Ideological and Poetological Tensions : Inventing Modern Chinese Poetry Through British Romanticism, 1917‑1933
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This document is downloaded from DR‑NTU (https://dr.ntu.edu.sg) Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Ideological and poetological tensions : inventing modern Chinese poetry through British Romanticism, 1917‑1933 Yan, Hanjin 2019 Yan, H. (2019). Ideological and poetological tensions : inventing modern Chinese poetry through British Romanticism, 1917‑1933. Doctoral thesis, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. https://hdl.handle.net/10356/137384 https://doi.org/10.32657/10356/137384 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution‑NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY‑NC 4.0). Downloaded on 25 Sep 2021 12:17:16 SGT Ideological and Poetological Tensions: Inventing Modern Chinese Poetry through British Romanticism, 1917-1933 YAN HANJIN SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES 2019 Ideological and Poetological Tensions: Inventing Modern Chinese Poetry through British Romanticism, 1917-1933 YAN HANJIN School of Humanities A thesis submitted to the Nanyang Technological University in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2019 Statement of Originality I certify that all work submitted for this thesis is my original work. I declare that no other person's work has been used without due acknowledgement. Except where it is clearly stated that I have used some of this material elsewhere, this work has not been presented by me for assessment in any other institution or University. I certify that the data collected for this project are authentic and the investigations were conducted in accordance with the ethics policies and integrity standards of Nanyang Technological University and that the research data are presented honestly and without prejudice. 12 August, 2019 . Date Yan Hanjin Supervisor Declaration Statement I have reviewed the content of this thesis and to the best of my knowledge, it does not contain plagiarised materials. The presentation style is also consistent with what is expected of the degree awarded. To the best of my knowledge, the research and writing are those of the candidate except as acknowledged in the Author Attribution Statement. I confirm that the investigations were conducted in accordance with the ethics policies and integrity standards of Nanyang Technological University and that the research data are presented honestly and without prejudice. 11 Aug 2019 . Date Asst Prof Kuo Szu-Yu Arista Authorship Attribution Statement Please select one of the following; *delete as appropriate: *(A) This thesis does not contain any materials from papers published in peer-reviewed journals or from papers accepted at conferences in which I am listed as an author. *(B) This thesis contains material from [x number] paper(s) published in the following peer-reviewed journal(s) / from papers accepted at conferences in which I am listed as an author. 12 August, 2019 . Date Yan Hanjin Acknowledgements I would like to express my gratitude to Professor Kuo Szu-Yu Arista and Dr. Cui Feng for their guidance and support and for encouraging me to pursue a research topic of interest to me and to pursue it at my own pace. I am also grateful to them for the rigorous academic and professional training. I am much obliged to Professor Uganda Sze Pui Kwan, who not only inspired me to widen the scope of my inquiry but also offered me invaluable advice on how to conduct academic research. Her attentiveness to my study is a constant source of my motivation, and her devotion to academic work is a ready model for my intellectual pursuits. I was flattered by Professor C. J. Wee Wan-ling’s attention to my project and by his suggestions for ways of improving my research. He familiarized me with the most important scholarly writings on modern Chinese literature and on the concept of modernity, which are indispensable for the completion of this thesis. I benefited from the expertise of many other professors over the course of my study. I am thankful to Professor Zhang Songjian for his instruction in modern Chinese poetry and for his information about English scholarly works on modern Chinese poets. I am indebted to Professor Sheldon Lu for his constructive advice on the titling and structuring of this study and for his illuminating explanation of the notion of modernity. I am appreciative of the assistance in finding scholarly accounts of British Romanticism provided by Professor Katherine Blyn Wakely-Mulroney and in analyzing the intellectual commitment of some modern Chinese poets provided by Professor Shen Weiwei. I should like to extend my heartfelt thanks to Professors Hou Pingping, Zhao Xiufu, and Wang Keyou for their constant care and unflagging support since I was an undergraduate. I cannot imagine how I could have accomplished my arduous journey, had it not been for the company of a group of devoted friends. Li Lianghui, always a delightful presence, brightened up many of my greyest days with her cheerful smile and willing heart. Qi Fei, always well disposed, came to my aid when I was confronted with seemingly insurmountable difficulties. Li Jiaqi, having a keen mind, enlightened me about a good number of complex concepts after many a fruitful discussion. Zhang Kunkun, an old friend, always answered my sudden calls with patience and gave me really helpful advice on my study. Many other friends also come to my support: i Hugo Tam Wing-yu, Yao Xiaoling, Zhang Lei, Kang Mengni, Long Chao, He Fan, Yan Bo, Lu Qianting, and Wang Zhitian. Finally, I want to thank my parents for encouraging me to pursue advanced studies and my sister for accompanying our parents during my long absence. The love of my parents and of my sister is essential to my endurance throughout this journey of a doctoral study, and so it is to them that I dedicate this dissertation. ii Table of Contents Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................... i Table of Contents .............................................................................................................................. iii Abstract ............................................................................................................................................. iv Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 1 Chapter One: National Agendas and New Poetics: Zhou Zuoren’s Translation and Imitation of William Blake ......................................................... 17 Chapter Two: Cultural Agendas and Classical Poetics: Wu Mi’s Enterprise of Imitating and Translating George Gordon Byron .................................... 71 Chapter Three: Rebellious Spirit and Inspired Expression: Guo Moruo’s Translation and Assimilation of Percy Bysshe Shelley............................................ 118 Chapter Four: Cultural Nationalism and Aesthetic Values: Wen Yiduo’s Exaltation and Assimilation of John Keats ............................................................... 168 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................... 219 Works Cited ….................................................................................................................................... 225 iii Abstract This study examines the rewriting of British Romanticism by prominent Chinese poets in the early republican era as part of their effort to construct or invent modern Chinese poetry, i.e. William Blake (1757-1827) by Zhou Zuoren (1885-1967), George Gordon Byron (1788-1824) by Wu Mi (1894-1978), Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) by Guo Moruo (1892-1978), and John Keats (1795-1821) by Wen Yiduo (1899-1946). It reveals the ideological and poetological tensions behind the appropriation of British Romanticism as well as the borrowings from British Romanticism as shown in the poetics and poetry of major modern Chinese poets. In doing so, it sheds light on the transformation of Western aesthetic modernity relocated to the Chinese context and problematizes the existing debate on the modernity of Chinese poetry, which tends to overlook the Western origin of modernity and to generalize foreign poetic influence. Concurrently, this study aspires to push back the boundaries of translation studies by scrutinizing not only the translation of British Romantic poetry but also its imitation and assimilation, two types of rewriting absent from André Lefevere’s theory but indicative of the British Romantic poetics and poetry crystallized into the traditions of modern Chinese poetry. iv Introduction The conventional view of modern Chinese poetry pinpoints the literary revolution of 1917 as the genesis of a modern poetics in China, which, as Michelle Yeh argues, not only differs from classical Chinese poetics in “formal and linguistic” matters, but also substitutes the age-old poetics with “new philosophical premises and artistic approaches” (3). One implicit assumption of this theory is that only the new poetry initiating or reflecting such poetic changes constitutes the proper object of study in the realm of modern Chinese poetry. A recently developed view contends that “both old-style and new-style poetry” composed in the twentieth century should be included in an accurate and balanced history of modern Chinese poetry (Tian 8). Rejecting the conventional perspective as an ideological construct of the May Fourth discourse, the central argument of this new theory is that old-style poetry,