University of Macau / Faculty of Arts and Humanities. / Department of English

Mo Yan has become a well-known writer for his legendary style of novels within the past two decades. In 1988, the Chinese film, Red Sorghum, adapted from Mo Yan¡¦s novel, won the Golden Bear Prize in the 38th Berlin International Film Festival. Therefore, not only the film but also the original novel drew a lot of international attention. Mo Yan presents his charisma in multiple aspects of his novels due to his unique personal experience. First, he applied many colloquial materials as elements of folk literature in his novels. For instance, proverbs, legends, and ballads are commonly quoted in his writings. In addition, during his voluntary military service, he did have the experience to take part in composing a piece of Cat Tune, also known as Maoqiang, a local traditional Chinese Opera in Shandong Province. Second, Mo Yan has a spontaneous talent for story telling mainly passed down from his grandparents, the Chinese classic Zhanghuiti-Style Novels, and the translated literatures of world masterpieces. Third, his belief in insisting on writing as the general populace rather than writing for it has made him a spokesperson of the common people even though this is quite against others¡¦ points-of-view. This thesis aims to verify what those components of folklore in Mo Yan¡¦s novels are and whether they are highly agree with his belief or not. The whole text is divided into five chapters and emphasizes on analyzing the materials of folklore listed in categories. In addition, an introduction to Literature of the New Era is included.

This thesis investigates the two major conflicting modes of interpretation applied to Mo Yan’s literary texts diachronically and synchronically in order to reveal both the aesthetic imperative and the liberating force of the British and North American literary centers in receiving literature from the periphery. After an introduction to the centers’ disparate responses to the paradigmatic shift of the local Chinese literary trend in the 1980s, the thesis continues with a theoretical discussion on reader-response theory and the uneven power relations between the literary center and the periphery. Jauss’s concept of horizon of expectation and Fish’s interpretive community are adopted to stress openness in interpretation while Casanova’s conceptualization of the world republic of letters provides the framework to study the competition among interpretive communities for the legitimacy of their respective interpretation. The study of the press reception of Mo Yan focuses on the ongoing shift of horizon of expectation from the dominating political and representational mode of interpretation to one that stresses the literary and fictional nature of literature. The study shows that the imperative in the reception of Mo Yan is the extension of the Western cultural hegemony sustained by an Orientalist dichotomy. The academic promotion in the public sphere, however, shows critics’ effort to subvert such domination by suggesting an alternative mode that brings the Chinese literary context to bear on the interpretation. In addition to this, Mo Yan’s strategic negotiation with the dominating mode of reception is analysed in my close reading of POW!. At the end of the thesis, I call for general readers to raise the awareness of the hegemonic tendency of any prevailing mode of interpretation. By asserting a certain distance, readers enable the openness in interpretation and hence possible communication among different communities.

This thesis studies fictional narratives of the countryside by writers of rural origin in English and Chinese literature in relation to the "countryside ideal." The term, borrowed from Michael Bunce, describes an ancient as well as modern theme in literature, which sees the countryside as a desirable "home." The conventional construction of the countryside by urban writers sustains this ideal with simplistic and static images. My thesis extends the discussion beyond the idyllic countryside in the mainstream of Anglo-American culture and the genteel culture in China to concentrate on Thomas Hardy (1840-1928), Shen Congwen (1902-1988), and Mo Yan (b. 1956), who all have personal relations with the countryside and who enrich its image with accounts of actual life, reconnecting it to authentic home place. I discuss fictional narratives of the rural homelands of the three writers not as unmediated transcriptions but as cultural constructs, which are shaped by different literary traditions and responsive to specific historical contexts. My approach is mainly text-based, but supplemented by references to each writer's cultural and historical contexts. The Introduction situates these writers and their rural homelands in relation to the specific interest in the countryside in each writer's cultural milieu. Chapter One reads Hardy's reconstruction of the countryside in light of the struggle for existence in a Darwinian natural world. Hardy's sombre-looking rural landscapes highlight the complex difficulties of rural life and the moral and intellectual qualities required to survive in such a world. Chapter Two studies Shen Congwen's justification of rural culture in the midst of nationalist aspirations for globalization. His multi-layered fictionalization of the rural homeland centres on the image of water, a root symbol of Chinese culture, merging traditional Chinese culture with modernist vitalism. Chapter three examines Mo Yan's reconstruction of the rural homeland after the severe disruption of Chinese culture during the Mao era. Mo Yan's magic realist reconstruction testifies to the repression of the genius loci of his rural homeland by politics and expresses a desire to be reconnected with the original homeland through sensual bonds rather than detached observations. These writers' narratives redefine the countryside in relation to "home" as a centre for meaningful activities. The fact that they reappropriate and situate rural life and work in specific cultural traditions and diverse forms of modernity is manifested in their unique and irreplaceable literary constructions. I will offset Hardy's writing against that of the two Chinese writers, in order to clarify their rich and diverse cultural implications. Whereas Hardy subjects his fictional rural landscape to a scientific approach, Shen Congwen reconfirms traditional Chinese culture, linking it with the ideals of the May Fourth movement for renewal and revitalization. Mo Yan, for his part, combines the rural perspective and faith in the land with a modernist use of magic realism. Fictionalizations of the rural homeland thus reveal complex interactions with modernity.

