Full Spectrum of Selves in Modern Chinese Literature: from Lu Xun to Xiao Hong

UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Full Spectrum of Selves in Modern Chinese Literature: From Lu Xun to Xiao Hong Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5022k8qv Author Ho, Felicia Jiawen Publication Date 2012 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Full Spectrum of Selves in Modern Chinese Literature: From Lu Xun to Xiao Hong A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in East Asian Languages and Cultures by Felicia Jiawen Ho 2012 © Copyright by Felicia Jiawen Ho 2012 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Full Spectrum of Selves in Modern Chinese Literature: From Lu Xun to Xiao Hong by Felicia Jiawen Ho Doctor of Philosophy in East Asian Languages and Cultures University of California, Los Angeles, 2012 Professor Shu-mei Shih, Chair Despite postcolonial theory’s rejection of legacies of Western imperial dominance and cultural hierarchy, the superiority of Euro-American notions of subjectivity remains a persistent theme in third world cross-cultural literary analysis. Interpretations of the Chinese May Fourth era often reduce the period to one of wholesale westernization and cultural self- repudiation. Euro-American notions of the self often reify ideologies of individuality, individualism, rationalism, evolution, and a “self-versus-society” dichotomy, viewing such positions as universal and applicable for judging decolonizing others. To interrogate this assumption, I examine the writing of Lu Xun and Xiao Hong, two May Fourth writers whose fictional characters present innovative, integrated, heterogeneous selves that transcend Western ii critical models. This “full spectrum of selves” sustains contradicting pulls of identity—the mental (the rational, the individual), the bodily (the survivalist, the affective), the cerebral (the moral), the social (the relational, the organismic), as well as the spiritual and the cosmic. I argue that Lu Xun’s “A Madman’s Diary” transcends limited Euro-American notions of subjectivity and the self by blending Buddhist, Daoist, and Confucian elements and by creating a “both/and” dynamic, inclusive of collectivist allegory and personal interiority. With regard to gender, I argue that Xiao Hong’s characters cannot be circumscribed by Euro-American notions of subjectivity and feminism, or by Chinese patriarchal nationalism. Contrasting Lu Xun’s tendency to kill-off female characters with Xiao Hong’s themes of female survivorship, agency, and accountability—I highlight the latter’s focus on agency over victimization, innovation over mimicry. Moreover, I explicate how Xiao Hong’s notion of female subjectivity re-introduces survival as agency, challenging the covert links among agency, accountability, subjectivity, and judgment. Moreover, her stories contest the assumptions of the Great Man theory of history, asserting that quotidian details offer an alternative narrative and undo History as such. I thus posit that May Fourth did not enact a totalistic iconoclastic rejection of China’s cultural self, but was an era of phenomenal self-inventory, re-invention, and change. By illustrating how different experiences of historic events, culture, gender, and class impacted cultural concepts of the self, I seek to recuperate cultural specificity from the dominion of Euro-American notions of subjectivity. iii The dissertation of Felicia Jiawen Ho is approved. Theodore Huters Katherine King Seiji Lippit David Schaberg Shu-mei Shih, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2012 iv To my mother and father, Angella and Bart Ho To my husband and son, Lan-Feng Tsai and Joey Jing Tsaiho And to my grandmother, Jiang Shuqin’s unnamed sisters v TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ii Committee Approval iv Dedication v Table of Contents vi Acknowledgements vii Vita xi Introduction: “Subjectivity” Meets a “Full Spectrum of Selves” 1 1 Lu Xun’s Schizophrenic Re-invention of Euro-American Subjectivity in “A Madman’s Diary” 8 2 Allegory and Individual Interiority through a Spectrum of Selves in “A Madman’s Diary” 72 3 Transcending Patriarchal Nationalism and Euro-American Feminism: Xiao Hong’s Stories 134 4 Xiao Hong’s Full Spectrum of Selves 200 Appendices 260 Bibliography 262 vi Acknowledgement The roots of this dissertation began in a cramped, musty room packed with eager Bryn Mawr faces, each hoping to win one of the 15 student spots in Katrin Burlin’s “Women of Talents” senior seminar. Every year, it was this way, drawing a crowd—larger than her classroom could hold—as if somehow everyone knew that this was far more than just a literature class. Serendipitously chosen as one of the 15, I soon discovered that this was the year that my life would oddly parallel Late Qing-Early Republic Chinese political figure and writer, Lu Xun’s. After reading about Lu Xun’s quitting Sendai medical school and declaring that only literature could save the spirit; I too resolved to give up