ABSTRACT Title of Document: VIRGINIA WOOLF IN CHINA AND TAIWAN: RECEPTION AND INFLUENCE Kwee-len Lee, Doctor of Philosophy, 2010 Directed By: Dr. Jianmei Liu, Associate Professor, Chinese Program, School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures Virginia Woolf’s reputation as a writer, critic, and writer has long traveled far and wide. While her popularity in Europe has been well documented, her reception in the Chinese-speaking world—which enjoys the largest population on earth—has been little discussed. This study represents an effort to trace the reception and influence of Woolf and her work in China and Taiwan, which share similar cultures and languages but have been separated by socio-political ideologies, back to as early as the 1920s. The discussion is temporally divided into four periods, from the pre-separation period before 1949, the pre-open-policy period before 1978, the pre-21st century period, through the most recent decade in the very beginning of the twenty-first century. Each period is shown to demonstrate its unique characteristics. The three decades before the Nationalist government retreated to Taiwan enjoyed a privilege of direct contact or correspondence with Woolf herself and her contemporaries. Such a privilege was nevertheless limited to the elite few, which in turn limited Woolf’s overall reception. The next period witnessed a Woolf never so forlorn in the Chinese- speaking worlds. In China, she was totally silenced along with her modernist comrades. Her reception in Taiwan appeared somewhat better but was still hardly commensurate with the efforts introducing her and her contemporaries. The last two decades of the twentieth century saw her reception on the rise in both Taiwan and China. Their somewhat different readerships, however, distinguished the ways in which she had been received: while Taiwan was warm and quick to notice her social concerns, China was more critical in attitude and focused more on her literary theories. During the 2000s, Woolf’s reception is argued to have matured to such an extent that it turns into influences as evidenced in the various artistic creations in response to her works and the various appropriations of her image as a feminist writer. From the sporadic budding in the first half of the twentieth century to its full blossom in the last decade, Woolf’s reception is examined against its receiving environment and argued to vary with different factors at different times. VIRGINIA WOOLF IN CHINA AND TAIWAN RECEPTION AND INFLUENCE By Kwee-len Lee Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2010 Advisory Committee: Professor Jianmei Liu, Chair Professor James Gao, Dean’s Representative Professor Regina Harrison Professor Jason Kuo Professor Deborah Rosenfelt © Copyright by Kwee-len Lee 2010 Acknowledgements Associating with wise and caring people, said the Buddha, is key to one’s success in life. I have been blessed enough to have so many compassionate people around me during the course of my doctoral study, and it was their strong support that has helped me eventually get to the finish line. I would like to express my utmost gratitude to Professor Liu Jianmei, my dissertation advisor, for her insightful advice on my work. It was through her erudite guidance that I learned to appreciate the beauty of Asian, particularly Chinese, literature and its potential role in my future research. I feel especially obliged for her full confidence in me while I was dissertating and for her never-failing encouraging words so very reinvigorating when my energy was running low. It is the chivalry in her, along with her patience and sensibility—which I admire most, that has sustained me through the most difficult times in writing my dissertation. I am indebted to Professor Rosenfelt for her careful reading and correcting of my draft, which was of great help to perfecting my argument. In fact, I took my first doctoral course at the University with her and benefited immensely from her knowledge of feminism. She wrote one of my four comprehensive examinations years ago and impressed me with her kindness being willing to spend so much time on me. She is role model to me as a scholar and a caring professor. I am grateful to Professor Regina Harrison for her invaluable comments on my work. I consider myself blessed to have met her from the very early stage of my doctoral study. I benefitted greatly from her course on the indigenous, and I was fortunate to have her standing by me when time got very rough for me. She was one of the reasons I decided to return to the program of comparative literature after one-semester leave of absence, and I would like to share with her my achievement, if any. My gratitude also goes to Professor Jason Kuo and Professor James Gao for serving on my doctoral committee. I thank them for their critical