Corso di Dottorato di ricerca in Studi sull’Asia e sull’Africa, 30° ciclo ED 120 – Littérature française et comparée EA 172 Centre d'études et de recherches comparatistes WRITING MEMORY: GLOBAL CHINESE LITERATURE IN POLYGLOSSIA Thèse en cotutelle soutenue le 6 juillet 2018 à l’Université Ca’ Foscari Venezia en vue de l’obtention du grade académique de : Dottore di ricerca in Studi sull’Asia e sull’Africa (Ca’ Foscari), SSD: L-OR/21 Docteur en Littérature générale et comparée (Paris 3) Directeurs de recherche Mme Nicoletta Pesaro (Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia) M. Yinde Zhang (Université Sorbonne Nouvelle – Paris 3) Membres du jury M. Philippe Daros (Université Sorbonne Nouvelle – Paris 3) Mme Barbara Leonesi (Università degli Studi di Torino) Mme Nicoletta Pesaro (Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia) M. Yinde Zhang (Université Sorbonne Nouvelle – Paris 3) Doctorante Martina Codeluppi Année académique 2017/18 Corso di Dottorato di ricerca in Studi sull’Asia e sull’Africa, 30° ciclo ED 120 – Littérature française et comparée EA 172 Centre d'études et de recherches comparatistes Tesi in cotutela con l’Université Sorbonne Nouvelle – Paris 3: WRITING MEMORY: GLOBAL CHINESE LITERATURE IN POLYGLOSSIA SSD: L-OR/21 – Littérature générale et comparée Coordinatore del Dottorato Prof. Patrick Heinrich (Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia) Supervisori Prof.ssa Nicoletta Pesaro (Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia) Prof. Yinde Zhang (Université Sorbonne Nouvelle – Paris 3) Dottoranda Martina Codeluppi Matricola 840376 3 Écrire la mémoire : littérature chinoise globale en polyglossie Résumé : Cette thèse vise à examiner la représentation des mémoires fictionnelles dans le cadre global de la littérature chinoise contemporaine, en montrant l’influence du déplacement et du translinguisme sur les œuvres des auteurs qui écrivent soit de la Chine continentale soit d’outre-mer, et qui s’expriment à travers des langues différentes. Les quatre romans Zha gen (Prendre racine) par Han Dong, Balzac et la petite tailleuse chinoise par Dai Sijie, The Crazed (La démence du sage) par Ha Jin et Rou zhi tu (Beijing Coma) par Ma Jian seront comparés en tant qu’images des mémoires individuelles de la Révolution Culturelle et du mouvement pour la démocratie qui a eu lieu à Tian’anmen en 1989. Dans la première partie, nous discuterons les nouvelles approches théoriques qui configurent la littérature chinoise contemporaine comme une entité polyglossique et déterritorialisée. Dans la deuxième partie, nous nous concentrerons sur deux exemples d’autofiction, à savoir Zha gen et Balzac et la petite tailleuse chinoise, en comparant leur représentation du temps figuré comme une évolution identitaire de l’individu. Dans la troisième partie, nous analyserons les deux romans The Crazed et Rou zhi tu, en mettant en évidence le caractère spatial de la mémoire, transposé en forme de témoignage fictionnel. Finalement, dans la quatrième partie, nous explorerons les interactions entre la littérature chinoise et la littérature mondiale, en plaçant les cas analysés dans une perspective translinguistique. À travers la comparaison entre les versions chinoise, anglaise et française des romans, nous montrerons comment les mémoires déterritorialisées sont modulées par la traduction et l’autotraduction. Mots clefs : Mémoire, littérature chinoise globale, Han Dong, Dai Sijie, Ha Jin, Ma Jian 5 Writing Memory: Global Chinese Literature in Polyglossia Abstract: This thesis aims to investigate the representation of fictional memories in the context of global Chinese literature, showing how displacement and translingualism affect the works by authors from the Mainland and from overseas, who express their creativity in different languages. The four novels Zha gen (Striking Root) by Han Dong, Balzac et la petite tailleuse chinoise (Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress) by Dai Sijie, The Crazed by Ha Jin, and Rou zhi tu (Beijing Coma) by Ma Jian are compared as reflections of individual memories of the Cultural Revolution and of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. The first part of the thesis addresses the new theoretical approaches configuring contemporary Chinese literature as a polyglossic and deterritorialised entity. The second part focuses on the analysis of two examples of autofictions, Zha gen and Balzac et la Petite Tailleuse chinoise, comparing their representation of time as reflected in the evolution of the individual. The third part explores the two novels The Crazed and Rou zhi tu, focusing on the spatial character of memory transposed in the form of a fictional témoignage. Finally, the fourth part investigates the interactions between Chinese literature and world literature, placing the cases analysed in a translingual perspective. The comparison between the Chinese, the English and the French versions of the novels shows how deterritorialised memories