THE DISSEMINATION OF MODERNIST MAHUA LITERATURE, 1959-1989 CHIAH SENG FACULTY OF ARTS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA UniversityKUALA LUMPUR of Malaya 2017 THE DISSEMINATION OF MODERNIST MAHUA LITERATURE, 1959-1989 CHIAH SENG Malaya of THESIS SUBMITTED IN FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY FACULTY OF ARTS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES UniversityUNIVERSITY OF MALAYA KUALA LUMPUR 2017 UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA ORIGINAL LITERARY WORK DECLARATION Name of Candidate: CHIAH SENG Matric No: AHA 090024 Name of Degree: DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Title of Project Paper/Research Report/Dissertation/Thesis (―this Work‖): THE DISSEMINATION OF MODERNIST MAHUA LITERATURE, 1959-1989 Field of Study: MAHUA LITERATURE I do solemnly and sincerely declare that: (1) I am the sole author/writer of this Work; (2) This Work is original; (3) Any use of any work in which copyright exists was done by way of fair dealing and for permitted purposes and any excerpt or extract from, or reference to or reproduction of any copyright work has been disclosed expressly and sufficiently and the title of the Work and its authorship have been acknowledgedMalaya in this Work; (4) I do not have any actual knowledge nor do I ought reasonably to know that the making of this work constitutes an infringement of any copyright work; (5) I hereby assign all and every rightsof in the copyright to this Work to the University of Malaya (―UM‖), who henceforth shall be owner of the copyright in this Work and that any reproduction or use in any form or by any means whatsoever is prohibited without the written consent of UM having been first had and obtained; (6) I am fully aware that if in the course of making this Work I have infringed any copyright whether intentionally or otherwise, I may be subject to legal action or any other action as may be determined by UM. Candidate‘s Signature Date: Subscribed and solemnly declared before, UniversityWitness‘s Signature Date: Name: ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR DR FAN PIK WAH Designation: SUPERVISOR ii ABSTRACT This is a qualitative study and the subject is Mahua Modern Literature. Specifically, the study aims to analyse the strategies and methods employed by literary media in disseminating the Modernist Mahua Literature. The researcher has identified evidence which shows that the literary magazine Chao Foon Monthly, the Sirius Poetical Society and literati such as Bai Yao, Chen Ruixian and Wen Renping are the three main media vital in the dissemination of Modernist Mahua Literature. Research findings indicate that Mahua Literature has become a major component in the World Chinese Literature, and the emergence of Mahua Modernist Literature was the result of the influence by Modern Literature from Mainland China and Taiwan. The literary magazine Chao Foon Monthly is considered as one of the important media in promoting the emergence and development of Mahua Modernist Literature. It has employed various strategies to introduce and bring in the modernist resources from the West and Taiwan. It has finally changed the literary taste of local writers and readers, and also nurtured a big number of modernist writers. In the 1970s, the Sirius Poetical Society played an important part in promoting and strengthening Mahua Modernist Literature by publishing three representative anthologies of modernist poems and many other personal collections of different genres. It has thus enriched the publication of Mahua Modernist Literature. As for literati, Bai Yao was the pioneer in promoting and disseminating the modernist literature. He had written several articles to promoteMalaya literary revolution and published the first modernist poem in Mahua literary arena. His footsteps were followed by Chen Ruixian, a modernist writer from Singapore, who joined the editorial board of Chao Foon Monthly and published various specialof issues to introduce Western modernist literature, modernist writers and the translations of modernist articles. During his term as the editor of Chao Foon Monthly from August 1969 to December 1974, he had supplied abundant resources to local writers and readers, thus improving the writing techniques of writers and consequently nurturing many Mahua modernist writers. The third literati Wen Renping on the other hand started disseminating the concept of modernism, the theories of modernist poetry and prose by publishing modernist poems, modernist prose and literary criticism in the 1970s. His poems and prose have proven that the use of modernist techniques is appropriate. It is very pertinent to recall here that Mahua Modernist Literature would have faced many difficulties without Chao Foon Monthly and its achievement would not have been as outstanding as what we have