The Biopolitical Elements in Yan Lianke's Fiction Worlds
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Eastern Illinois University The Keep Masters Theses Student Theses & Publications 2018 The iopB olitical Elements in Yan Lianke's Fiction Worlds Xiaoyu Gao Eastern Illinois University This research is a product of the graduate program in English at Eastern Illinois University. Find out more about the program. Recommended Citation Gao, Xiaoyu, "The iopoB litical Elements in Yan Lianke's Fiction Worlds" (2018). Masters Theses. 3619. https://thekeep.eiu.edu/theses/3619 This is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Theses & Publications at The Keep. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of The Keep. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 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The Biopolitical Elements in Yan Lianke's Fiction Worlds (TITLE) BY Xiaoyu Gao THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF Master of Arts in English IN THE GRADUATE SCHOOL, EASTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY CHARLESTON, ILLINOIS Spring 2018 YEAR I HEREBY RECOMMEND THAT THIS THESIS BE ACCEPTED AS FULFILLING THIS PART OF THE GRADUATE DEGREE CITED ABOVE TH�SIS COMMITIEE CHAIR DATE DEPARTMEN.l'TSCHOOL CHAIR DATE OR CHAIR'S DESIGNEE DATE THESIS COMMITIEE MEMBER DATE DATE THESIS COMMITIEE MEMBER DATE TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................................ 1 CllINESE LITERATURE ................................................................................................................ ........... 1 YAN LIANKE'S LIFE AND MYTHOREALISM ...................................................................... .............. 7 BRIEF INTRODUCTION TOYAN'S WORKS ..................................................................................... 12 THEFOUR BOOKS ................................................................. ................................................................ 12 DREAMOF DING VILLAGE................................................................................................................... 15 SER VETHE PEOPLE .............................................................................................................................. 17 THEEXPLOSION CHROMCLES................................................................................... ......................... 19 LENIN'S.KISSES...................................................................................................................................... 21 INTRODUCTION OF BIOPOLITICS .................................................................................................... 23 BIOPOLITICS IN YAN LIANK.E'S NOVELS ................... ....... ............................................................. 28 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................................... 56 Gao 1 The Biopolitical Elements in Yan Lianke's Fictional Worlds Yan Lianke was the winner of the Kafka Prize of2014; however, he is famous in spite of being censored and even banned in China for writing critically about Chinese politics and including sexually explicit material. At the same time, these topics in Yan's novels are significant in their implications and bring new life to Chinese literary criticism. In this thesis, I will discuss how the development and destruction of villages, the centralization of government and the rebellion of citizens in Yan's works invite us to see potential and fruitful connections to the concept of "autoimmunity" in biopolitics. The biological term "autoimmunity" refers to that in which a body mistakenly and unconsciously attacks itself for the sake of protecting it. Yan also applied autoimmunity in his works to criticize politics. Thus, a deeper philosophy can be found by interpreting '" Yan's works through the lens of biopolitics. I will apply the theories of Derrida, Foucault, Weber and Agamben to Yan's texts, especially in their relation to historical contexts in order to address political phenomena in his works. Chinese Literature Works of Western literature have been largely translated into Chinese, while Chinese literature has only rarely been translated into English. Part of the reason for this "trade deficit" between the West and China is the invention of the novel in the Western Gao 2 world between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Thus, the history of Chinese literature and the relationship between Chinese literature and Western literature should be explained. The best known Chinese masterpieces in the Western world are the four novels (not using the contemporary definition of "novel", but the Chinese classical format of novel in chapters) from the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) and Qing dynasty (1644-1912): th th Romance of Three Kingdoms (14 century), Journey to the West (16 century), Water th th Margin (14 century) and Dream of the Red Chamber (18 century), for they represent the beginning and rise of the Chinese novel. Beyond the recent few hundred years of novel development, however, Chinese literature possesses over two thousand years' worth of flourishing of parable, poetry and classical narrative. The foundation of Chinese literature was formulated more than two thousand years ago. One of the representative people of that time is the legendary sage Kongzi (ca. 551-479 BCE), who wrote many parables for the school of Confucians. Beyond the school of Confucians, there were also schools of the Naturalists, Mohists, Legalists, Logicians and Daoists. According to Sabina Knight, a professor of comparative literature, another representative from the Daoist school around that time is Zhuangzi (ca. 369-286 BCE), from whose collection readers find inspiration (Knight 1 ). Besides the development of these schools, a stream of Buddhism had been developed as well: Buddhism, too, would soon contribute profoundly to debates about the path of right liying. Originally from India, Buddhism became a major branch of Chinese thought, and Buddhist stories from India were among the earliest fictional works Gao 3 in China. By the second century, Poetic renderings ofthe life of Sakyamuni Buddha and other Buddhist parables were translated into Chinese, and these parables and sutras (threads) became essential elements of the literary tradition (Knight 7-8). Since the import ofBuddhism to China, Chinese literature has been largely influenced by religious elements, which offered a strong foundation for contemporary Chinese literature. From the second century