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.