DOCSLIB.ORG

Women Journalists, New Femininity, and Post-Feminism in Urban China Ye Jin

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Women Journalists, New Femininity, and Post-Feminism in Urban China Ye Jin Women Journalists, New Femininity, and Post-feminism in Urban China Ye Jin Submitted version deposited in Coventry University’s Institutional Repository Original citation: Jin, Y. (2018) Women Journalists, New Femininity, and Post-feminism in Urban China. Unpublished PhD Thesis. Coventry: Coventry University Copyright © and Moral Rights are retained by the author. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This item cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder(s). The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Some materials have been removed from this thesis due to Third Party Copyright. Pages where material has been removed are clearly marked in the electronic version. The unabridged version of the thesis can be viewed at the Lanchester Library, Coventry University. Women Journalists, New Femininity, and Post-feminism in Urban China By Ye Jin PhD May 2018 Women Journalists, New Femininity, and Post-feminism in Urban China By Ye Jin May 2018 A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the University’s requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Contents Abstract…………………………………………………………ⅰ Acknowledgements……………………………………………ⅲ List of Figures……………………………………………………ⅳ Introduction.............................................................................................. 1 Chapter 1. Literature Review..........................................................15 Introduction........................................................................................15 1.1 Neoliberalism and Individualism in China.............................17 1.1.1 Neoliberalism................................................................... 17 1.1.2 Self Identity, Individualism, and the Entrepreneurial Female Self................................................................................ 20 1.2 Global Post-feminism and the New Femininity....................23 1.2.1 Post-feminism..................................................................23 1.2.2 Femininity......................................................................... 24 1.2.2.1 Femininity in the Second Wave Feminism.......24 1.2.2.2 New Femininity in the Post-feminist Discourse26 1.2.3 Not Just for the West......................................................30 1.2.4 New Femininity in China................................................32 1.3 Gender, the Media and the Women Journalists.................. 35 1.3.1 Gender and the Media................................................... 35 1.3.2 News Media Reform in China.......................................36 1.3.3 The Female Journalist and Feminine Subjectivity.... 39 Conclusion.........................................................................................45 Chapter 2. Methodology...................................................................48 Introduction........................................................................................48 2.1 Feminist Discourse Analysis................................................... 48 2.1.1 Discourse Analysis......................................................... 48 2.1.2 Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis........................... 50 2.1.3 Feminist Discourse Analysis of Autobiography......... 53 2.1.4 Feminist Discourse Analysis of Additional Texts...... 55 2.1.4.1 Visual Image and Other Non-verbal Language56 2.1.4.2 Social Media Texts............................................... 57 2.1.4.3 Interviews............................................................... 59 2.2 Feminist Ethnography...............................................................60 2.2.1 Participant Observation..................................................62 2.2.2 Semi- structured Interview.............................................67 Conclusion.........................................................................................70 Chapter 3. Lan Yang – Commercial Femininity........................ 72 Introduction........................................................................................72 3.1 Perfection....................................................................................74 3.1.1 Top Girl............................................................................. 74 3.1.2 ‘Having it all’.....................................................................78 3.1.2.1 Find a Proper Husband....................................... 78 3.1.2.2 Being a Mother......................................................82 3.1.2.3 Lean In?..................................................................83 3.1.3 Happiness Project...........................................................88 3.1.3.1 Happiness expert..................................................92 3.1.3.2 Technologies of Happiness................................ 96 3.2 Cultural Entrepreneur............................................................... 99 3.2.1 Commodified Authenticity on Social Media................99 3.2.2 Commercial Advertising...............................................110 Conclusion.......................................................................................114 Chapter 4. Jing Chai- Affective Femininity................................. 117 Introduction......................................................................................117 4.1 Therapeutic Reporting and Writing...................................... 121 4.1.1 Investigative Journalism and ‘Female Softness’..... 121 4.1.2 Therapy News Reporting.............................................129 4.1.3 Affective Emotion in Trauma Writing.........................133 4.1.4 Jing Chai’s Blog and Self-writing............................... 