my medical school early admission to pursue literature. I am thus much indebted to Lu Xun and my Bryn Mawr teacher and friend, the late Katrin Burlin, whose passionate love of cross-cultural literature and her openness to self- exploration, modeled a passion for literature’s unique ties to the human journey. In her classes, I began to question my own constructions of self and my conflicted sense of being both Chinese and American and yet simultaneously rejected by both. Tracing my cross-cultural identity crisis to a pivotal childhood memory, I remember as a little girl asking my peasant grandmother, whether it was true in China that parents sometimes drowned their newborn female infants. I will never forget her response, which subsequently changed the course of my life, and how I came to define myself. For that, I owe my grandmother, Jiang Shuqin, and my ancestors a debt of gratitude in making this dissertation and my journey possible. In this dissertation, I explore the elements that influence constituting the self. What is the nature of Euro-American ideas about the self, and how is it constructed, and what is the nature of vii Chinese notions about the self, and how is it different? Namely, I explore how two Late Qing- Early Republic Chinese writers, Lu Xun and Xiao Hong, faced self-conflict and innovatively integrated Chinese and Euro-American notions of self. In many ways, this dissertation reflects my own internal landscape—my struggles against judging and imposing Euro-American value systems and my journey toward humility, forgiveness, and understanding. All the errors, theoretical and syntactic, and my tendencies toward the meta and the subjective rather than the empirical, are all my own. I am grateful to the committee’s generosity in granting me freedom to explore my path. I owe immense gratitude to my committee chair, Professor Shu-mei Shih, who supported me unwaveringly from beginning to end, generously devoting her time and energy to mentor me as a scholar—opening her home to me and even cooking lunch for me one day so that we could have the extra time to work. Most of all, I am grateful to her for selflessly sharing her knowledge and expertise and for rigorously challenging me and only accepting my best. Without her steadfast support and guidance, this dissertation would have remained a dream. I would also like to thank my committee members. During my formative years in graduate school, Professor Theodore Huters nurtured me as a scholar and patiently fielded my endless questions. Professor David Schaberg and Professor Katherine King gave insightful feedback on my dissertation and were beyond encouraging, supportive, and kind. Marilyn Manners and Seiji Lippit shared their wisdom during the prospectus phase. I am also indebted to Professor Hu Ying, my undergraduate thesis advisor, who inspired, encouraged, and always offered her support. Mary-Anne Pops and Annalisa Zox-Weaver devoted many hours to edit and comment on chapters. This dissertation also would not have been possible without the support of the U.C.L.A. East Asian Languages and Cultures department. I would like to thank the EALC viii professors and staff, who were always willing to lend an ear, share their knowledge, and offer their support. I would especially like to thank Andrea Beard, Rich Larson, Shanshan Chi-Au, Alena Chow, Michelle Anderson, and Jessie Boutayeb. I am also deeply indebted to the EALC department’s generous funding: the full-year departmental fellowship, the Women and Minorities Fellowship, and the Project 88 Award made my studies financially possible. Ironically, while I gave up studying medicine to pursue literature, I ultimately needed Western medicine in 2011 to help me fight breast cancer. I would, thus, like to thank some crucial people who made it possible for me to be here to complete my degree—Dr. Lauren Schnapper, Dr. Robert Donegan, Dr. Antonio Wolf, Dr. Sally Cheston, Dr. Gedge Rosson, and their staff. I am deeply indebted to Pathways Seminars, my support groups, my Qigong and Tai chi buddies, the Claudia Mayer Center, my friends at the Tai Sophia Institute’s Living Well with Cancer program, and Hopewell Cancer Support. To my community of friends, neighbors, support groups, and moms, who rallied round to care for my most quotidian needs—their meals, childcare, rides, gift cards, and moral support empowered my family to thrive so that I could continue working on my dissertation. I am truly indebted and thankful to many friends for their contributions. When I was struggling, Lucy Moran, read the early chapters, edited, and engaged in hearty conversation with me and rekindled my academic spirit. Mike Lucerno and Andrea Connell read through chapters and lifted my spirit during a time of need, adding fresh energy to my writing process. Sue Paige, Stacy Bloom, Jen Jacob, Lan-Feng Tsai, Kyla Quesada, and my Pathways buddies ceaselessly inspired and challenged me to overcome all obstacles and reach my goals.

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