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Masculinity in Yu Hua's Fiction from Modernism to Postmodernism

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Masculinity in Yu Hua's Fiction from Modernism to Postmodernism Masculinity in Yu Hua’s Fiction from Modernism to Postmodernism By: Qing Ye East Asian Studies Department McGill University Montreal, QC. Canada Submission Date: 07/2009 A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirement of the degree of Master of Arts Unpublished work © 2009 Qing Ye I Abstract The Tiananmen Incident in 1989 triggered the process during which Chinese society evolved from so-called ―high modernism‖ to vague ―postmodernism‖. The purpose of this thesis is to examine and evaluate the gender representation in Chinese male intellectuals‘ writing when they face the aforementioned social evolution. The exemplary writer from the band of Chinese male intellectuals I have chosen is Yu Hua, one of the most important and successful novelists in China today. Coincidently, his writing career, spanning from the mid-1980s until present, parallels the Chinese intellectuals‘ pursuit of modernism and their acceptance of postmodernism. In my thesis, I re-visit four of his works in different eras, including One Kind of Reality (1988), Classical Love (1988), To Live (1992), and Brothers (2005), to explore the social, psychological, and aesthetical elements that formulate/reformulate male identity, male power and male/female relation in his fictional world. Inspired by those fictional male characters who are violent, anxious or even effeminized in his novels, one can perceive male intellectuals‘ complex feelings towards current Chinese society and culture. It is believed that this study will contribute to the literary and cultural investigation of the third-world intellectuals. II Résumé Les événements de la Place Tiananmen en 1989 a déclenché le processus durant lequel la société chinoise a évolué d‘un soi-disant "haut modernisme" vers un vague "post-modernisme". Le but de cette thèse est d'examiner et d‘évaluer la représentation des sexes dans l'écriture des intellectuels chinois mâles quand ils font face à l'évolution sociale mentionnée ci-dessus. L'auteur qui exemplifie bien le groupe d'intellectuels masculins chinois que j'ai choisi est Yu Hua, un des romanciers les plus importants et prolifiques de la Chine d‘aujourd'hui. Bonne coïncidence, sa carrière d'écrivain qui couvre la période commençant au milieu des années 1980 jusqu'à maintenant, trace des parallèles entre la poursuite du modernisme des intellectuels chinois et leur acceptation de post-modernisme. Dans ma thèse, je revisite quatre de ses travaux dans des périodes différentes, y compris One Kind of Reality (1988), Classical Love (1988), To Live (1992) et Brothers (2005). Le but est d‘explorer l‘aspect social, les éléments psychologiques et esthétiques qui formulent/reformulent l'identité masculine, le pouvoir masculin et la relation homme/femme dans son monde fictif. Inspiré par ces personnages masculins fictifs qui sont violents, anxieux ou même effeminés dans ses romans, on peut percevoir les sentiments complexes des intellectuels masculins envers la société et la culture chinoise actuelle. Je crois que cette étude contribuera à l'enquête sur la littérature et la culture des intellectuels des pays du Tiers-Monde. III ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Completing a thesis requires individual dedication and tireless support from colleagues, friends and family. I own my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Professor Peter Button for guiding my research and helping me complete this thesis. His illuminating advices considerably stimulated my study and his great support was indispensable for me. Also, I wish to thank some professors at McGill University, Professor Eugenio Bolongaro in the Department of Italian Studies and Professor Berkeley Kaite in the Department of English. They gave me valuable advices on the topic of this thesis. And a special thanks to Professor Grace Fong and Professor Kenneth Dean in the Department of East Asian Studies. Even though they did not contribute to this research directly, they have all enriched my knowledge and appreciation for research and scholarship. Among my colleagues in the Department of East Asian Studies, McGill University, I would like to thank Sara Neswald, Lin Fan and Wang Wanming, who offered warm-hearted help to me all along. In addition, another person to be thanked is Franck Bélanger who translated my thesis abstract into French. Finally and always, I am grateful to my parents and husband, Meng Zhiyong. Their encouragement, support and love offer me the power to pursue accomplishment. IV Table of Contents ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................... II RÉSUMÉ ............................................................................................................. III ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................. IV TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................................... V CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION .................................................................. 1 1.1 General introduction ....................................................................................... 1 1.2 Chinese masculinity and writing .................................................................... 4 1.3 Chinese modernism and postmodernism ....................................................... 8 1.4 Thesis overview .............................................................................................. 10 1.5 Biographical introduction to Yu Hua ........................................................... 12 CHAPTER TWO PATRIARCHY AND CHINESE MODERNISM .............. 19 2.1 Chinese literature and culture in the 1980s ................................................. 19 2.2 Women as commodities ................................................................................. 23 2.3 Masculine power ............................................................................................ 28 2.4 Women as victims of violence ........................................................................ 32 2.5 The success of phallus .................................................................................... 38 CHAPTER THREE MASCULINE CRISIS AND HISTORICAL TRAUMA43 3.1 Chinese literature in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Incident ................ 43 3.2 Male subject and historical trauma.............................................................. 48 3.3 Father and son ................................................................................................ 54 3.4 Women’s power .............................................................................................. 58 V CHAPTER FOUR MASCULINITY, COMMODITY AND CHINESE POSTMODERNISM ........................................................................................... 65 4.1 New media and contemporary Chinese literature ...................................... 66 4.2 Present and past ............................................................................................. 72 4.3 Two types of male ideals ................................................................................ 77 4.4 The fragile scholar ......................................................................................... 80 4.5 Women and commodities .............................................................................. 86 CHAPTER FIVE CONCLUSION ................................................................... 90 BIBLIOGRAPHY: ............................................................................................... 99 VI Chapter One Introduction 1.1 General introduction Bestselling book author, Yu Hua (born 1960), labeled as an avant-gardist and postmodernist writer, has been claimed to be one of most successful writers in contemporary China. His works demonstrate vivid linguistic and narrative characteristics that have attracted attention from various academic scholars, film directors, book publishers, and common readers throughout the world. As a critical observer of modern China, Yu Hua depicts the complex impact of Chinese politics, economics and culture. Hence, many aspects of his work, such as linguistic elements, narrative, and psychology offer fertile ground for analysis. In this thesis, I will analyze his works from the perspective of gender representations, such as the depiction of men and women, gender relations, and masculine crisis. What I want to explore is how Yu Hua‘s representation of gender is influenced by Chinese cultural elements, including Chinese tradition, the status of literature, the function of writers, and the interaction of serious literature with popular culture. Some feminist critics argue that some of Yu Hua‘s works include a misogynist trait, placing women in a secondary and eroticized position.1 Although I agree on some of these feminist arguments, my main objective is not to solely illustrate the patriarchal ideology in his writing. Instead, I attempt to explore how his 1 Please see Tonglin Lu, Misogyny, Cultural Nihilism & Oppositional Politics : Contemporary Chinese Experimental Fiction (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1995). Huayu 林华瑜 Lin, "Dancers on Ice at Midnight-- Reading the Female Images in Yu Hua's Fictions 暗夜里的蹈 冰者——余华小说的女性形象解读," Research of Chinese Literature 中国文学研究 63.4 (2001), Yuxiang 崔玉香 Cui, "Women, One Distorted and Converted Group 女性，一个被扭曲遮蔽的 群体," Dong Yue Tribune 东岳论丛 27.2 (2006), Tonglin Lu, Misogyny, Cultural Nihilism & Oppositional Politics : Contemporary Chinese Experimental Fiction (Stanford,
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