142 4.2 Figure of the Maternal under Austerity................................146 4.3 Womanliness as a Masquerade........................................... 152 Conclusion.......................................................................................157 Chapter 5. Luwei Lüqiu- Alternative Femininity........................ 159 Introduction......................................................................................159 5.1 Conventional Beauty and Feminine Appearance..............162 5.1.1 Conventional Beauty and Self-Recognition............. 162 5.1.2 Resistance and Accommodation............................... 167 5.1.3 Professional Beautifying.............................................. 169 5.1.3.1 Postfeminist Gazing between Women............171 5.1.3.2 ‘Faking’ Praising Rhetoric................................. 172 5.2 Feminizing Journalism Professionalism-- ‘Rose in the War’175 5.3 Alternative Femininity............................................................. 185 5.3.1 Virtual Femininity and Luwei Lüqiu’s Writing........... 186 5.3.1.1 Virtual Femininity................................................ 186 5.3.1.2 Knowledgeable Femininity................................192 5.3.2 The ‘Global Girl’ in Hong Kong...................................198 5.3.2.1 Hong Kong as a ‘Post-handover City’.............199 5.3.2.2 ‘Triangle Contact Zone’ for the Global Girl.... 200 Conclusion.......................................................................................207 Conclusion............................................................................................208 Post Femininity or Post-post Feminism?................................... 221 Bibliography.........................................................................................228 Autobiography.................................................................................242 Other Books.................................................................................... 243 Website............................................................................................ 243 Electronic Newspaper Article.......................................................244 Blog...................................................................................................244 Advertisement.................................................................................246 Broadcast........................................................................................ 246 Interview...........................................................................................247 Podcast............................................................................................ 247 Video Film........................................................................................248 Online Webcast.............................................................................. 248 Online Discussion Forum............................................................. 248 Figures............................................................................................. 248 Low Risk Research Ethics Approval Form…………………………1 Appendices…………………………………………………………1 Participant Observation………………………………………1 Semi-structured Interviews…………………………………7 Abstract In recent years, neoliberalism and post-feminism have become global discourses. After more than thirty years of policy reform in China, market-driven individualism and consumerist ideology have found a home there. This thesis foregrounds women journalists in order to study the associated emergence of a new femininity in urban China. It suggests that the mediated new femininity is a crucial site of challenges, contests and struggles,
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Yundong: Mass Movements in Chinese Communist Leadership a Publication of the Center for Chinese Studies University of California, Berkeley, California 94720
    Yundong: Mass Movements in Chinese Communist Leadership A publication of the Center for Chinese Studies University of California, Berkeley, California 94720 Cover Colophon by Shih-hsiang Chen Although the Center for Chinese Studies is responsible for the selection and acceptance of monographs in this series, respon sibility for the opinions expressed in them and for the accuracy of statements contained in them rests with their authors. @1976 by the Regents of the University of California ISBN 0-912966-15-7 Library of Congress Catalog Number 75-620060 Printed in the United States of America $4.50 Center for Chinese Studies • CHINA RESEARCH MONOGRAPHS UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY NUMBER TWELVE YUNDONG: MASS CAMPAIGNS IN CHINESE COMMUNIST LEADERSHIP GORDON BENNETT 4 Contents List of Abbreviations 8 Foreword 9 Preface 11 Piny in Romanization of Familiar Names 14 INTRODUCTION 15 I. ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENT 19 Background Factors 19 Immediate Factors 28 Development after 1949 32 II. HOW TO RUN A MOVEMENT: THE GENERAL PATTERN 38 Organizing a Campaign 39 Running a Compaign in a Single Unit 41 Summing Up 44 III. YUNDONG IN ACTION: A TYPOLOGY 46 Implementing Existing Policy 47 Emulating Advanced Experience 49 Introducing and Popularizing a New Policy 55 Correcting Deviations from Important Public Norms 58 Rectifying Leadership Malpractices among Responsible Cadres and Organizations 60 Purging from Office Individuals Whose Political Opposition Is Excessive 63 Effecting Enduring Changes in Individual Attitudes and Social Institutions that Will Contribute to the Growth of a Collective Spirit and Support the Construction of Socialism 66 IV. DEBATES OVER THE CONTINUING VALUE OF YUNDONG 75 Rebutting the Critics: Arguments in Support of Campaign Leadership 80 V.