commentaries to polish and upgrade my work. I want to thank also Professor John Fuegi. It was he who has aroused my intellectual curiosity in Virginia Woolf, and it was his insights into Woolf’s works that has inspired in me the idea that later became my dissertation topic. No words in any languages and dialects I know of can express my love and thanks to my dearest husband, Aleck, whose love and support mean the whole world to me. He has never failed to find a spot for me on his hectic schedule, even while his gray hair has grown rampant out of his own busy research. His critical comments have helped me to quickly organize my points. I could not have finished my dissertation without his support and love. For me he is not only a caring husband but also the best peer and friend any one could possibly have in life. ii I want to extend my gratitude to Bhante Seelawimala, my kalyanamitta, for his metta to help me face the many hardships while I was pursuing my degree. I could have given up, had he not constantly boosted my self-confidence and encouraged me to finish the race, a marathon that took almost ten years to get to the finish line. I am indebted to Professor Lim Kien-ket, my good friend, for all the help he has given me. He checked out many books for me from the library, and his encyclopedic knowledge and good advice have given me immense help in completing my work. I would like to thank him and his family for this. I want to thank Chiu Chen and Li Hong, a lovely couple who gave me a great deal of help in my husband’s absence. I would like to express my deepest appreciation to Chiu Chen, my Mercury, who helped to pick up and deliver important documents on campus for me so that I was able to focus on my project on the other side of the globe. May their Snowball be always happy and well. I also thank Sueming Yang and Chi-Hsu Hsieh for their friendship during my stay in Maryland. The support Dr. Eileen Guo has given me deserves a special place. She is my good friend, confidante, and above all, my bank. It was good karma that led us to meet each other some two decades ago in Taiwan, and it is wonderful friendship that has been binding us ever since. I would like to dedicate my dissertation to both of my families in Taiwan and Malaysia, in particular to my generous and loving father Lee Koon who always has faith in my ability. Dedication also goes to my dearest doggie son, Gueiyifo, who has kept me company during the long and lonely process of writing, in the states and in Taiwan. He has always been there for me, loving and trustworthy. iii Table of Contents Acknowledgments………………………………………………………….. ii Table of Contents…………………………………………………………… iv Chapter One Introduction…………………………………………………. 1 The International Reception of Woolf………………………………. 1 Description of Thesis………………………………………………... 10 Abbreviations of Woolf’s Works………………………………........ 16 Chapter Two The Early Encounter: Virginia Woolf in China during the Republic Period (1920s-1940s)…………………………….. 17 Woolf Readership…………………………………………………… 18 Woolf as a Literary Writer and Critic……………………………..... 22 Woolf as a Feminist Writer…………………………………………. 34 Woolf as an Influence……………………………………………..... 46 Chapter Three The Reception of Woolf in Taiwan (1950s-2000s)……….... 61 The Writer and Critic Woolf from the 1950s to the 1970s…………. 62 Woolf and Wenxue zazhi in the 1950s………………………...... 63 Woolf and Xiandai wenxue in the 1960s………………….......... 68 Woolf and Chung-Wai Literary Quarterly in the 1970s………. 74 Woolf as a Writer, Critic, and Feminist from the 1980s to the 1990s 76 The Growing Popularity of Woolf…………………………….... 77 The Onset of Woolf’s Reception as a Feminist………………..... 78 The Polyphonic Woolf in the 2000s………………………………… 86 The Translation of Woolf……………………………………….. 87 Diverse Perspectives on Woolf…………………………………. 89 Chapter Four The Reception of Woolf in China (1950s-2000s)………….. 96 Woolf in the Pre-1978 Period……………………………………..... 99 Woolf in the Post-1978 Period……………………………………… 103 Woolf in the 1980s…………………………………………….... 104 Woolf in the 1990s ……………………………………………... 112 The Literary Woolf………………………………………...... 113 The Critical Woolf…………………………………………... 115 The Feminist Woolf…………………………………………. 116 Woolf in the 2000s—Literary, Critical, and Feminist figure….... 121 The Literary Woolf………………………………………...... 126 The Critical Woolf…………………………………………... 128 The Feminist and Sociopolitical Woolf……………………... 130 Chapter Five The Influence of Woolf on Chinese Culture………………… 137 A Woolf of One’s Own……………………………………………... 141 The Woolfian Literary Ideal………………………………………… 159 iv The Chinese-speaking Orlando……………………………………... 162 Stream of Chinese Consciousness…………………………………... 170 Woolf in the Backdrop……………………………………………… 178 Chapter Six Conclusion…………………………………………………… 185 Appendix A: Figures……………………………………………………….. 191 Appendix B: Translations of Woolf’s Major Works (by Year)…………….