2023 Vol. 6, No. 2

column
  Previous Issue | Next Issue 
Display Method:
Articles
Cosmopolitanism and Exile: An Uncertain Affinity
Galin Tihanov
2023, 6(2): 7-25. doi: 10.19857/j.cnki.ICL.20236201
Abstract:
In philosophy, literature, and the arts, the cosmopolitan tends to be defined chiefly with reference to a particular ethos(often individual rather than collective) of openness to what is non-familiar and alien, and on a particular range of values, such as tolerance, hospitality, cultural and intellectual curiosity. I insist, however, that cosmopolitanism is not a homogeneous concept. In this article, I draw a distinction between political cosmopolitanism, on the one hand, and cultural cosmopolitanism, on the other. Arguably, these two types of cosmopolitanism, far from being identical, have disparate values that do not always coincide. I seek to demonstrate that exile and cosmopolitanism abide in a relationship that is far less straightforward than habitually assumed:the best way to describe this relationship is perhaps to refer to exile and cosmopolitanism as bound by a rather uncertain affinity. In the introductory part of this article I explore various meanings of the word "cosmopolitanism" and attempt to attain finer granularity by identifying two different strands within what has long been taken to be a unitary discourse.1 In the second part, I discuss the complex relationship(often also divergence) between the two types of cosmopolitanism-political and cultural-that I identify in the Introduction. I do so by analysing a set of examples drawn from the work of left-leaning European Jewish exiles and their experience of cosmopolitans without a polis. What is at stake throughout my analysis is a deeper understanding of cosmopolitanism, both as a desideratum but also as a discourse that harbours inner contradictions, and also an attempt to revisit the way we think about how the experience of exile relates to cosmopolitan attitudes and practices.
[Abstract](81) [PDF 2010KB](16)
The Pervasive Kafkaesque
TONG Ming
2023, 6(2): 26-38. doi: 10.19857/j.cnki.ICL.20236202
Abstract:
Why do Kafka's fictionalized allegories and parables carry such an intense and pervasive sense of reality? The author of this article suggests that the Kafkaesque is not as simple as the release of negative emotions, but is a "negative capability" resulting from Kakfa's strong desire for freedom, his insightful understanding of conditions of unfreedom, and his unique literary style of freeplay, which deserves further analysis and discussion. The overwhelming sense of depression and oppression allegorically points to a patriarchal and authoritarian order or system, which, in terms of its generative logic, is the structure of "logocentrism," where the socio-symbolic order forms a binary opposition of "center" and "margin," following absurd laws of crime and punishment, and conditioning various existential and psychological states of the characters between the two poles. In postcolonial terms, this can be described as "internal colonialism." The representation of absolute power in Kafka's works is full of irony and paradox. For example, Kafka symbolizes absolute power in the image of death, but the force on the verge of death is still strong enough to strangle life on the rise. Bureaucracy in this system goes beyond red tape, and cloaks sheer absurdity as reason and law; the fear triggered is represented as a closed space that is paradoxically narrow and infinitely large. Drawing from the wisdom of Shakespeare, Walter Benjamin, George Santayana, John Keats, and Victor Shklovsky, and citing several of Kafka's fictional texts as examples, this article further discusses how the Kafkaesque is rooted in Kafka's aesthetic judgement in which the sense of "beauty" or "pleasure" is a force of good-a persistent desire for freedom-that underlines his works. One of the charms of Kafka's rhetoric is his ability to sculpt nightmares into moments that Benjamin calls "gestus," or gestures, which produce effects of irony, paradox, and ambiguity in the coexistence of opposed themes, creating room for both playful and serious interpretations.
