Cette étude se situe dans le contexte des échanges culturels franco-chinois qui se produisent à Shanghai pendant les années vingt et trente et à Taïwan pendant les années cinquante et soixante. Nous nous proposons d’interroger la quête poétique — la quête de la métamorphose — à laquelle s’adonnent, avec l’aide du symbolisme ou du surréalisme, des poètes chinois sur un fond de conflits intellectuels, idéologiques et militaires. Ces écoles françaises sont intimement liées au destin personnel de ces poètes qui se voient à la merci de celui de leur pays. Aussi munis des ailes symbolistes ou surréalistes, ils ne peuvent échapper à une réalité pénétrée par la politique. Le fond historique et culturel en question renvoie à un cadre de référence structuré par les six principaux groupes d’écrivains qui contribuent à l’échange poétique franco-chinois et qui sont inévitablement impliqués dans la politique : la “Société d’études littéraires”, “Création”, l’école “Le croissant” et l’école “Moderne” à Shanghai durant les années vingt et trente ; l’“École moderne” et “Genèse” à Taïwan durant les années cinquante et soixante. C’est dans ce cadre que nous discutons, sur la base d’une analyse textuelle, de la réception du symbolisme à Shanghai et de celle du surréalisme à Taïwan. / Situated in the context of the Franco-Chinese cultural intercourse which happens in the Shanghai of the 20s and the 30s and in the Taiwan of the 50s and the 60s, this study aims to discuss the poetic quest — the quest of metamorphosis — to which some Chinese poets devote themselves by referring to symbolism or surrealism, a quest which takes place against a background of intellectual, ideological, and military conflits. These French literary schools are intimately linked with the fate of these poets at the mercy of the fate of their country. No matter how well they are equipped with symbolist or surrealist wings, they cannot escape from the reality of an age penetrated by politics. The historical and cultural background in question has to do with the frame of reference constituted by the six principal groups of writers reputed for their contributions to Franco-Chinese poetic intercourse : “Society of literary studies”, “Creation”, the school “New Moon”, and the school “Modern” in Shanghai during the 20s and the 30s; “Modern School” and “Genesis” in Taiwan during the 50s and the 60s. They are all involved in politics. It is within this frame of reference that we approach the subject of the reception of symbolism in Shanghai and that of the reception of surrealism in Taiwan on the basis of a textual analysis.

The Crescent Moon School (新月派Xinyue pai) is a Chinese intellectual group that was active from 1923 to 1934. Its members include Xu Zhimo 徐志摩(1897-1931), Hu Shi 胡适 (1891-1962), Liang Shiqiu 梁实秋(1903-1987), Wen Yiduo 闻一多(1899-1946), Luo Longji 罗隆基(1896-1965), and many other Anglo-American educated scholars in the Republican era. Although the group was engaged in various activities, poetry was their primary concern and their most notable practice. This thesis intends to solve two problems: 1) what common values or core spirit guided the various cultural practices of the group? 2) what are the poetic features and underlying poetics of the group as a whole? To answer the two questions, this thesis firstly examines the core spirit of the group by reviewing their activities and historical development. It argues that underlying the various activities and facts, there was a core spirit shared by the group. This core spirit, which I refer to as the “modern conservative spirit”, reflected a unique understanding of modernity that was different from that of the May Fourth discourse. They understood modernity not as a negation of tradition, but as a critical synthesis and mutual conformity between the old and the new, the local and the global. I show how the Crescent Moon intellectuals acquired this core spirit, and how it was displayed in their various activities. Secondly, this thesis provides detailed textual analysis of several Crescent Moon poems and reconstructs their poetics. It argues that their poetics demonstrated three faces, i.e. a romantic temperament, a classic ideal, and a modern consciousness. The three faces coexisted throughout the poetic practice of the group, although a certain face might have dominated in a certain period. I demonstrate how the three faces were unified under the guidance of the modern conservative spirit, and I argue that the simultaneousness of the three faces embodied the modern conservative intellectuals’ pursuit of literary modernity. By discussing the core spirit and poetics of the Crescent Moon School, this thesis concludes that the group was a missing link in Republican modern conservative trend, linking the late 1910s and early 1920s neotraditionalist thinkers with the mid-1930s Beijing School writers. The modern conservative intellectuals represented a dissenting voice in the Republican era, but they were also committed pursuers of modernity and cosmopolitanism.