Dynasties of Demons: Cannibalism from Lu Xun to Yu Hua focuses on the issue of representations of the body in modern Chinese fiction. My interest concerns the relationship, or correspondence between "textual" bodies and the physical "realities" they are meant to represent, particularly where those representations involve the body as a discursive site for the intersection of state ideology and the individual. The relationship between the body and the state has been a question of profound significance for modern Chinese literati dating back to the late Qing, but it was Lu Xun who, with the publication of his short story "Kuangren riji" (Diary of a Madman), in 1918, initiated the literaty discourse on China's "apparent penchant for cannibalizing its own people. In the first chapter of my dissertation I discuss L u Xun's fiction by exploring two distinct, though not mutually exclusive issues: (1) his diagnosis of China's debilitating "spiritual illness," which he characterized as being cannibalistic; (2) his highly inventive, counter-intuitive narrative strategy for critiquing traditional Chinese culture without contributing to or stimulating his reader's prurient interests in violent spectacle. To my knowledge I am the first critic of modern Chinese literature to write about Lu Xun's erasure of the spectacle body. In Chapters II, III and IV, I discuss the writers Han Shaogong, Mo Yan, and Yu Hua, respectively, to illustrate that sixty years after Lu Xun's madman first "wrote" the prophetic words, chi ren A (eat people), a number of post-Mao writers took up their pens to announce that the human feast did not end with Confucianism; on the contrary, with the advent of Maoism the feasting began in earnest. Each of these post-Mao writers approaches the issue of China's "spiritual dysfunction" from quite different perspectives, which I have characterized in the following way: Han Shaogong (Atavism); Mo Yan (Ambivalent-Nostalgia); and Yu Hua (Deconstruction). As becomes evident through my analysis of selected texts, despite their very significant differences (personal, geographic, stylistic) all three writers come to oddly similar conclusions that are, in and of themselves, not dissimilar to the conclusion arrived at by Lu Xun's madman.

Dynasties of Demons: Cannibalism from Lu Xun to Yu Hua focuses on the issue of representations of the body in modern Chinese fiction. My interest concerns the relationship, or correspondence between "textual" bodies and the physical "realities" they are meant to represent, particularly where those representations involve the body as a discursive site for the intersection of state ideology and the individual. The relationship between the body and the state has been a question of profound significance for modern Chinese literati dating back to the late Qing, but it was Lu Xun who, with the publication of his short story "Kuangren riji" (Diary of a Madman), in 1918, initiated the literaty discourse on China's "apparent penchant for cannibalizing its own people. In the first chapter of my dissertation I discuss L u Xun's fiction by exploring two distinct, though not mutually exclusive issues: (1) his diagnosis of China's debilitating "spiritual illness," which he characterized as being cannibalistic; (2) his highly inventive, counter-intuitive narrative strategy for critiquing traditional Chinese culture without contributing to or stimulating his reader's prurient interests in violent spectacle. To my knowledge I am the first critic of modern Chinese literature to write about Lu Xun's erasure of the spectacle body. In Chapters II, III and IV, I discuss the writers Han Shaogong, Mo Yan, and Yu Hua, respectively, to illustrate that sixty years after Lu Xun's madman first "wrote" the prophetic words, chi ren A (eat people), a number of post-Mao writers took up their pens to announce that the human feast did not end with Confucianism; on the contrary, with the advent of Maoism the feasting began in earnest. Each of these post-Mao writers approaches the issue of China's "spiritual dysfunction" from quite different perspectives, which I have characterized in the following way: Han Shaogong (Atavism); Mo Yan (Ambivalent-Nostalgia); and Yu Hua (Deconstruction). As becomes evident through my analysis of selected texts, despite their very significant differences (personal, geographic, stylistic) all three writers come to oddly similar conclusions that are, in and of themselves, not dissimilar to the conclusion arrived at by Lu Xun's madman. / Arts, Faculty of / Asian Studies, Department of / Graduate

