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Focalization in Cen Shen's Frontier Settings Within the Context of Chinese Frontier Poetry

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Focalization in Cen Shen's Frontier Settings Within the Context of Chinese Frontier Poetry Traversing the Periphery: Focalization in Cen Shen's Frontier Settings Within the Context of Chinese Frontier Poetry by Daymon Joseph Macmillan B.A., Simon Fraser University, 2000 A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of Pacific and Asian Studies Daymon Joseph Macmillan University of Victoria All rights reserved. This thesis may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without the permission of the author. ii Traversing the Periphery: Focalization in Cen Shen's Frontier Settings Within the Context of Chinese Frontier Poetry by Daymon Joseph Macmillan B.A., Simon Fraser University, 2000 Supervisory Committee Dr. Tsung-Cheng Lin, Supervisor Department of Pacific and Asian Studies Dr. Daniel Bryant, Departmental Member Department of Pacific and Asian Studies Dr. Richard King, Departmental Member Department of Pacific and Asian Studies iii Supervisory Committee Dr. Tsung-Cheng Lin, Supervisor Department of Pacific and Asian Studies Dr. Daniel Bryant, Departmental Member Department of Pacific and Asian Studies Dr. Richard King, Departmental Member Department of Pacific and Asian Studies ABSTRACT This thesis has two main objectives: to first discuss the defining characteristics of frontier poetry (biansaishi 边塞诗) while showing how this subgenre of poetry blossomed during the Tang 唐 period prior to the An Lushan rebellion (anshizhiluan 安史之乱), and then to focus on one Tang frontier poet in particular, Cen Shen 岑参 (715-770), for a sustained critical investigation into how the poet-narrators of his texts focalize three types of frontier settings, namely landscapes of intense heat, cold and vast distances. These two objectives necessitate dividing the thesis into a bipartite structure, which is further subdivided into six chapters. Chapters one through three address the first objective of the thesis, that of surveying frontier poetry as it pertains to the subgenre's flourishing during Tang period. Chapters four through six endeavour to traverse Cen Shen's frontier settings with a critical eye on uncovering patterns behind the manner in which the poet-narrators perceive China's borderland regions, and to show how these patterns are repeated across disparate poems where the frontier setting itself features prominently. The result of such an analysis is the realization of an underlying foundation of focalization connecting the poet-narrators in each of Cen Shen's three major frontier environements. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Supervisory Committee ............................................................................................................................ii Abstract ....................................................................................................................................................iii Table of contents.......................................................................................................................................iv Acknowledgements...................................................................................................................................vi Part One: Overview of High Tang Frontier Poetry Introductory Remarks................................................................................................................................1 Chapter One: General Introduction 1.1. A Brief Historical Sketch.........................................................................................................3 1.2. Etymological Explanation of “Frontier” (biansai 边塞) ........................................................8 1.3. Key Locales Forming the Poetic Tang Frontier .....................................................................9 Chapter Two: Basic Anatomy of a Subgenre: Key Traits of Frontier Poetry.......................................... 16 2.1. The First Facet: Frontier War............................................................................................... 18 2.2. The Second Facet: Frontier Peoples and Customs................................................................29 2.3. The Third Facet: The Frontier Landscape............................................................................ 34 Chapter Three: High Tang Accomplishments in Frontier Poetry 3.1. Frontier Poetry: A Subgenre Challenged .............................................................................46 3.2. High Tang Frontier Poetry: Elements of Distinction 3.2.1. An Array of Martial Responses .............................................................................54 3.2.2. Forays into Frontier Responses: The Landscape ...................................................73 3.2.3. Forays into Frontier Responses: Local Peoples and Customs................................86 Part Two: Focalization in Cen Shen's Frontier Landscapes Introductory Remarks............................................................................................................................105 Chapter Four: Critical Overview and Theoretical Framework 4.1. 奇 (qi) and Cen Shen's Frontier Landscape: A Common Reading.....................................108 v 4.2. A Model of Focalization: Key Instruments for Investigating the Frontier Landscape........120 Chapter Five: Underlying Perceptual Facets of the Thermal and Hibernal Frontiers 5.1.Cen Shen's Thermal Landscape: Patterns in Perceiving Heat..............................................132 5.1.1. Coordinated Openings..........................................................................................135 5.1.2. Echoes of Ordinary Perceptual Facets..................................................................137 5.1.3. Imaginary Mode Correspondences.......................................................................140 5.1.4. A Landscape of Natural Violence.........................................................................143 5.2. Cen Shen's Hibernal Landscape: A System of Snow and Cold...........................................149 5.2.1. A Landscape of Shifting Focalization...................................................................152 5.2.2. Scale of Focalization: Ambient Spatial Coordinates............................................154 5.2.3. Degree of Kinesis: Active and Static Scenes........................................................161 5.2.4. A Typology of Cold: Innateness and Effect..........................................................165 Chapter Six: Perceiving the Landscape of Distance 6.1 The Frontier and Homesickness...........................................................................................171 6.1.1.Spatial Coordinates as Expressions of Homesickness and Separation..................178 6.1.2. Overcoming Distance Within the Frontier Setting...............................................186 Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................196 Bibliography (English Language Sources) ...........................................................................................202 Bibliography (Chinese Language Sources) ...........................................................................................206 Appendix One: Cen Shen's “Thermal” Poems.......................................................................................211 Appendix Two: Cen Shen's “Hibernal” Poems......................................................................................216 Appendix Three: Cen Shen's “Distance” Poems....................................................................................221 vi Acknowledgements Initial appreciation is directed towards the largesse displayed by SSHRC and various facets of the University of Victoria. Such support enabled a timely completion of my degree program by keeping certain earthly worries at bay. Next I would like to offer a bouquet of quicksilver flowers shimmering with memories of Enceladian ice plumes to Alice, Joanne, and Leanna in recognition of the patience they displayed in answering my numerous questions while also listening to my mildly frantic, and ultimately unfounded, prognostications. With my extraterrestrial botanical budget precluding another interplanetary purchase, I have only words to convey thanks to my thesis committee members, Dr. Daniel Bryant and Dr. Richard King, and thesis supervisor, Dr. Tsung-Cheng Lin, for their guidance through the often turbid waters of thesis writing. Specifically, Dr. Bryant's attention to linguistic precision and textual tradition was able to steer my crew of scurvy scribblers around the many lurking krakens seeking to sink clarity of expression. Dr. King's early comments on chapter five of my thesis also preempted a deeper muddiness from clouding my trek across imagined frontiers. And when storms obscured lodestars and constellations, Dr. Lin's extensive maps of rare poetic regions and uncommon theoretical realms was a godsend I could not have done without. Most of all, however, it was the material and emotional hull of my family which kept this enterprise afloat when threatened by long spells of dolour and distress. The care and endurance you displayed by never dismissing my worried blathering and monotonous moaning has made all present, and future, gargantuan tasks appear quite manageable. And to end, a gesture of gratitude towards Sir Doodlebug and Master Mittens for simplifying the warm meaninglessness of it all through their stories of sacred somnolence and cedar-scented sleep.
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