    [Show full text]
  • South Central Modern Language Association
    South Central Modern Language Association 73rd Annual Conference November 3-5, 2016 Sheraton Dallas Hotel Dallas, Texas SCMLA CONFERENCE PROGRAM A PDF version of this program is available on our website: www.southcentralmla.orG South Central Modern Language Association University of Oklahoma 780 Van Vleet Oval Kaufman Hall 203 Norman, OK 73019 Phone: (405) 325-6011 Fax: (405) 325-3720 Email: [email protected] Web: www.southcentralmla.orG 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS 2016 Executive Committee ........................................................... 3 Special Thanks .............................................................................. 4 Conference Hosts ......................................................................... 5 Friends of SCMLA ......................................................................... 6 Sustaining Departmental Members .............................................. 7 SCMLA Life and Honorary Members ............................................. 8 2016 Conference Exhibitors .......................................................... 9 Schedule of Events ..................................................................... 10 Summary of Conference by Session Type .................................... 11 Conference Program ................................................................... 19 Reminder to Chairs ..................................................................... 79 2017 SCMLA Deadlines .............................................................. 80 SCMLA Grants, Awards and Prizes .............................................
    [Show full text]
  • Information to Users
    INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6" x 9” black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. University Microfilms International A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 North Zeeb Road. Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 Order Number 9201665 Tbward a feminist identity: Contemporary Mexican-American women novelists Gonz&lez, Marfa Carmen, Ph.D. The Ohio State University, 1991 Copyright ©1991 by GonzAlez, Marfa Carmen.
    [Show full text]
  • Ecofeminist Activism and the Greening of Native America
    American Studies in Scandinavia, 50:1 (2018), pp. 123-149. Published by the Nordic Association for American Studies (NAAS). Ecofeminist Activism and the Greening of Native America “A nation is not conquered until the hearts of its women are on the ground. Then, it is fin- ished no matter how brave its warriors or how strong their weapons.” -Cheyenne Proverb Tina Parke-Sutherland Stephens College Abstract: Ancient female-centered Native American myths reveal pre-colonial at- titudes about gender, gender roles, and sexuality as well as about human persons’ essential relations with the non-human world. Girls and women in these stories vari- ously function as creators, embodiments of the sacred, and culture-bringers. After settler colonialism, the subsistence contract embodied in these women-centered myths was broken. On Native lands, unparalleled ecological disaster followed. Since then, Native people and their lands have suffered. Women and girls have doubly suffered from the colonizing culture and its patriarchal institutions as well as from their own cultures’ adopted misogyny. But in the last few decades, Native girls and women have taken the lead in rejecting the false choice between prosperity and sustainability. Their ecofeminist activism has spread throughout Native America, perhaps most suc- cessfully in the Southwest with the Hopi and Navajo Black Mesa Water Coalition and in North Dakota with the Water Protectors encampment on the Standing Rock Reservation to block the Dakota Access Oil Pipeline. This essay details those two inspirational projects that, in the words of Pueblo poet Simon Ortiz, bear witness to “a spring wind / rising / from Sand Creek.” Keywords: Native American, ecofeminist activism, Black Mesa Water Coalition, Wa- ter Protectors, Standing Rock Reservation.
    [Show full text]
  • Does a “Chinese” Woman Become a “Feminist”?
    Towards an Ethics of Transnational Encounter, or “When” Does a “Chinese” Woman Become a “Feminist”? Shu-Mei Shih differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies, Volume 13, Number 2, Summer 2002, pp. 90-126 (Article) Published by Duke University Press For additional information about this article http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/dif/summary/v013/13.2shih.html Access provided by University of Toronto Library (17 Aug 2013 09:07 GMT) shu-mei shih Towards an Ethics of Transnational Encounter, or “When” Does a “Chinese” Woman Become a “Feminist”? To begin, two narratives: A Chinese woman who had rehearsed for the lead role in the model opera “Red Azalea” [Dujuan shan] during the waning years of the Cultural Revolution in the 1970s decided to emigrate to the U.S.1 Upon arriving in 1984, she struggled to learn the English language and to make a living. In the span of a few short years, she successfully mastered English sufficiently to accom- plish the unlikely task of writing a bestselling autobiographical novel, Red Azalea, named after the opera. The autobiography chronicles the traumas of the Cultural Revolution from a female perspective and clearly proclaims that America is the end of the author’s search for freedom and self-expression as a woman. Another Chinese woman, who in the 1980s had single-handedly created the discipline of “women’s studies” in the hinterland of China, the city of Zhengzhou in Henan Province, and had freely drawn from Western feminist classics in her writings, was invited to come to an academic conference on Chinese feminism in 1992 at Har- vard University.
