| Summary: | 博士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 中國文學研究所 === 105 === This dissertation has been inspired by discourses on the ‘rise of China’, the ‘Chinese dream’ and an ‘age of prosperity’. The so-called ‘Chinese dream’ is a continuation of twentieth-century ideals held by Chinese intellectuals of ‘saving the nation by building a strong and prosperous country’ and of modernity and modernization—ideals that can be traced to Zheng Guanying（鄭觀應）’s Warnings in an Age of Prosperity（《盛世危言》）. In this dissertation, I discuss how literature has responded to the changing times—how a ‘literary China’ is used to provide ‘subtle words with deep meaning’. The focus will be on the following questions: how do novels imagine history to enter in a dialogue with current times and reflect on the future? What kind of interpretive space do they offer for the‘age of prosperity’ and the ‘Chinese Dream’? What kind of tensions exist with the ‘grand narratives’ of the state?
Throughout this dissertation, I draw on postmodern reflections of grand historical narratives and on the concept of utopia as a literary allegory. My discussion is based on authors and works from Chinese mainstream literature, with references to science fiction literature and literature from Hong Kong. The discussion will follow different themes.
I begin with Hong Kong author Chan Koonchung（陳冠中） and his questioning of the grand narrative of the ‘Chinese dream’ and the utopian view of an ‘age of prosperity’. Chan’s perspective is focused on the margins—on Tibet, Hong Kong, Taiwan—and is strongly critical, presenting China as an authoritarian dystopia. Using novels as method, he explores the space between fiction and reality in order to raise different kinds of thoughts on the current political situation and, perhaps, even call for concrete action.
Second, I discuss the way authors like Yu Hua（余華） and Yan Lianke（閻連科） use a historical macro-narrative to describe a logic of feverish violence that keeps returning in different periods of time. Using their novels to documenting the evils of these ages, Yu and Yan demonstrate how the grand narratives of ‘revolution’ and ‘market’ are the violent consequences of ideological myths and utopian fanaticism. Their history is an allegoric history that lays bare a China full of fanaticism.
Third, I discuss novels that express the Chinese experience and the experience of suffering from the perspective of ordinary people, using novels by Mo Yan（莫言） and Jia Pingwa（賈平凹） as examples. Mo and Jia focus on the margins and make use of micro-historical narratives, displaying popular perspectives and attitudes. Confronted with sufferings from history, utopian ideals are very far away. For them, the question becomes how to cope with the memory of history.
Fourth, I discuss the relation between narrative, lyrics and literature, using the novels of Ge Fei（格非） and Zhang Wei（張煒） as examples of works that focus on the personal soul, taking lyricism as a particular perspective to focus on history and express an image of a spiritual China. Through ‘histories of the soul’, these authors liberate the individual histories from the grand historical narratives. The figure of the ‘loser’ in their novels carries a special meaning, as the idealism displayed through their search for a utopia and disillusionment that follows still show a concern for the grand narratives.
Fifth, I discuss how imaginations of the future are used to reconsider history and civilization and present the picture of a China that is under threat, using science-fiction by Liu Cixin（劉慈欣） and Han Song（韓松） as examples. The sense of impeding crisis and critical reflections on a techno-utopia that are part of their novels can be seen as allegories on China. The most critical and subversive aspect of science-fiction is that it leaves room for other possibilities that lay outside of the fixed blueprint of the Chinese dream.
Using different narratives, perspectives and styles, these authors and their works display very diverse imaginations of China and its history. The deep meaning expressed in this ‘literary China’ is that a forward-looking country also has to look back and face the painful memories of history. History serves as a reminder that caution is required during the construction of grand narratives and the search for a utopia. At the same time, the different historical narratives employed in the novels also serve as a reminder for the need to maintain an open attitude towards history and question the grand narratives.
|
|---|
