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A University of Sussex DPhil thesis Available online via Sussex Research Online: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/ This thesis is protected by copyright which belongs to the author. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Please visit Sussex Research Online for more information and further details Literature in Masks: Katherine Mansfield, Eileen Chang and the Possibilities of Creative Writing Wen-Shan Shieh PhD in Creative and Critical Writing University of Sussex August 2013 ii Declaration I hereby declare that this thesis has not been and will not be, submitted in whole or in part to another University for the award of any other degree. This thesis is entirely the product of my own research, using works cited in the bibliography. Wen-Shan Shieh August 2013 iii UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX WEN-SHAN SHIEH PHD IN CREATIVE AND CRITICAL WRITING LITERATURE IN MASKS: KATHERINE MANSFIELD, EILEEN CHANG AND THE POSSIBILITIES OF CREATIVE WRITING SUMMARY The thesis proposes that the figurative and extensive use of the ‘mask’—persona, masquerade, disguise, impersonation—provides a crucial literary device for the development and liberation of the expressive potential of Katherine Mansfield and Eileen Chang (1920-1995). Chapter 1, ‘Introduction’, elucidates the relationship between mask and language with respect to the writings of Mansfield and Chang by revising John Keats’s idea of ‘the chameleon poet’, Robert Browning’s conception of dramatic monologue, Oscar Wilde’s insights into truth and masks, and Ezra Pound’s adoptions of ‘personae’ in his poetry. The affinities between Mansfield and Chang will be explored by looking at their critical writing as well as criticism on them, revealing their shared awareness of the masks of a person in daily life as well as in fiction and drama. Chapter 2, ‘Katherine Mansfield’s Art of Changing Masks’, explores how Mansfield’s characters switch between three types of masks—speech and the non-verbal, gender, animality—to respond to changes in their situations. Particularly important for this exploration are Joan Rivi re’s ‘Womanliness as Masquerade’, Michael Goldman’s theory of masks in acting, and Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari’s concept of ‘becoming-animal’. Chapter 3, ‘Prosopopoeia: Katherine Mansfield’s “special prose” ’, considers Mansfield’s iv attempt ‘to bring the dead to life again’ in what she calls ‘special prose’ as a ‘prosopopoeia’, or in Cynthia Chase’ phrase, ‘giving a face to a name’. In this chapter I will also trace how Mansfield’s work was first translated into Chinese in 1923 by the Chinese poet, Zhimo Xu (1897-1931), which made her one of the most widely-read foreign writers in the Chinese-speaking world. More importantly, I suggest that Xu’s use of quotations from Keats and other nineteenth-century poets in portraying Mansfield in his memoir calls our attention to her decisive and still insufficiently examined relationship to poetry. Chapter 4, ‘ “Hiding behind a foreign language”: Eileen Chang’s Self-Translation and Masquerade’, examines Chang’s penchant for translating her fiction and essays from Chinese into English or vice versa. Taking a cue from Pound’s view of translations as ‘elaborate masks’ and Deleuze’s idea of the writer being a ‘foreigner’ in their own language, I examine some of the ways in which that the mask of a foreigner / foreign language enables Chang, a bilingual fiction writer and essayist, to gain the emotional and spatial distance from which to reflect on Chinese culture and her personal life. Being inspired by Mansfield and Chang’s courage to get away from the notion of writing as self-expression and Dionysus’ gift of crossing boundaries through the assistance of the mask, the creative component of the thesis, Chapter 5, consists of 4 short stories. I conclude the thesis with a poem entitled ‘Gifts (for Katherine Mansfield)’ and a quick fiction called ‘The Functions of Theory’, considering theory and literary terms as a variety of make-up that I apply to the face of my thesis. While critical chapters contain embedded fiction, the creative component demonstrates and tests how the interior space behind the mask allows me to liberate my creative energy. In these stories, I attempt to cross the boundaries between male and female, Chinese and non- Chinese, human and animal, creative and critical writing. v Contents Declaration ii Summary iii List of Illustrations vii Acknowledgements viii Chapter 1: Introduction 1 Literature in Masks 1 Katherine Mansfield and Eileen Chang 14 Chapter 2: Katherine Mansfield’s Art of Changing Masks 33 ‘The fastest-changing masks of all’: Speech and the Non-Verbal 35 Gender as Masquerade 39 The Becoming-Mouse 45 Chapter 3: Prosopopoeia: Katherine Mansfield’s ‘special prose’ 54 Unheard Melodies 56 ‘Elegy for Mansfield’ (1923) by Zhimo