    [Show full text]
  • Michele M. Glasburgh. Chick Lit: the New Face of Postfeminist Fiction? a Master’S Paper for the M.S
    Michele M. Glasburgh. Chick lit: the new face of postfeminist fiction? A Master’s Paper for the M.S. in L.S degree. November, 2006. 97 pages. Advisor: Brian Sturm This study is a content analysis of ten chick lit books, a genre of women’s fiction. Books were analyzed for five postfeminist characteristics as defined by Susan Faludi’s backlash theory, outlined in Backlash: The Undeclared War Against Women and in further research on popular culture’s notions of womanhood: 1) negative reaction to second wave feminism, 2) focus on the individual instead of a collective sisterhood, 3) desire for more traditional femininity through domesticity, consumerism, romance, and motherhood, 4) female identity crisis causing fears of a man shortage, a loudly ticking biological clock, and career burnout, and 5) feelings of anxiety over ability to make the correct future decisions. Analysis has found that chick lit does generally reinforce the notions of postfeminism/backlash, however the characters displayed anxiety over how to incorporate feminine paths into their lives and generally disregard motherhood. Headings: Content Analysis Feminism Postfeminism Women in Literature/Evaluation Fiction/Evaluation Women’s Literature/Evaluation CHICK LIT: THE NEW FACE OF POSTFEMINIST FICTION? By Michele M. Glasburgh A Master’s paper submitted to the faculty of the School of Information and Library Science of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Library Science. Chapel Hill, North Carolina November 2006 Approved by _______________________________________ Brian Sturm 1 Table of Contents I. Introduction………………………………………………………………..2 II.
    [Show full text]
  • Framing Gender Justice a Comparative Analysis of the Media Coverage of #Metoo in Denmark and Sweden
    NORDICOM REVIEW Framing Gender Justice A comparative analysis of the media coverage of #metoo in Denmark and Sweden Tina AskaniusI & Jannie Møller HartleyII I School of Arts and Communication, Malmö University, Sweden II Department of Communication and Arts, Roskilde University, Denmark Abstract This study examines the media coverage of the #metoo movement in neighbouring countries Denmark and Sweden. A comparative content analysis shows differences in genres, sources and themes across the two samples. Further, the analysis shows that the coverage predomi- nantly positioned #metoo within an individual action frame portraying sexual assault as a personal rather than societal problem in both countries. However, the individual action frame and a delegitimising frame focused on critique of #metoo were more prevalent in the Danish coverage. A framing analysis revealed four different news frames in the coverage: #metoo as (1) an online campaign connecting networked individuals, (2) part of a broader and long-standing social movement for gender justice, (3) an unnecessary campaign fuelled by cultures of political correctness and, finally, (4) a witch hunt and “kangaroo court”. Finally, we discuss and relate these findings to the political and cultural contexts of the two countries and their different historical trajectories for the institutionalisation of feminism and implementation of gender equality policies. Keywords: #metoo, gender justice, framing, Denmark, Sweden Introduction In the autumn of 2017, #metoo gained widespread attention worldwide when actress Alyssa Milano responded to allegations of sexual assaults against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein uncovered by the New York Times. To showcase the magnitude and ubiquity of sexual violence and harassment, Milano encouraged women to use the hashtag #metoo.1 This article examines how Danish and Swedish newspapers framed the debate on sexism and gender inequality spurred by the hashtag.
