研究期間：10108~10207;After implementing the research program (“The Humain Comedy”and “The Dream of the Red Chamber”—The Discussions on the Nobility in Balzac’s and Cao Xue-qin’s Writings) of National Science Council for the new staff in 2011, we would like to continue working at this East-West comparison of novels. Concerning the French literature, we take Balzac’s “Memoirs of two married women ” as the principal text of our research. Two heroines, Louise and Renée, have a completely different viewpoint about love and marriage: the former is attracted to the great romantic love of knight; the latter long for the long-term stability of marriage. These two extreme attitudes toward life lead to two contrasting results: Louise died young without child; Renée live in happiness and has three lovely children. Therefore, behind the love story, author seems to reflect the social situation of his time: after the French Revolution, the ideal love of the knight has become the past tense. Only the hard work could ensure a better future. This opposite situation of two women is also found in the “The Dream of the Red Chamber”: Lin Daiyu, romantic and sentimental, could be regarded as the embodiment of love; Xue Baochai, rational and realistic, is the representation of the feudal system. However, in this book, the one who could represent the “future” is probably not the latter. Her conventional thinking and her recognition of the imperial examination system confirm her conservatism. Nevertheless, the fleeting life of Lin Daiyu couldn’t explain clearly the ideal future for Cao Xue-qin. Such a different result may be related with the time of writing. Balzac’s work reflects the rise of the middle class and the work of Cao Xue-qin looks forward to seeing the change. However, in a society that the feudal system is still dominative, his ideal thinking seems hard to be realized.
