Zurich Open Repository and Archive University of Zurich Main Library Strickhofstrasse 39 CH-8057 Zurich www.zora.uzh.ch Year: 2017 Not afraid of ghosts: stories of the spectral in modern Chinese fiction Imbach, Jessica Elizabeth Abstract: This study explores literary representations of ghosts and the spectral in Mainland Chinese fiction from the Republican period (1912-1949) to the present. The first two chapters trace thepoliti- cization of Chinese ghost culture and literature within intellectual debates and fictional writings from the early 20th century. I argue that ghosts and narratives of haunting provided writers with a powerful metaphor and script to reflect on and negotiate a modernization project caught between the rejection and the strategic appropriation of China’s cultural history. Reading ghosts as a fictional space, which challenges normative hierarchies between the past and the present, China and the West, chapter three discusses the phantom romance plot in late Republican Shanghai fiction and the representation of female phantoms as gendered reflections of, and on, Shanghai’s commodity culture, cosmopolitanism, andthe changing real and symbolic roles of women. Chapter four focuses on the conjunction of Chinese ghost culture and classism in Mao-era literary production an analyzes the socialist adaptation of the anomaly account collection in “Stories About Not Being Afraid of Ghosts” (1961). Lastly, chapter five discusses two urban ghost novels from the post-Tiananmen period (1989-) which reimagine older models of cos- mography to reflect on critical issues in China today, such as heritage destruction, migration andair pollution. Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of Zurich ZORA URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-144209 Dissertation Published Version Originally published at: Imbach, Jessica Elizabeth. Not afraid of ghosts: stories of the spectral in modern Chinese fiction. 2017, University of Zurich, Faculty of Arts. Not Afraid of Ghosts: Stories of the Spectral in Modern Chinese Fiction Thesis presented to the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences of the University of Zurich for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Jessica Elizabeth Imbach Accepted in the spring semester 2017 on the recommendation of the doctoral committee: Prof. Dr. Andrea Riemenschnitter (main supervisor, University of Zurich) Prof. Dr. Angelika Malinar (University of Zurich) Prof. Dr. Meng Yue (University of Toronto) Zurich, 2017 Abstract This study explores literary representations of ghosts and the spectral in Mainland Chinese fiction from the Republican period (1912-1949) to the present. The first two chapters trace the politicization of Chinese ghost culture and literature within intellectual debates and fictional writings from the early 20th century. I argue that ghosts and narratives of haunting provided writers with a powerful metaphor and script to reflect on and negotiate a modernization project caught between the rejection and the strategic appropriation of China's cultural history. Reading ghosts as a fictional space, which challenges normative hierarchies between the past and the present, China and the West, chapter three discusses the phantom romance plot in late Republican Shanghai fiction and the representation of female phantoms as gendered reflections of, and on, Shanghai's commodity culture, cosmopolitanism, and the changing real and symbolic roles of women. Chapter four focuses on the conjunction of Chinese ghost culture and classism in Mao-era literary production and analyzes the socialist adaptation of the anomaly account collection in “Stories About Not Being Afraid of Ghosts” (1961). Lastly, chapter five discusses two urban ghost novels from the post- Tiananmen period (1989-) which reimagine older models of cosmography to reflect on critical issues in China today, such as heritage destruction, migration and air pollution. ii Zusammenfassung Diese Arbeit studiert unter Einbezug unterschiedlicher westlicher Theorien zu Gespenstern in der Moderne und zum Teil noch unerforschter chinesischer Quellen, die ästhetischen wie auch politischen Problemkreise, welche in der modernen chinesischen Literatur über die Figur des Gespenstes verhandelt werden. Die ersten beiden Kapitel analysieren die Auseinandersetzung mit Gespenstern im Intellektuellendiskurs der Republikszeit (1912-1949). Sie zeigen auf, wie anhand der literarischen Figur des Gespenstes unterschiedliche Modernisierungsvorstellungen zum Ausdruck gebracht wurden, welche eine Neuanordnung normativer Hierarchien zwischen China und dem Westen, der Vergangenheit und der Gegenwart anstrebten. Dies lässt sich beispielhaft aufzeigen an der Figur des gefährlich-schönen weiblichen Phantoms aus der vormodernen chinesischen Literatur, welches häufig in der Schanghaier Erzählliteratur der 1930er und 1940er Jahre erscheint und hier geschlechtskonnotierten Deutungsstrategien von Chinas Modernisierungsprozess dient. In ähnlicher Weise analysiert das vierte Kapitel die Adaption vormoderner Gespensterdiskurse in der sozialistischen Literatur im Hinblick auf die Klassenkampfrhetorik der maoistischen Periode. Das fünfte Kapitel schliesslich verortet literarische Auseinandersetzungen mit Figuren des Un- und Nichtmenschlichen in der Post-Tiananmen-Ära (1989-) im Kontext aktueller gesellschaftlicher Probleme wie Kulturgüterzerstörung, Migration und Luftverschmutzung. iii Table of Contents Abstract................................................................................................................................................ii Zusammenfassung...............................................................................................................................iii Acknowledgments...............................................................................................................................vi List of Illustrations.............................................................................................................................vii Summary...........................................................................................................................................viii Chapter 1: The new ghosts of a new China..........................................................................................1 1 Getting serious about ghosts: anti-spiritualism and ghost rhetoric from 1918-1949..................11 2 Making the case for ghosts: putting the project in context.........................................................19 Chapter 2:...........................................................................................................................................34 Ghost talk in 1936: “Living ghosts” and “real ghosts” in Republican-era literary discourse and the two Analects Fortnightly ghost story special issues...........................................................................34 1 Entertaining ghosts.....................................................................................................................34 2 Living with ghosts.......................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................................36 2.1 Phantom relations................................................................................................................39 3 Theorizing ghosts........................................................................................................................41 3.1 Shao's new ghost story: dead upon delivery?......................................................................43 4 Writing ghosts.............................................................................................................................51 4.1 Shao Xunmei: Listening to transgression...........................................................................52 4.2 Lu Jun: Old stories, new ghosts..........................................................................................55 4.3 Lin Weiyin: Losing sight of human(ity)..............................................................................57 4.4 Bi Shutang: Learning from “real ghosts”............................................................................60 5 In the company of ghosts............................................................................................................63 Chapter 3:...........................................................................................................................................67 Ghost Trouble: Female ghosts, fetishism and spectral subjectivity in Shanghai fiction from the Republican period...............................................................................................................................67 1 Keeping dreams of phantom love alive......................................................................................67 2 In love with ghosts: the phantom romance plot in 1930s Shanghai fiction................................71 2.1 Ye Lingfeng's “Luoyan”......................................................................................................77 2.2 Zhang Kebiao's “Mirage”....................................................................................................83 2.3 Shi Zhecun's “Witchcraft”...................................................................................................86 2.4 Xu Xu's “Ghost Love”........................................................................................................96