This thesis studies fictional narratives of the countryside by writers of rural origin in English and Chinese literature in relation to the "countryside ideal." The term, borrowed from Michael Bunce, describes an ancient as well as modern theme in literature, which sees the countryside as a desirable "home." The conventional construction of the countryside by urban writers sustains this ideal with simplistic and static images. My thesis extends the discussion beyond the idyllic countryside in the mainstream of Anglo-American culture and the genteel culture in China to concentrate on Thomas Hardy (1840-1928), Shen Congwen (1902-1988), and Mo Yan (b. 1956), who all have personal relations with the countryside and who enrich its image with accounts of actual life, reconnecting it to authentic home place. I discuss fictional narratives of the rural homelands of the three writers not as unmediated transcriptions but as cultural constructs, which are shaped by different literary traditions and responsive to specific historical contexts. My approach is mainly text-based, but supplemented by references to each writer's cultural and historical contexts. The Introduction situates these writers and their rural homelands in relation to the specific interest in the countryside in each writer's cultural milieu. Chapter One reads Hardy's reconstruction of the countryside in light of the struggle for existence in a Darwinian natural world. Hardy's sombre-looking rural landscapes highlight the complex difficulties of rural life and the moral and intellectual qualities required to survive in such a world. Chapter Two studies Shen Congwen's justification of rural culture in the midst of nationalist aspirations for globalization. His multi-layered fictionalization of the rural homeland centres on the image of water, a root symbol of Chinese culture, merging traditional Chinese culture with modernist vitalism. Chapter three examines Mo Yan's reconstruction of the rural homeland after the severe disruption of Chinese culture during the Mao era. Mo Yan's magic realist reconstruction testifies to the repression of the genius loci of his rural homeland by politics and expresses a desire to be reconnected with the original homeland through sensual bonds rather than detached observations. These writers' narratives redefine the countryside in relation to "home" as a centre for meaningful activities. The fact that they reappropriate and situate rural life and work in specific cultural traditions and diverse forms of modernity is manifested in their unique and irreplaceable literary constructions. I will offset Hardy's writing against that of the two Chinese writers, in order to clarify their rich and diverse cultural implications. Whereas Hardy subjects his fictional rural landscape to a scientific approach, Shen Congwen reconfirms traditional Chinese culture, linking it with the ideals of the May Fourth movement for renewal and revitalization. Mo Yan, for his part, combines the rural perspective and faith in the land with a modernist use of magic realism. Fictionalizations of the rural homeland thus reveal complex interactions with modernity. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

