Xiandai Zazhi and an Alternative Vision of Chinese Modernity
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Xiandai Zazhi and An Alternative Vision of Chinese Modernity Jie Shi Thesis for the qualification of Doctor of Philosophy In the School of Modern Languages Newcastle University Submitted March 2017 Abstract This thesis examines the literary and cultural practices of literary journal, Xiandai zazhi (现代, Les Contemporains, May 1932–May 1935), and explores the ways in which a mild cosmopolitan view of Chinese modernity is constructed in relation to the mainstream discourses of nationalism and radical Communist leftism in the early 1930s in China. The thesis situates the discussions of cosmopolitanism within the project of Chinese modernity in the early 1930s, and engages in the issues of nationalism, Westernization, Chinese tradition and revolutionary Communist discourses. Organized around the theme of cosmopolitanism as an alternative view of Chinese modernity, this thesis will first identify the journal’s cosmopolitan attitude, featuring contemporaneity and all-inclusiveness, through its practices of translating and introducing world literature. This cosmopolitan perspective, however, does not imply a radical anti-traditionalism. Rather, Xiandai zazhi opted for a more balanced view towards modernity and Chinese tradition, and this constitutes the second feature of the alternative stance of Xiandai zazhi. The thesis also examines the journal’s attempt to go beyond the class-based stratification of people and literature, as prescribed by the Chinese left-wing camp. Furthermore, it will examine the trans-national and cross-cultural writing practice of Pearl S. Buck and certain Chinese writers as a way of overcoming the ethnographic and national boundaries of self and Other. It thus reveals the spectrum of dimensions of Chinese modernity in the 1930s. i To my father and mother I dedicate this thesis. ii Acknowledgements I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the School of Modern Languages, Newcastle University, for accepting me as a third-year transfer student, after my two-year PhD study period at the City University of Hong Kong. I also gratefully acknowledge the one-year source of funding which made my research possible at Newcastle. Equal thanks go to the Department of Chinese, Translation and Linguistics, at the City University of Hong Kong for admitting me to the PhD programme and providing me with a full-time studentship. Although I continued my studies in Newcastle, I am deeply indebted to the research resources, training programmes and stimulating postgraduate modules provided by the City University of Hong Kong which have greatly benefited me. My sincerest gratitude and appreciation go to Professor Qian Jun (writing as Qian Suoqiao) not only for his academic support and guidance throughout my postgraduate study, but also for his patience and encouragement which go far beyond the call of duty. I would also like to express my deepest gratitude to my second supervisor, Dr. Valerie Pellatt, for her selfless support in meeting up regularly, her patience in reading over multiple drafts and her detailed comments which have greatly supported my writing. Special thanks is also extended to Dr. Lin Shaoyang and Dr. Birgit Linder for acting as my postgraduate panel committee when I was at the City University of Hong Kong. Their sharing of research resources and contribution of ideas were more than generous. I would also like to thank Dr. Ya-Yun Chen, Dr. Sarah Leahy, and Professor Máire Cross, who have acted as my postgraduate panel members at Newcastle University, pinpointing weak points of my research and providing me with constructive suggestions. Finally, I would like to thank the administrative support team from the School of Modern Languages and the Research Student Service Team for their regular assistance during my study at Newcastle University. iii iv Table of Contents Chapter 1 ............................................................................................................................................................ 1 Introduction: Cosmopolitanism as an Alternative Vision of Chinese Modernity ..................... 1 1.1. Les Contemporains: A Cosmopolitan Literary Journal in the 1930s in Shanghai ............. 1 1.2. Limitations in Existing Scholarship on Xiandai Zazhi ..................................................................... 6 1.2.1. A Narrow Scope of Viewing Xiandai zazhi as a Journal of Modernism .................... 7 1.2.2. A Revisionist View that Views Xiandai zazhi as a Middling-Favouring-Left Journal 12 1.3. Historical Contextualization of Chinese Modernity: Nationalism, Cosmopolitanism and Chinese Communist Discourse .......................................................................................................................... 15 1.4. My Perspective of an Alternative Vision of Chinese Modernity ................................................ 20 1.5. Thesis Structure .............................................................................................................................................. 25 1.6. Note for Readers ............................................................................................................................................. 27 Chapter 2. ......................................................................................................................................................... 28 Contemporaneity and Cosmopolitanism: Translating and Editing Practices of Xiandai Zazhi ................................................................................................................................................................... 28 2.1. Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................... 28 2.2. Translation and Editing Practices Featuring Contemporaneity ............................................. 29 2.2.1. Special columns of introductory essays: role and impact ........................................... 30 2.2.2. Latest foreign journals: sources for the translations of contemporaneous world literature ...................................................................................................................................................... 35 2.2.3. Contemporaneity: an attempt to be coeval with the West .......................................... 38 2.3. Translation and Editing Practices Featuring Cosmopolitanism ............................................. 39 2.3.1. Nations and genres: An all-embracing translating strategy ....................................... 40 2.3.2. Introductory essays: the grand plan for systematic translation and introduction44 2.3.3. Translation of Leftist literature and theory: a de-politicized attitude ................... 48 2.3.4. Cosmopolitanism: an all-embracing cultural attitude .................................................. 50 2.4. Cosmopolitanism and Nationalism: A Study of the Last Three “Revolutionized Issues” of Xiandai Zazhi ............................................................................................................................................................ 51 2.4.1. “Revolutionized Issues”: a different journal with the same title .............................. 52 2.4.2. A study of four sections: the discourse on national enlightenment ........................ 54 2.5. Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................................... 61 v Chapter 3.......................................................................................................................................................... 63 Silence and Articulation: Translation of Western Imagist Poems and Transformation of Chinese Traditional Literature ................................................................................................................ 63 3.1. Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................... 63 3.2. “Silence” in Chinese Translation of Western Imagist Poetry in Xiandai Zazhi.................. 65 3.2.1. Chinese Translation of Western Imagist Poetry in Xiandai zazhi ............................ 66 3.2.2. Study of “Silence”: the empowered discourse of anti-traditionalism .................... 69 3.3. Debate, Dichotomy and Dialogue: A Background Reading of the Strategy of “Silence”71 3.3.1. A Debate on Zhuang Zi and Wen Xuan ................................................................................ 72 3.3.2. From “Yishao” To “Yangchang E’shao” ............................................................................... 76 3.3.3. Dichotomy and Dialogue: On the Relationship between Modernity and Tradition 78 3.4. “Articulation” through the Transformations of Chinese Tradition in Modern Poems in Xiandai Zazhi ............................................................................................................................................................ 83 3.4.1. Yixiang (Image): A Poetic Characteristic in Xiandai zazhi .......................................... 84 3.4.2. Poems of “Nostalgia”: Theme and Variation ..................................................................... 88 3.5. Conclusion: Shi Zhecun in 1930s and 1980s ...................................................................................... 97 Chapter 4.........................................................................................................................................................