Visions in Exile Inroads to a 'counter-system' of contemporary Chinese literature Damgaard, Peter Publication date: 2012 Document version Early version, also known as pre-print Citation for published version (APA): Damgaard, P. (2012). Visions in Exile: Inroads to a 'counter-system' of contemporary Chinese literature. Det Humanistiske Fakultet, Københavns Universitet. Download date: 27. Sep. 2021 Visions in Exile Inroads to a ‘Counter-System’ of Contemporary Chinese Literature Peter Damgaard PhD Programme in Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies Faculty of Humanities University of Copenhagen Advisor: Denise Gimpel Abstract (English) The study looks at the making and unmaking of Chinese national identity in the context of contemporary theories of ‘world literature,’ and investigates the internal struggle for positions and eventual consolidation of this ‘literary space’ into opposing ‘systems’ defined in terms of ‘national’ and ‘international’ principles. The aim is tripartite: to uncover the structural and historical characteristics of Chinese literary space in the context of ‘international literary space,’ to assert the means and motives behind the construction in the PRC of a ‘literary system’ to retain modes of discourse and monopolise a central narrative of ‘Chinese’ literature, as well as to register individual revolts against this system and collective reclaims to the ‘space’ through inroads to a ‘counter- system’ outside the nation. Although a broad historical perspective is applied, specific attention is given to the period from the early 1980s to the present and the first generation of writers to emerge on the mainland in the midst of the Reforms and Opening; the study follows these writers’ visions in exile from within the Communist literary system to its physical and imaginary boundaries, and in some cases onwards towards political exile abroad. The vision from the ‘counter-system’ provides alternative frames of reference and challenges politically charged narratives of ‘belonging,’ while at the same time questioning static conceptions of ‘national identity’ and the unequal distribution and appropriation of power in contemporary global cultural politics. ii Resumé (dansk) Afhandlingen følger konstruktioner af kinesisk national identitet i lyset af teorier om ‘verdenslitteratur,’ og undersøger den interne kamp for positioner og efterfølgende konsolidering af dette ‘litterære rum’ i modstridende ‘systemer,’ defineret på baggrund af ‘nationale’ og ‘internationale’ principper. Formålet er tredelt: at afdække de strukturelle og historiske særtræk ved det kinesiske litterære rum i kontekst af et ‘internationalt rum;’ at fastsætte baggrunden for etableringen af et ‘litterært system’ i den Kinesiske Folkerepublik, etableret med henblik på at indsnævre udtryksmuligheder, og monopolisere en central fortælling om ‘kinesisk’ litteratur; samt at registrere individuel modstand imod systemet, såvel som kollektive krav på det litterære ‘rum’ igennem et ‘modsystem’ udenfor nationen. Sideløbende med et bredt historisk perspektiv, bliver der taget specifikt hensyn til perioden fra begyndelsen af 1980’erne til nu, og den første generation af forfattere der dukkede op i kølvandet på de politiske reformer. Afhandlingen følger disse forfatteres syn i eksil (visions in exile) inde fra det Kommunistiske litterære system til dets fysiske og imaginære grænser, og i visse tilfælde videre til politisk eksil i udlandet. Udsynet fra ‘modsystemet’ tilbyder alternative referencerammer, og udfordrer politisk motiverede fortællinger om ‘tilhørsforhold,’ samt den ulige distribution og tilegnelse af magt i global kulturpolitik i løbet af de senere år. iii Contents Abstract (English) ii Resumé (dansk) iii Note on conventions vi Introduction World Literature and Matters of ‘Distance’ 1 Part One: Positions in Chinese Literary Space Chapter One One Space Two Systems: Chinese Literature and International Cultural Politics 10 International literary time 11 The international position of Chinese Literature and the quest for ‘soft power’ 20 Politics of translation: English-language literary journals 25 Chapter Two Imagining Literary Space: Issues and Positions in the Republican Period (1912-1949) 32 The invention of modern Chinese literature 33 Gradual consolidation of the Republican literary field 41 Politicisation and the scramble for positions in the 1930s 46 Chapter Three Early Transgressions: Systemic Division between National and International Principles 54 Decentralising the field: literary exodus and the Sino-Japanese War 55 Alternate temporalities: opening the counter-system 59 Part Two: Writing Out of the Communist Literary System Chapter Four Beijing Time: Structure of the Communist Literary System 65 Changing temporalities and the founding