    [Show full text]
  • January 2001 Prizes and Awards
    January 2001 Prizes and Awards 4:25 p.m., Thursday, January 11, 2001 PROGRAM OPENING REMARKS Thomas F. Banchoff, President Mathematical Association of America LEROY P. S TEELE PRIZE FOR MATHEMATICAL EXPOSITION American Mathematical Society DEBORAH AND FRANKLIN TEPPER HAIMO AWARDS FOR DISTINGUISHED COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY TEACHING OF MATHEMATICS Mathematical Association of America RUTH LYTTLE SATTER PRIZE American Mathematical Society FRANK AND BRENNIE MORGAN PRIZE FOR OUTSTANDING RESEARCH IN MATHEMATICS BY AN UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT American Mathematical Society Mathematical Association of America Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics CHAUVENET PRIZE Mathematical Association of America LEVI L. CONANT PRIZE American Mathematical Society ALICE T. S CHAFER PRIZE FOR EXCELLENCE IN MATHEMATICS BY AN UNDERGRADUATE WOMAN Association for Women in Mathematics LEROY P. S TEELE PRIZE FOR SEMINAL CONTRIBUTION TO RESEARCH American Mathematical Society LEONARD M. AND ELEANOR B. BLUMENTHAL AWARD FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF RESEARCH IN PURE MATHEMATICS Leonard M. and Eleanor B. Blumenthal Trust for the Advancement of Mathematics COMMUNICATIONS AWARD Joint Policy Board for Mathematics ALBERT LEON WHITEMAN MEMORIAL PRIZE American Mathematical Society CERTIFICATES OF MERITORIOUS SERVICE Mathematical Association of America LOUISE HAY AWARD FOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO MATHEMATICS EDUCATION Association for Women in Mathematics OSWALD VEBLEN PRIZE IN GEOMETRY American Mathematical Society YUEH-GIN GUNG AND DR. CHARLES Y. H U AWARD FOR DISTINGUISHED SERVICE TO MATHEMATICS Mathematical Association of America LEROY P. S TEELE PRIZE FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT American Mathematical Society CLOSING REMARKS Felix E. Browder, President American Mathematical Society M THE ATI A CA M L ΤΡΗΤΟΣ ΜΗ N ΕΙΣΙΤΩ S A O C C I I R E E T ΑΓΕΩΜΕ Y M A F O 8 U 88 AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY NDED 1 LEROY P.
    [Show full text]
  • Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 12-12.50 P.M
    EALC 352g: Chinese Literature and Culture Modern Chinese Literature in Comparative Perspective Spring 2016 Lectures: Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 12-12.50 p.m. Taper Hall of Humanities (THH) 116 Instructor: Géraldine Fiss, Ph.D., [email protected] Office Hours: THH 356J, Monday and Wednesday 2-4 p.m. and by appointment Teaching Assistant: Yunwen Gao ([email protected]) Scope of the Course: This course is an analysis of the changing literary and cultural patterns in modern and contemporary China. By engaging in close analyses of fiction, poetry, drama and literary thought from the late Qing period to the present, we will trace the changes that have occurred in China beginning in the late 19th century, throughout the 20th century and into the 21st century. The course sheds light on various transforming phases in which the influx of Western thought merges with persisting classical Chinese aesthetics to mold the form and content of modern Chinese literature, especially in fiction and poetry. The class will cover the socialist process in China since 1949 by focusing on key cultural-political movements, leading to the emergence of dissident writers. Simultaneously, the class will impose a genuine emphasis on the continuity of diverging literary practices in Taiwan where modernism is conspicuously and actively attended. We will also explore the unique situation of Hong Kong literature 1 and other “marginal” spheres within the Chinese cultural realm, such as contemporary Tibetan writers. Throughout the course, we will delineate the various modes of modernist innovation and experimentation that are taking place in Chinese literary art. We will also examine the nature and evolution of modern Chinese women’s consciousness and women’s writing.
