Transcript Slide 1

Week Two:
Modern Chinese Literature
Fylde Building, Room 412
Wednesday, 1-1:50 pm
Instructor: Gang Sui
The New-Year Sacrifice
Lu Xun
Questions from Xianglin’s Wife –
“Do dead people turn into ghosts or not?”
“That means there must be a hell too?”
“Then will all the members of a family meet again after death?”
Tentative answers to her questions –
“Quite possibly, I’d say.”
“Hell? Logically speaking, there should be too – but not
necessarily. Who cares anyway?”
“In that case… actually, I’m not sure…. In fact, I’m not sure
whether there are ghosts or not either.”
For the purposes of comparison and/or contrast, discuss the
Western (?) concepts of “life”, “death”, “ghost”, “soul”, and
“afterlife” as manifested in Shakespeare’s Sonnet 146 and
Whitman’s Chant 6 in Leaves of Grass.
Characterization
dramatic characterization
+ expository characterization
Three-dimensional characterization
+ one-dimensional characterization
Xianglin’s Wife: a flat character or a round character?
Why (What are some of the examples of textual
evidence)?
What words (nouns, adjectives, etc.) can be used to
describe Xianglin’s Wife as the protagonist of the
story?
Narration
narrative point of view:
peripheral, limited vs. omniscient
reliable or not?
Conflict(s) – the “Meat” of the Plot
-- conflict between the protagonist and the other characters
-- conflict between the protagonist and the society
-- conflict between the protagonist and herself
-- conflict between the protagonist and her fate
Tone
(pity, noble indignation?)
sympathetic
empathetic
ironical/satirical
critical
Whose Tragedy?
a personal tragedy
a social tragedy
a cultural tragedy
a human tragedy
New Culture Movement
(the mid 1910s and 1920s)
-- vernacular language widely used in literary creation
-- call for democracy, science, individual freedom, and
women’s liberation
-- bitter criticism against social ills and individual
weaknesses as painfully observed in real-life experiences
-- search for inspiration/guidance beyond China for the sake
of China’s betterment
-- awareness of the inadequacy of traditional values alone to
cope with new crises in the modern world
-- awareness of the need for social change and cultural
renewal