are modulated through translation and self-translation. Keywords: Memory, Global Chinese Literature, Han Dong, Dai Sijie, Ha Jin, Ma Jian 6 ALLEGRIA DI NAUFRAGI E subito riprende il viaggio come dopo il naufragio un superstite lupo di mare. (G. Ungaretti, 1917) 7 8 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am deeply grateful to my supervisors, Prof. Nicoletta Pesaro and Prof. Yinde Zhang, who followed this project through all its phases. I want to thank Prof. Pesaro for first believing in my project and for accepting to train me back in 2014 when motivation was the only thing I had to offer. She taught me, both consciously and unconsciously, how research is done, and her tireless dedication has been a great source of inspiration. I would also like to express my gratitude to Prof. Zhang, for agreeing to be my co-supervisor and giving me the opportunity to improve myself under his guidance. His disarming logic often pushed me into a corner, forcing me to develop stronger critical thinking skills. I do not know if I will ever be able to live up to their standards, but I want to say how lucky I feel for having given the chance to walk by their side all along this path. Besides my supervisors, I would like to thank the reviewers, Prof. Monika Gänssbauer and Prof. Barbara Leonesi, for reading this thesis and giving me valuable feedback. I am also thankful to Prof. Philippe Daros, for allowing this co-supervision and agreeing to be part of the jury. In addition, I want to thank Prof. Chen Xiaoming for letting me conduct part of my research at Peking University under his supervision. Those stays have been of primary importance for me, as a student and as a researcher. I would also like to thank Prof. David Wang for inspiring this project and giving me insightful comments on its earliest versions. During my PhD, I had the chance to cross paths with many wonderful people. I would like to thank Marcella, Silvia, Sara, Raissa, Beatrice and all the other students and researchers who animate the third floor of the Department of Asian and North African Studies in Venice. Thanks to Wu Hanlai and Zhang Hengtao for sharing coffee and ideas at the François-Mitterand Library. I also 9 want to thank Xu Zhihua, for his friendship and support, despite the years and the distance. It would have been impossible for me to complete this thesis without my family, especially my parents, who I want to thank for giving me the opportunity to embark on this path and for teaching me to hold on. Last but not least, thanks to Paolo, who is to me not only an endlessly patient and extraordinarily caring person but also an outstanding researcher and colleague. Thank you. 10 11 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 15 PART ONE: A DETERRITORIALISED CHINESE LITERATURE 27 1. The Position of the Mainland 29 1.1. The Formation of the Field 30 1.2. A Preliminary Definition 32 1.3. Building a Methodology 36 1.4. Exophone Writing 38 2. Hermeneutics of the Sinophone Model 42 2.1. The Invention of the Concept 43 2.2. Multiple Readings 47 2.3. The Reaction of the Centre 50 3. What Is Global Chinese Literature? 55 3.1. Systematising Heterogeneity 55 3.2. Visions of a Globalised Chineseness 57 3.3. Polyglossic Perspectives 60 3.4. A Deterritorialising Process 62 PART TWO: INDIVIDUALISED RECOLLECTIONS 65 1. Han Dong and Dai Sijie: Between History and Story 67 1.1. A Childhood in Banishment 68 1.2. A Migrated Youth 71 1.3. Two Forms of Remoteness 75 2. Memory and Bildungsroman 77 2.1. questioning Identity 78 2.2. Autofiction and the Cultural Revolution 91 2.3. Variations in Discourse 154 PART THREE: DISPLACING REMINISCENCES 169 1. Ha Jin and Ma Jian: Re-Narrations in Exile 171 1.1. Voicing Freedom from Elsewhere 172 1.2. A Self-Exiled Mind 176 1.3. Recollections of June Fourth 179 2. Tiananmen History through Memory 182 2.1. Narration in Situ 183 12 2.2. Places and Spatialities 196 2.3. History in Words 246 PART FOUR: TRANSLINGUAL NOMADISM 257 1. The Impact of Translation 259 1.1. Language Intersections 262 1.2. Temporal Disparities 270 1.3. Spatial Alterations 277 2. Distorted Articulations 286 2.1. At the Margins of Globality 286 2.2. Scattered Chinesenesses 290 CONCLUSION 295 BIBLIOGRAPHY 317 13 NOTE ON TRANSCRIPTION In this thesis, the Chinese terms have been transcribed using the pinyin Romanisation system followed by the Chinese characters and the English translation. For reasons of coherence, the traditional form (fanti 繁體) has been adopted even for quotations from novels originally published in simplified characters (jianti 簡體). The references to the proper names of the characters of the novels have been made employing their official English translations. Unless otherwise specified, other translations are by the author of the thesis. 14 INTRODUCTION 15 16 More than two decades have passed since when Jacques Derrida wrote his famous statement “[j]e n’ai qu’une langue, ce n’est pas la mienne”1 (I only have one language, yet it is not my own).