today. Similarly, without the Sirius Poetical Society, the three representative anthologiesUniversity of Mahua modernist poems would not be published. Last but not least, the three literati Bai Yao, Chen Ruixian and Wen Renping have played active roles in disseminating Modernist Mahua Literature. In conclusion, the strategies employed by the three different media in disseminating Modernist Mahua Literature from 1950s to 1980s were successful. iii ABSTRAK Ini adalah kajian kualitatif dan bidang kajiannya adalah tentang Kesusasteraan Moden Cina Malaysia. Kajian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisa strategi dan cara yang digunakan oleh media kesusasteraan dalam penyebaran Kesusasteraan Moden Mahua. Pengkaji telah mengenal pasti bukti-bukti yang menunjukkan majalah kesusasteraan iaitu Bulanan Chao Foon, Persatuan Puisi Sirius dan tokoh-tokoh kesusasteraan seperti Bai Yao, Chen Ruixian dan Wen Renping merupakan tiga orang tokoh yang aktif dalam penyebaran Kesusasteraan Moden Mahua. Dapatan-dapatan kajian menunjukkan Kesusasteraan Mahua telah menjadi suatu komponen penting dalam Kesusasteraan Cina Dunia, dan kemunculan Kesusasteraan Moden Mahua disebabkan pengaruh Kesusasteraan Moden dari benua Cina dan Taiwan. Majalah kesusasteraan Bulanan Chao Foon telah dianggap sebagai salah satu media yang penting dalam memupuk kemunculan dan perkembangan Kesusasteraan Moden Mahua. Ia telah menggunakan pelbagai strategi untuk memperkenalkan dan membawa sumber-sumber modenism dari Barat dan Taiwan. Ia telah menukarkan selera kesusasteraan pengarang-pengarang tempatan dan para pembaca dan juga menyuburkan sebilangan besar pengarang moden. Pada tahun-tahun 70an , Persatuan Puisi Sirius memainkan peranan penting dalam pemupukan dan pengukuhan Kesusasteraan Moden Mahua dengan menerbitkan tiga buah antologi puisi moden dan banyak lagi koleksi perseorangan dalam pelbagai genre. Ia telah memperkaya penerbitan KesusasteraanMalaya Moden Mahua. Tentang tokoh kesusasteraan Bai Yao pula, beliau merupakan pelopor dalam memupuk dan penyebaran Kesusasteraan Moden Mahua. Beliau pernah menulis beberapa artikel untuk memupuk revolusi kesusasteraan dan jugaof menerbitkan puisi moden pertama dalam arena Kesusasteraan Mahua. Jejak langkahnya telah diikuti olen Chen Ruixian, seorang pengarang moden dari Singapura yang menyertai Lembaga Editorial Bulanan Chao Foon dan juga menerbitkan pelbagai isu istimewa untuk memperkenalkan kesusasteraan moden Barat, pengarang moden dan menterjemah artikel moden. Dalam tempoh beliau sebagai editor Bulanan Chao Foon dari Ogos 1969 ke Disember 1974, beliau telah membekalkan sumber-sumber yang banyak kepada pengarang tempatan dan pembaca, lantaran memajukan teknik penulisan pengarang dan berjaya menyuburkan banyak pengarang moden Mahua. Tokoh kesusasteraan ketiga iaitu Wen Renping pula telah mulai menyemai konsep modenism, teori-teori modenisme tentang puisi dan prosa dengan menerbitkan puisi moden, prosa moden dan kritikan kesusasteraan pada tahun- tahun 70an. Penggunaan teknik moden telah terbukti sesuai dalam puisi dan prosa yang dihasikan.University Adalah dijangka Kesusasteraan Moden Mahua pasti akan menghadapi banyak kesukaran tanpa kewujudan Majalah Bulanan Chao Foon dan pencapaiannya tidak akan juga seperti hari ini. Tambahan pula, tanpa penubuhan Persatuan Puisi Sirius, dan penerbitan tiga buah antologi puisi tidak akan diterbitkan. Yang terakhir tetapi tidaklah kurang pentingnya daripada yang lain, ketiga-tiga tokoh kesusasteraan iaitu Bai Yao, Chen Ruixian dan Wen Renping telah memainkan peranan yang aktif sebagai penyemai media kesusasteraan dalam pelbagai fasa perkembangan Kesusasteraan Moden Mahua. Sebagai kesimpulan, strategi yang digunakan oleh tiga media yang berbeza dalam penyemaian Kesusasteraan Moden Mahua dari 1950an ke 1980an terbukti berhasil. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Firstly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Associate Professor Dr. Fan Pik Wah for the continuous support of my PhD study and related research, for her patience, motivation, and valuable comments. Her guidance helped me in all the time of research and writing of this thesis. I could not have imagined having a better supervisor for my PhD study. My sincere thanks also go to Mr. Leong Kim Kuan, Dr. Krishnan, Dr. Yeoh Seong Li and Associate Profesor Kuang Ching Hei, for their encouragement, insightful comments and hard questions which incented me to widen my research from various perspectives. Without their precious support it would not be possibleMalaya to conduct this research. Last but not the least, I would like to thank my wife for her unceasing encouragement and support and to my sons for supporting ofme spiritually throughout writing this thesis. I also place on record, my sense of gratitude to one and all who directly or indirectly, have lent their helping