre of the Earth (《地心游记》) (1864). Many of Verne’s ideas have been hailed as prophetic. Around the World in Eighty Days (1873) is based on a real journey by the US traveler George Francis Train. In 20,000 Leagues under the Sea (《海底两万里》), Verne introduced one of the forefathers of modern superheroes, Captain Nemo and his submarine, Nautilus.
5.As for Chinese adventure literature, there are some famous ancient and present works we should refer to. Xu Xiake’s Travel Diaries (《徐霞客游记》) is a remarkable ancient Chinese book mixing science and literature. It is a precious scientific adventure relic for the Chinese people.
Journey to the West (《西游记》) written by Wu Cheng’en in the late Qing Dynasty is an adventure novel, a fairy tale as well as a science fiction. The most successful character in the novel is Sun Wukong. He helps his master Monk Tang to go to the west of Tian Zhu country to fetch some classical Buddhist books. The novel is not only a fairy story, it also contains a lot of adventure experiences. Sun Wukong can recognize clearly all kinds of demons and monsters using his fiery eyes with golden pupils. Their adventure actions express the desire for working people to win over disaster and misery.
6. In the modern times of China there have also been many famous adventure literature works. One of them is The Adventures of the king Youngsters (《少年冒险王》) written by Peng Xuluo, which mixes science, geograghy and the adventurous spirit of the youngsters together. With imagination and childish ideas, the four kids adventure in Shen Nongjia and Changbai Mountain. They search for the kingdom of the little men and return back after some island adventures.
II.The art and values
1.Realism
Adventure literature is a real reflection of adventure against a lack of social reality and people’s desires. We can say adventure literature and adventure activities are twin brothers. Mark Twain was very familiar with the life of the characters, so he wrote realistic stories, such as The Adventure of Huckberry Finn.
Daniel Defoe’s masterpiece The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe is based upon the experiences of Alexander Selkirk, or Seleraig, who had been marooned in the island of Juan Fernandez off the coast of Chile and who had lived here in solitude for five years.
2. Social implications
Adventure literature can be very instructive to people and people can learn much from them.
Money is something that everybody wants, but there is something much more precious than money. People shouldn’t bet their lives for money, otherwise they will meet the same tragic fate as those greedy people in the novel Treasure Island. Those who are always running after leisures or material possessing will usually find that their pursuits end in vain. Greediness and desire may not bring happiness and good luck to people. If everybody is clear about the truth, they will not give up their standing and reputation to struggle for power and wealth in all kinds of illegal ways. In the novel Journey to the West, the good will usually enjoy a happy end and the bad will surely be punished.
The series of novels The Adventures of the Youngsters by Peng Xuluo, filled in the blank of the topic of how modern parents should educate and affect their children in a proper way. The four middle school students Bright Wu, Banana Bear, Little Smart and Sister Bellow spend their holidays and the double-day weekends traveling and adventuring by themselves. They meet with many difficulties and dangers, but they overcome them with their wisdom and what they have learnt before. Their life and social experiences become richer and richer, the worries from their parents become less and less and they are let alone to go their own way and create their own universe. They seem to grow faster. So in this way, adventure novels are inspiring and helpful to young people as well as adults.
The greatest artistic element of Robinson Crusoe lies in the experience for the heroes to use human’s unique creativity to conquer and rebuild nature and then to live harmoniously with nature. During the 28 years on the deserted island, Robinson Crusoe tries his best to remain alive and he finally successfully comes back. Robinson’s stories embody the human beings’ capability to overcome difficulties and adapt himself to the circumstances of nature. Therefore the novel has a wide influence on and fascination for people.
3. Implication for science and technology
Adventure literature is a literary genre, in which scientific development is predicted but often based on present-day results that seem to make further developments possible in the future. Adventure novels can be about scientific and technical developments in many fields and sciences, such as medical treatment, aviation and space flight, geography, genetics， sociology. For example, science of the earth and geology was new in the mid-nineteenth century, and many discoveries about the history of the earth were all made in the previous century. The theory of plate tectonics wasn’t fully accepted until the 1960s. So any real knowledge about the inside of the earth did not exist at the time when Jules Verne wrote his book. In Journey to the Centre of the Earth, three men climb down into the earth on an adventure. On their way they observe many different kinds of geological phenomena (rocks, rivers, etc). Although in ancient times people dreamed of flying, and stories existed of people who tied wings to their arms and tried to fly or glide, aircraft did not exist before 1865. The most successful first airplane was built by the Wright brothers in 1903. Chang’e traveling to the moon has been the Chinese’s dream for more than one thousand years. Space travel and moon travel were to remain fiction for nearly one hundred years. Many scientists involved in designing aeroplanes or rockets may have taken their inspiration from Jules Verne’s book From the Earth to the Moon. In Verne’s book a very large cannon launches the spaceship in which the characters travel to the moon. By the end of the book, the men are launched in their ship to the moon. Verne describes their adventures after the launch in another book, called Around the Moon (《环绕月球》).
4. Enriching daily life
Living in a modern and high-tech society in which people use satellites to communicate with others, there is an increasing specialty in the community. More people choose to study a certain field of knowledge and develop their full understanding of the area. But few people can know every perception of any other realm such as adventure literature and other types of literature. Therefore, it is necessary and useful for everyone to read a bit of adventure literature, mythology and other kinds of imaginative literature in one’s spare time and set their daily business aside sometimes. Imaginative literature’s dominant social standing has dramatically increased recently, especially for the people who work under high pressure and need to relax themselves through the studying course of literature. Adventure literature is becoming popular with more and more people. Adventure novels, as a kind of imaginative literature, have played an important role in our daily life. We learn much from the experiences in the novel, which are similar to our lives or completely different sometimes.
Unable to go to see remote sceneries because of the expense of traveling, lack of time and other factors, people can learn a lot from the adventure novels which are written about the culture and customs of local peoples. It is likely that the adventure literature is easily catching one’s attention and interests owing to its curious and funny elements.
Besides the adventure stories presented above, many other types of imaginative literature are conduced for human beings from different parts of life, from family trifles to economics, politics and national policy. Having studied a special area of technology, it is perfect for both students and businessmen to learn more about some abstract things such as imaginative literature.
Adventure literature is one of the treasures of the history of human civilization and its spiritual wealth has contributed much to us. It will surely do more for the world and us. The study of adventure literature undoubtedly makes sense not only to the individuals but also helpful to the whole society.