鄉土文學作為一種文學類別，源出於作家們對前現代、傳統文化與土地關係的關懷。隨著時代變遷，鄉土文學被賦予更多的功能。不再只是再現吾人現代性精神危機的烏托邦救贖，也不單純只是對逝去的純美人情的哀悼，更不僅被當作現代性的對立面。從五四時期以來的鄉土文學至今，已然發展出全然不同的面貌，唯一不變的是，鄉土文學的核心價值依舊是以「人與土地」為主軸，從人與土地的關係出發，思考不同階段的社會轉型與文化衝擊。在持續的現代化與全球化的當下，鄉土文學必然受到衝擊，在現代化與高度資本主義的社會環境中，都市文學與大眾娛樂文化的雙重夾擊下，鄉土文學成為一種艱難的文類，在世代差異之下，鄉土文學必然喪失其影響力與活力。 此外，中國特殊的政治體制與其制度，使得鄉土文學產生不同的變化，轉型成為一種彈性的文類，將鄉土視為全球化的在地資本，再者，因中國快速的全面轉型，使得新舊文化被雜揉於同一時期。新與舊、現代與傳統、都市與鄉村就這樣被濃縮在同一時期裡。因此鄉土文學在中國，除了因疆域廣大，現代化程度的普及性仍有一定限度外，最重要的是，當今中國的中堅世代，都是歷經高度文化衝擊下的一員，在他們身上仍舊保留傳統文化的親歷性，也同樣對現代化的利弊具有深刻理解，作家們依循自己的生命經驗試圖理解當代中國與世界。 本研究先以中國當代文化語境與鄉土文學之發展脈絡為背景，再以三位50後作家韓少功、莫言、阿來之專章，討論其鄉土小說中的身分認同。此三位作家皆完整經歷中國當代劇烈的社會變遷，並循著自身的「鄉土經驗」，重新審視中國現代性如何擺盪在現代性與民族性之間，並展現其中的文化能動性，以多元的鄉土文體形式來界定主流政治。 自新時期以來，中國作家與主流政治共同自「鄉土」汲取文化動能，建構屬於自身獨特的話語形式（discourse）回應中國新時期的後革命論述。 / As a literary category, the native-soil literature was originated from the care that the writers had on the relationship between pre-modern, traditional culture and the land. With the changing times, the native-soil literature has been given more functions. It is no longer just to re represent the utopian salvation of our modern spiritual crisis, or just the mourning for the passed-by beautiful interpersonal affection, or only be viewed as the opposite of modernity. Since the May Fourth period, the native-soil literature has now developed a completely different appearance. The only constant is that the core value of the native-soil literature remains to be centered around the “people and the land”, rooting from the relationship between people and the land to think about the different stages of social transformation and cultural impact. Under the ongoing modernization and globalization, the native-soil literature is bound to be impacted. In the modern and highly capitalist social environment and under the double attacks of urban literature and mass entertainment culture, the native-soil literature has become a difficult genre. Due to the generation differences, the native-soil literature will inevitably lose its influence and vitality. In addition, the special political framework and system of China cause the native-soil literature to have different changes, transforming into a flexible genre and viewing the “native soil” as the globalized local capital. Moreover, due to rapid and comprehensive transformation of China, the old and new cultures were rubbed into the same period. The concepts of new and old, modern and traditional, and urban and rural were all condensed into the same period as well. Therefore, while the native-soil literature of China has been somewhat limited in terms of degree of modernization and popularity due to the vast territory, the most important thing is that the backbone generation in China today all went through high cultural impact, and they still retain the traditional cultural experiences while having deep understandings about the pros and cons of modernization. The writers try to understand the contemporary China and the world through their own life experiences. This study uses the development processes of Chinese contemporary cultural context and native-soil literature as background, and then discuss the identity identification within the native-soil novels through dedicated chapters of three writers who were born after 1950 – Han Shao-gong, Mo Yan and Alai. All three writers went through dramatic social changes of contemporary China, and with their “native-soil experiences”, they re-examined how China's modernity swung between the modernity and nationality, displayed the cultural motility therein, and defined the mainstream politics in the form of multivariate native-soil literature. Ever since the new era, writers and mainstream politics in China have all been drawing cultural energies from the “native-soil” to construct their own unique discourse forms, so as to respond to the post-Revolution discourse of China’s new era.

The aim of this study is to use an intermedial theory to analyse and contextualize embodiment and violence in the Chinese author Mo Yan’s Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out. I use Jørgen Bruhn’s mediality model, introduced in The Intermediality of Narrative Literature: Medialities Matter (2016), to analyse medial phenomena such as intra- and intermediality in the novel. Bruhn’s model mainly covers relations between several media and within a single medium. The focus of this study lies on the blending of different media within the novel. My hypothesis is that the depiction of embodied violence in the novel is a literary strategy, based on cognitive functions and Chinese oral traditions to communicate historical events, as well as through an intermedial depiction of those events, a way to avoid censorship. Of particular importance to this study are medial phenomena connected to visualization of memories, and intermediality as discipline a voice between media texts, to establish how a literary text through narrative techniques can create an illusion of cinematic blending. I see this as an illustration of the historical hierarchical struggle between art forms. This is a broader perspective on literary depiction in Mo Yan’s novel than generally can be found in interpretations originating in a Western discourse. The result of my study shows that medial phenomena such as inter- and intramediality are woven into a narrative theme of remembrance of historical political events. Such memories are communicated through depictions of embodied violence, as well as the impact of trauma on anonymous bodies reminiscent of cinematic techniques, heightened by the metafictive voice of Mo Yan within the novel. It is a perspective that is also accentuated through auditory and visual elements that recall the ability of audio-visual media techniques to create identification with exposed bodies through close-up depictions of body and violence. Hence, Mo Yan has constructed a grid of medial phenomena in the novel through which he is able to convey historical processes without risking censorship.