A Study of the Modern Chinese Magazine Literary Renaissance
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A Brief Flowering: A Study of the Modern Chinese Magazine Literary Renaissance Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Katalin Till School of Oriental and African Studies University of London 1995 ProQuest Number: 10673091 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10673091 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 Abstract The modem Chinese magazine Literary Renaissance ^ jgfJ|JIL was published monthly in Shanghai between January 1946 and August 1949, edited by Zheng Zhenduo and Li Jianwu Its launch expressed widespread hopes for the revival of Chinese literature after the war and intentions of working towards that revival. The purpose of this study is to examine whether there was indeed a post-war Literary Renaissance reflected by the magazine. Since the editors perceived a parallel between the European Renaissance and the envisaged revival of Chinese literature, various interpretations of the connection are looked at before the magazine's own literary philosophy is traced through the published editorials, reviews and theoretical articles. Creative contributions are discussed according to genre, devoting a chapter each to poetry, short stories, novels and drama. In evaluating individual works, comparisons are sought with outstanding examples of literature from the previous decades, looking for changes and differences, and focusing on foreign or native influences. Where appropriate, the world outlook and allegiances of contributors are also looked into, trying to discover groupings and trends. In the broad spectrum of poems several instances are found that are comparable in quality to pre-war poetry. Among the short stories two significant types of narratives emerge that present reality in a more complex and experimental manner. Of the three serialized novels, two have turned out to rank among the best of modern Chinese novels. The playscripts, however, while giving a glimpse of the previous theatre boom, reflect the post-war decline of drama. Finally, the findings in the various genres are brought together and the basic question of the study is answered. Appendices include a chronology of selected events relevant to the period, reproductions of the evocative cover and content pages of the magazine, translations of two modernist short stories and biographies of significant contributors. 2 Table of Contents Acknowledgements .....................................................................................................................4 Chapter 1. Literary Renaissance', the Magazine, the Literary Philosophy and the Purpose of this Study ............................................................................................5 Chapter 2. P o etry ..................................................................................................................... 29 Chapter 3. Short Stories ..........................................................................................................95 Chapter 4. N o v e ls .................................................................................................................127 Chapter 5. D ram a ................................................................................................................... 147 Chapter 6. Summary and Conclusion ................................................................................175 Notes and References ............................................................................................................181 General Bibliography ..............................................................................................................195 Appendices I. Chronology of Selected Events Relevant as Background to Literary Renaissance......................................................................................................................201 II. Reproductions of the Magazine's Front Covers ..................................................... 204 III. Reproductions of the Magazine's Contents Pages ................................................... 209 IV. Translation of Wang Zengqi's Short Story "The Bell of the Primary S chool" ............................................................................................................................ 229 V. Translation of Wang Zengqi's Short Story "Revenge" ..........................................237 VI. Selected Biographies ....................................................................................................244 3 Acknowledgements I would like to express my gratitude to all those who have assisted me in the writing of this thesis. In particular, I am grateful to the British Academy and the Great Britain-China Centre for the financial assistance they have given me. I am indebted to present and former members of the Chinese Section, East Asia Department, School of Oriental and African Studies, for their help and encouragement over the years: especially to my supervisor Prof. David Pollard, who continued to advise me after his duty officially ended; to Dr. Henry Zhao, who took over from him; and to Dr. Paul Thompson, Mr. P. C. T'ung and Mr. George Weys. This work would not have reached completion without the moral support and practical help I received from friends Lillian Chia, Marion Granville, Christopher Wells, Pauline and Howard White, for which I hope they will accept my grateful thanks. All errors and shortcomings are entirely my own. 4 Chapter 1 Literary Renaissance: the Magazine, the Literary Philosophy and the Purpose of this Study Literary Renaissance; A factual introduction In the cultural euphoria following the end of the Second World War, a magazine with the grand and hopeful title of Literaiy Renaissance (XSStJlIl-) started publishing in January 1946 in Shanghai. The editors were the respected literary historian, critic and bibliophile, Zheng Zhenduo JtPffiliP (1898-1958) and the successful playwright and literary critic, Li Jianwu (1906-1982). Zheng Zhenduo had been a prominent member of the Literary Research Society (fC ^W^ullr) and the editor of that society's official organ, the Short Story Monthly (/hi$ ^?1). He also edited a number of other literary publications: among others the Literary Weekly (X®3IIS0> also controlled by the Literary Research Society; the Literature Magazine C&PSH&), which took the place of the Short Story Monthly when it ceased publication in 1932; and the Literature Quarterly If). His views on literature, in common with those of the Literary Research Society, were that literature should provide an accurate portrayal of the lives of real people and expose social problems in order to help bring about their improvement. To create such a new Chinese literature, the introduction and study of foreign literatures and the reassessment of traditional Chinese literature were necessary, and Zheng took part in these tasks with his publications. His Outline of Literature (^pp^jfjKi) appeared serialized in the Short Story Monthly between 1924-26; the Illustrated Histoiy of Chinese Literature was published in 1932; he edited World Literature Libraiy a massive anthology of Chinese and world literature (1934), and published the Short History of Russian Literature (1934), as well as several collections of critical essays on Chinese literature. His own particular interest lay in vernacular literature, the "literature of the people", which he held to be the source of all other Chinese literature of 5 worth. He collected and commented on early and rare editions of popular literature from the Song dynasty onwards. During his stay in Europe (1927-29) he was one of the first to do research on the bianwen §® ^ texts in the Dunhuang manuscripts, which are the earliest extant examples of popular fiction writing in China. In 1938 he published the History of Chinese Popular Literature During the Japanese occupation, living "in hibernation" in Shanghai, he hunted out treasures of vernacular literature which their owners were forced to sell, and saved them by either purchasing them himself or persuading the government to do so.1 Li Jianwu, the younger partner in the editorial team, had been associated with the theatre since his teens, first as an actor, later also, and more significantly, as a writer for the stage. His importance as a playwright in the 1930s was based on both his own plays, like This Is Only Spring (1939) and Youth (WW) (staged during the war, published in 1946), and on his adaptations. The latter included Lies (f^tn^tjl) (1935), adapted from G. B. Shaw's How He Lied to Her Husband', two historical plays, Wang Deming (EEtS^) and A Shina (PnJi^P), adapted versions of Shakespeare's Macbeth and Othello respectively; and a series of adaptations of "well-made" French plays, mostly by Sardou. The majority of his plays were performed by the Shanghai Theatre Art Society (_Ll@0!j®^i:) (f.1938), of which he was a founding member. As a literary critic his initial interests lay in nineteenth-century French literature, in particular the works