Xu 67 An Eternal Twenty Minutes 75 Chapter 4: ‘Hiding behind a foreign language’: Eileen Chang’s Self-Translation and Masquerade 84 Ezra Pound’s ‘The River-Merchant’s Wife (A Letter)’ 84 Eileen Chang’s English Essays and Their Chinese Versions 98 ‘From the Ashes’ and The Book of Change 105 Chapter 5: Creative Component 113 A Cup of Camomile Tea, or an Erotomaniac’s Journal 113 vi Hamster Family Connections 136 The Mask of the Spring 158 Easter 2012: A Letter to the Home Secretary in the Conservative-Liberal Democratic Coalition Government 171 Conclusion: 187 Gifts (For Katherine Mansfield) 187 The Functions of Theory 187 On Creative and Critical Writing 188 Bibliography 192 vii List of Illustrations 1.1 Eileen Chang in an oversized Qing-style padded gown, Shanghai, 1944. By permission of Roland Soong and Elaine Soong through Crown Publishing Company Ltd. in Taipei, Taiwan 26 1.2 Eileen Chang Eileen Chang in a yukata, a casual style of kimono, Shanghai, 1944. By permission of Roland Soong and Elaine Soong through Crown Publishing Company Ltd. in Taipei, Taiwan 27 3.1 Zhimo Xu in England, 1921-22. By permission of Biographical Literature in Taipei, Taiwan 70 3.2 Zhimo Xu in England, 1921-22. By permission of Biographical Literature in Taipei, Taiwan 71 viii Acknowledgements I would first like to thank my supervisor, Nicholas Royle, who has provided extensive, generous and patient support throughout this thesis. I have learned a great deal not only during our supervisory meetings, but also from other critical and creative writing activities he has organised, particularly the Quick Fictions event. A shorter version of ‘A Golden Hamster’ in Chapter 5 and ‘The Functions of Theory’ in my conclusion can be viewed on the Quick Fictions app. For their comments on my work and advice on teaching and grant applications, I would like to thank Norman Vance, Peter Boxall, Keston Sutherland, Vicky Lebeau, Lindsay Smith, John David Rhodes and Laura Vellacott. I am also grateful to the University of Sussex for an Alumni Travel Grant and School of English Doctoral Research Support Funds, which enabled me to attend overseas conferences. Chapter 2 was presented at Katherine Mansfield Conferences held in Ružomberok, Slovakia on 28 June 2012 and in Wellington, New Zealand on 10 February 2013. Portions of Chapter 3 were presented at the Katherine Mansfield Symposium held in Crans-Montana, Switzerland on 22 September, 2012. I am grateful for the insightful feedback on my papers that I received from Angela Smith, Gerri Kimber, Vincent O’Sullivan, Delia da Sousa Correa, Tracy Miao, Sue Jamieson and Claire Davison-Pégon at those conferences. I am also thankful to Lucy Oakley from the University of Sussex Library for requesting Eileen Chang’s articles from the C. V. Starr East Asian Library at Columbia University and to Rebecca Harley from the Psychological and Counselling Service for her encouragement and support. As a member of the postgraduate community, I thank Feras Alkabani, Kirsty Bennett, Yun Pei, Nozomi Uematsu, Sue Kim, Kristian White, Bethan Stevens, Naomi Booth and Dulcie Few for intellectual stimulation and friendship during my years of study at the University of Sussex. In addition, I wish to express my thanks to Sue Coxhill, Josie Gill, Kimberley Davison- Fujioka and David Hackett for proofreading some chapters of this thesis. Finally, I am forever indebted to my parents and sisters for their understanding, endless patience and ongoing support when it is most required. Special thanks go to my gerbil and hamster, who keep me company during long hours of reading and writing. 1 Chapter 1 Introduction The thesis proposes that the figurative and extensive use of the ‘mask’—persona, masquerade, disguise, impersonation 1 —provides a crucial literary device for the development and liberation of the expressive potential of Katherine Mansfield (1888- 1923) and the Chinese writer Eileen Chang (1920-1995). In the first section of the introductory chapter, I will look at the literal and figurative meanings of the mask and go on to elucidate the relationship between language and the mask with respect to the writings of Katherine Mansfield by revising John Keats’s idea of ‘the chameleon poet’, Robert Browning’s conception of dramatic monologue, and Ezra Pound’s adoptions of ‘personae’ in his poetry. The second section will explore affinity between Mansfield and Chang by looking at their short stories, literary criticism and biographical accounts, revealing their shared awareness of the masks of a person in daily life as well as in fiction and drama. Literature in Masks The mask is ‘an image of a face worn by an actor’ ‘intended both to identify the character represented and to amplify the voice’ in Classical Greek Theatre (see Oxford English Dictionary,2 ‘mask’, n.1, sense b) or ‘a covering worn on or held in front of the face for disguise’, ‘worn at balls and masques’ (‘mask’, n.1, sense a).