of the PRC 65 Realignment of the system with World Literary Time 70 iv Chapter Five The Narrator in Transit (Part One): Travel and Translation in the Post-Mao Era 82 Travel and writing in China 84 Writing between ‘investigation’ and ‘fabrication’ in the New Era 89 Chapter Six The Narrator in Transit (Part Two): Lure of the Gangdisi Mountains 99 The situated and constructed other 100 The ‘other’ frame 102 Staging otherness 107 The rational savage 113 The double frame (and ‘double framing’) 117 Part Three: Writing in the Counter-System Chapter Seven Unity in Opposition: Configuring Boundaries in the Counter-System 125 After June Fourth 126 The horror of immobility 131 Cultural memory and the management of truth 139 Chapter Eight Distance in Exile: Redefining Concepts of Belonging Outside the PRC 145 Configuration of exile 146 Conditions of exile: the concepts of ‘home’ and ‘distance’ 155 Emplacement in exile 161 Chapter Nine Between Systems and Spaces: Transmutations of Red Dust 166 Writing across systems 167 Intrinsic and extrinsic appropriation 170 Framing the transnational narrative 175 Narrative identity: the vision ‘in-between’ 180 Imperial eyes: cultural translation in Tibet 182 Conclusion Inroads to a ‘Counter-System’ of Contemporary Chinese Literature 188 Figures 194 Bibliography 198 v Note on conventions Chinese names and terms are rendered in Pinyin, except in cases with other accepted standards, and followed by characters the first time they are used. The ‘full’ fanti (繁體) script has been applied throughout for convenience of uniformity, except in Chapter Nine, where the original jianti (簡體) form is maintained in certain cases where specific texts in the two scripts are compared. Authors cited are listed in both jianti and fanti forms in the bibliography, where titles also appear in their original rendering regardless of their appearance in the main text. Unless otherwise stated, all translations from primary materials are my own; otherwise, translators are specified the first time in any given context. vi Visions in Exile: Introduction Introduction World Literature and Matters of ‘Distance’ 要想從孤獨中得趣而不得病，條件便在於對外對內都加以觀審，也就是說，大千世界也好，內心 世界也好，都用另一個眼光加以靜觀，能夠超越自身的局限的這第三隻眼便是所謂的意識，或稱 之為智慧。而智慧或意識又來自距離，換句話說，先退後一步，對人和事的觀察都得有一定的距 離才看得清楚，才有可能做出恰當的判斷。 To derive interest from loneliness instead of allowing it to become an affliction, one must examine both what is external and what is internal—in other words, use another eye to calmly observe the outside world as well as one’s own inner world. This third eye, which can transcend the limitations of one’s self, is what is known as consciousness, or even wisdom. However, wisdom or consciousness comes also with distance—in other words, with taking a step back. One requires a certain distance to be able to see clearly and make accurate judgements about people and events. (Gao 2002a: 4; tr. Mabel Lee, Gao 2007b: 164) In The Encyclopedia of the Chinese Overseas from 1998 there is a diagram of the ‘symbolic representation of varieties of Chinese’ (Pan 1998: 14; see also Figure One). Presented as four concentric circles, the diagram purports to signify the degrees of attachment, or ‘levels of belonging,’ of Chinese individuals to a ‘centre’ of Chinese culture—symbolised (obviously) by the inner-circle of the diagram and defined as territorially bound to the ‘mainland.’ The circle immediately following the core is split into four sections, marked variously as: ‘Hong Kong,’ ‘Taiwan,’ ‘students,’ and ‘aspiring migrants.’ Following this is a larger circle of ‘overseas Chinese’ and, finally, an outer circle marked ‘assimilated.’ Although the purpose of the diagram is allegedly to put forth a more nuanced perspective on the somewhat vague definition of ‘overseas Chinese,’ it also locates issues of identity in a geographically and politically bound centre, which suggests that cultural meaning arises first on the mainland and is then disseminated towards the margins. The present study does not suggest a complete reversal of this paradigm—the consciousness of a centre 1 Visions in Exile: Introduction and periphery of Chinese cultural identity looms large over the literary debates and questions of identity discussed throughout—but highlights instead the cultural action that takes place in the interstices or in-between these concentric circles. By focusing on the first generation of writers to emerge on the Chinese mainland in the wake of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) and following their narrative and bodily distancing from the imaginary confines of the concentric circles, the study hopes to expose some of the discursive positions behind the making and unmaking of Chinese national identity at the dawn of the twenty-first century—and strives, ultimately, to displace the homogenising