This dissertation is a study of Zhang Ailing's life and works and aims to provide a
comprehensive overview of her literary career. Zhang Ailing (Eileen Chang %. jf; 5£%
1920-1995) is a significant figure in modern Chinese literary history, not only because of
her outstanding artistry and modernist vision, but also because of her diverse
contributions to the course of Chinese literature.
The study follows the conventional chronological order of her life and is divided
into eight chapters, together with an introduction and a conclusion. The first and the
second chapters examine how Zhang's family experiences and wartime impressions
contributed to the formation of her anti-romantic vision and how they influenced her
subsequent creative writings. The third and fourth chapters analyze the significance and
implications of her early works, written before she embarked on her literary career, and of
her English-language cultural critiques and film reviews published in The Twentieth
Century.
Chapters five and six focus on the two major genres of Zhang's creative writing:
short stories and informal essays. Her short stories, with their exploration o f the
individual psyche in a modern urban context and their sense of disengagement and irony,
can be considered as one of the earliest manifestation of modernism in China. Her essays
show a strong sensuality and sympathetic understanding, as well as an identification with
femininity and with everyday life. Showing a similarity to other modern Chinese women
writers in her concern for detail, Zhang sets herself off by a uniquely witty and humorous
tone. Her use of poetic diction and splendid imagery also serves as a striking contrast to
the insipid style of most of her contemporaries.
Chapter seven traces the development of Zhang's novels, which in turn reflects
changes in her life and personal psychology. Chapter eight examines Zhang's career as a
screenplay writer, translator and academic scholar.
The concluding chapter deals with Zhang's contribution to the course of modern
Chinese literature, through an investigation of her legacy in Taiwan, Hong Kong and
Mainland China.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/6641 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Hoyan, Carole H.F. |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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