    [Show full text]
  • Tips for Activists
    The first problem Welcome to college, what will you do? This is a world for all of us, men of war and injustice, pain, hope, and struggle. The richest one percent and women, is not of humanity controls as much wealth as the bottom 60 percent. There are more than two billion peasants living today. There are count- to learn, but to un- less more whose lives are equally difficult, and they all live in the first learn. world’s long shadow. A global ecological crisis is upon us. Centuries -Gloria Steinem of exploitation have left large swaths of the earth barren and poisoned. A crisis of meaning has overtaken us. We are continually bombarded I have never let my with messages promoting consumption, wealth, and individual gain as schooling interfere the highest achievements we can aspire toward. with my education So welcome to college. How did you get here? Ever wonder - Mark Twain how many people dream of attending the university but can’t afford it? What will you do with your time and education here? Do you It is, in fact, noth- believe that money, appearance, entertainment, and shopping are the be-all-end-all? Or is there more to life? Is there a different meaning? ing short of a mira- Collectively, most of us came here not entirely of our own choosing. cle that the modern If the future were our own, what would we make of it? Can we change methods of instruc- things for the better? tion have not entire- The (Dis)Orientation Guide suggests some possibilities.
    [Show full text]
  • Fall 2002 Course Guide  TABLE of CONTENTS
    WOMEN, GENDER, SEXUALITY STUDIES PROGRAM UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Fall 2002 Course Guide TABLE OF CONTENTS This catalog contains descriptions of all Women’s Studies courses for which information was available in our office by the publication deadline for pre-registration. Please note that some changes may have been made in time, and/or syllabus since our print deadline. Exact information on all courses may be obtained by calling the appropriate department or college. Please contact the Five-College Exchange Office (545-5352) for registration for the other schools listed. Listings are arranged in the following order: Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies Core Courses Courses offered through the Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies program Women of Color Courses Courses that count towards the Woman of Color requirement for UMass Amherst Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies undergraduate majors and minors. Departmental Courses Courses offered in other UMass departments and programs. All courses listed except 100-level automatically count towards the the major. Component Courses Courses offered in other University Departments and Programs. In order to have these courses count towards the major or minor students must focus their paper(s) or project(s) on gender. Continuing Education Courses at UMass Graduate Level Five-College Options: Amherst College Hampshire College Mount Holyoke College Smith College Please note that updates to this guide are available on the website. www.umass.edu/wost/courseinfo.htm WOMEN’S STUDIES PROGRAM COURSE DESCRIPTION GUIDE ADDENDA AS OF 8/15/02 CORRECTIONS WOST 301 – Theorizing Women’s Issues – Taught by Kreimild Saunders New description: Theorizing Feminist Issues will begin with a discussion of the grand theories of second wave feminism on patriarchal domination, women’s oppression and subordination in society in generally.
    [Show full text]
  • A Wretched Idealist”: Tragedy in “Love Must Not Be Forgotten” Daijuan Gao [email protected]
    Seton Hall University eRepository @ Seton Hall Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs) Spring 5-15-2016 “A Wretched Idealist”: Tragedy in “Love Must Not Be Forgotten” Daijuan Gao [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.shu.edu/dissertations Part of the Chinese Studies Commons, Comparative Literature Commons, and the Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons Recommended Citation Gao, Daijuan, "“A Wretched Idealist”: Tragedy in “Love Must Not Be Forgotten”" (2016). Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs). 2182. http://scholarship.shu.edu/dissertations/2182 Abstract Since its publication in 1979 and the ensuing controversy it evoked about the morality of an extramarital love affair (albeit platonic), Zhang Jie’s short story, “Love Must Not Be Forgotten” has continued to captivate readers and literary scholars. While the values of Zhang’s story, with its challenges to traditional ethics and its provocation of female consciousness, have been acknowledged by critics and commentators, examination of the aesthetics of the story’s tragic effect has thus far remained marginal. “Love” engendered pity and fear in readers, particularly during the time following the Cultural Revolution when the lives of Chinese people were firmly constrained by both established conventions and Communist ideology. It especially resonated with people who were miserable in their loveless marriages as it had provided them with a script of their own stories. The root of the tragedy in “Love” is multifaceted. While Zhong Yu’s unwavering Romantic ideals, the cadre’s “hamartia” (marrying his wife out of a sense of duty), and the confinement of society’s orthodox values all contribute to the tragic affair, chance and destiny also play a pivotal role in the characters’ lives.
    [Show full text]