In contrast to history, which strives for a neutral and objective stance from which to narrate the past, literature can be thought of as multi-functional when it comes to traumatic history: as healing, in that it restores meaning where it has been destroyed; as subversive, in that it tells counter-histories of the master-narrative; as complementary, in that it integrates suppressed voices and painful experiences into the collective memory; or as disturbing, in that it narrates trauma as a persisting condition that continues into the present. This article looks into literary representations of trauma that make use of different narrative modes to reconstruct the past and to deal with collective trauma in 20th-century China. In order to understand the relationship between historical trauma and collective memory and to demonstrate the way in which memory relates to the past and to what extent memory shapes the collective identity of the present, the paper utilizes the concepts of communicative and cultural memory, as formulated by Jan and Aleida Assmann.
The relationship between the sexes and the female condition are underlying motifs in Gao Xingjian’s post-exile plays, yet very few scholarly studies of his work have focused solely on the analysis of gender in his plays. In those studies that have, most have directed their attention toward Gao’s novels, and many scholars have come to regard Gao as a misogynist writer. This paper examines Gao’s attitude toward gender through an analysis of his plays, specifically Between Life and Death (Shengsijie, 1991). The theatrical medium illustrates a more complex elaboration of gender representation than those seen in Gao’s novels—one that complicates conceptions of the writer’s misogyny. Focusing on Between Life and Death, I assert that Gao’s alleged misogyny is a misrepresentation. Regarding my theoretical approach, I make particular reference to feminist theorists such as Julia Kristeva and Judith Butler. The debate is linked to Gao’s concept of an un-gendered/originary self and considers the use of dramatic devices—specifically focusing on the use of tripartition.
Most scholarship on Haizi’s mystical poetry has not highlighted his mysticism and has failed to identify its general epistemological significance in the life and writing of poets. While mysticism after Misty poetry has been confined to the mystification of nature, the secrecy of destiny, or the elusiveness of truth—a spiritual heritage that struggles to maintain one’s national pride—Haizi’s dramatic verses feature monotheistic mysticism and center on the paradoxical and ineffable experiences of divinity. With this epistemological breakthrough, he attempted to unify Chinese culture with Christian tradition, to write “real poetry,” and to replace condescendingly objective and external descriptions of human experience and truth with an empathetic and active participation that blurs the line between subjectivity and objectivity, living and writing. His Sun: Seven Books demonstrates a gradual but steady transition from Greek pantheism to the Judeo-Christian tradition, such as in his Book of Regicide. As a modern rendition of Oedipus the King, the Book of Regicide takes on Greek “elements,” but transcends its maternal inheritance and rejuvenates it in modern dramatic verses, enriched with poetic means of expression, and offered as an alternative approach for Chinese intellectuals to engage in spirituality and self-realization.
This article explores Chinese science fiction writer Liu Cixin’s 刘慈 欣novelette “The Poetry Cloud” (Shi yun, 1997) by contextualizing it within the debate between scientism and humanism in 1990s China, an event that has been downplayed in its significance in shaping Liu’s ideas. The first section of this article will investigate how the narrative framework of science fiction represents and refreshes the symbolic meaning of poetry in the abovementioned context. Secondly, by analyzing the three main characters, Yiyi, Big-tooth, and Li Bai, with a focus on their perceptions of poetry, the next section will discuss the different opinions they represent with regard to the debate. Finally, by studying Liu’s work in the context of Martin Heidegger’s reflections upon technology, the last section examines his solution to the tension between scientism and humanism in the programming of a poetry cloud that marries poetic imagination with technological means. This article argues that the story demonstrates how Liu, a technological elite, vacillates between technological determinism and humanism, and tries to provide a possible solution to their inherent contradictions.
An important motif in science fiction films is the encounter between different species—usually between human kind and alien kind. In films of this type, both anxieties and hopes are imagined and exhibited. By examining three science fiction films made in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Chinese mainland in the late 1970s and early 1980s—that is, The Super Inframan (Zhongguo chaoren, 1975), God of War (Zhanshen, 1976), and Death Ray on Coral Island (Shanhudao shang de siguang, 1980)—this paper analyzes the ideologies and anxieties behind such encounters. These films present different “Chinese” pictures, revealing the fluidity of Chineseness, as well as the variety of frameworks within the genre of Chinese-language science fiction films. In this time of globalization, it is important to examine these early science fiction films in order to explore the relation between local social concerns and their artistic presentation.
Critics have observed that memory is an important theme in Lu Xun’s writings. At the same time, memory—more precisely a struggle over the shaping of cultural memory—is a vital component of the iconoclastic May Fourth Movement with which Lu Xun is strongly associated. This article examines the ways in which several of Lu Xun’s creative writings and memoirs depict memory and its transmission. I argue that, 1) These texts suggest the importance of objects as mnemonic devices that aid the transmission of memory, 2) The agency of the receiver is key in interpreting these texts and in transmitting them onward, and 3) That Lu Xun posits the texts he creates as such mnemonic objects that serve to transmit his interpretation of cultural and personal memory to his readers. Lu Xun’s texts thus implicate the reader in the author’s project of transmitting onward his reinterpretation of the past in the hope of redeeming China. Examining these mechanisms of memory transmission I conclude that for Lu Xun redemption lies not in a transcendent future but in reexamining the past.
For the analysis in this essay, I have chosen the tale of Siavash and Sudabeh from the Book of Kings (Shahnameh) in Persian literature and Kunāla-avadana from Chinese (Khotanese) literature. These stories have full structural and narrative pattern despite their apparent simplicity and they can be studied and evaluated as narratological theories. The pattern of Todorov shows that these stories have accurate narrative logic; of course, narrative similarity of two stories may originate from common collective unconscious mind of these tribes. Anyway, these stories have common main and sub propositions with titles of love, conspiracy, refusal, trial for finding truth, loyalty of the prince to father etc. In addition to common propositions, actions of violation, change and punishment which are emphasized by Todorov are found in these stories. The variable action dominates but main core of actions is disloyalty of woman to her husband and falling in love with the prince finally leading to her punishment. These two stories were analyzed according to the Todorov’s narrative analysis model. In both stories, you can find the same major and minor premise and proposition. That is, all events occur around the three characters (King, a boy and a woman who are related to the court), in both stories the woman loves the boy, but the boy remained loyal to the king, and rejects her love. The boy is accused with treason and finally the truth becomes evident. Propositions of these stories include: proper noun (characters), verb (actions) and adjective (features and characteristics of persons), which are common in both stories and are repeated identically in both stories. Also according to Todorov’s view, the five modes in propositions (declarative mode, optative mode, subjunctive mode, conditional mode, predictive mode) have been investigated in these two stories. This will put more emphasis on the similarity of narrative structure of stories.