[Abstract](75) [PDF 947KB](18)
The Evolution of the Translated Term “Papa” in Chinese
LIN Zhongze, DAI Guoqing
2023, 6(2): 39-63. doi: 10.19857/j.cnki.ICL.20236203
Abstract:
Since the mid-11th century, the term "papa" has been used consistently by Roman bishops. Matteo Ricci was the first person to use the Chinese word "Jiao Huahuang" 教化皇 to refer to Roman bishops. Giulio Alenio began to use "Jiao Huang" 教皇 and later changed to "Jiao Zong" 教宗, which may be due to a political consideration. Alphonsus Vagnoni, involved in the Nanjing incident in 1616, was caught up in political pressure and invented the term "Jiao Huawang" 教化王. Unexpectedly, this term was used by the emperors of the Qing Dynasty, so it often appeared on official diplomatic documents of Kangxi and others. During the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China period, the term "Jiao Huawang" 教化王 or "Jiao Wang" 教王 was no longer used; Catholics often made mixed use of "Jiao Huang" 教皇 and "Jiao Zong" 教宗. Pierre Hoang and Ma Xiangbo exclusively used "Jiao Zong" 教宗, while Li Di and French priest Alphonse Favier exclusively used "Jiao Huang" 教皇. In the process of establishing relations between the Holy See and the government of the Republic of China, in order to eliminate interference from France, the term "Jiao Zong" 教宗 was favored by the upper circles of the church due to its lack of political overtones, which had a huge impact on the Chinese Catholic Church. However, there are still some members of the church and scholars outside the Church who use the term "Jiao Huang" 教皇. Relatively speaking, the term "Jiao Huang" 教皇 can more accurately convey the nature of Roman bishops, with a strong sense of history and less emotional and ideological bias, so this historical term is worth continuing to use.
[Abstract](62) [PDF 1996KB](7)
William Faulkner and the Emergence of Chinese Novels in the New Era
LI Mengyu, ZHANG Yue
2023, 6(2): 64-86. doi: 10.19857/j.cnki.ICL.20236204
Abstract:
Since the Chinese literature of the new era,the American writer William Faulkner has aroused the general attention of writers in the Chinese literary circle and has given rise to "Faulkner fever." According with the acceptance of Faulkner's works by Chinese writers in the new period,his novels The Sound and the Fury and As I Lay Dying have the highest readerships and have achieved the greatest acceptance,followed by the short story A Rose for Emily. In particular,The Sound and the Fury had a profound influence on the literature of the new period. Faulkner's world of Yoknapatawpha played a catalytic role in the emergence of "root-seeking novels" and "avant-garde novels" in the new period of China. On the one hand,it inspired the modern national consciousness and root-seeking complex of writers in the new period,and had a profound impact on the expression of local experience,the excavation and reflection of regional culture,and the revelation of cultural roots. It allows Chinese contemporary writers to realize that only when the literature is deeply rooted in the soil of national cultural tradition can it be accepted by the world widely. On the other hand,modern artistic expression techniques such as stream-of-consciousness and multi-angle narration in Faulkner's novels exerted profound influence on the stylistic transformation of Chinese novels in the new period. Based on the vision and experience of Chinese culture and context,the subjectivity choices of Chinese writers in the new era resulted in variation and reform in the process of learning from and accepting Faulkner's works,and they created masterpieces with a combination of "Chinese style" and "world element." Faulkner's influence on Chinese writers is not a flash in the pan,but permeates every phase of the new period literature,and the relationship of influence and acceptance between Faulkner and the Chinese writers in the new era is worthy of in-depth exploration.
[Abstract](132) [PDF 1850KB](17)
On the Divergence of Imagism and Pound's Contribution to “Image”
ZHANG Tongzhu
2023, 6(2): 87-95. doi: 10.19857/j.cnki.ICL.20236205
Abstract:
Imagism played a key role in the development of modern English and American poetry. Hulme, Flint, Amy Lowell and others prepared for this movement, but there is no doubt that Pound was the most decisive character. As an excellent organizer, Pound built a momentum for the "Imagist school" by taking the journal Poetry as a model, and compiled "Des Imagistes." However, within the Imagist school, Pound became marginalized, which ultimately led to his departure. A few years later, the Imagist school came to an end. The article believes that this internal disagreement not only reflects an internal leadership dispute, but also reflects two core differences in the theoretical propositions of its members:whether to study only modern French poetic theory or also to study traditional Eastern poetry? Pound did not shy away from the French influence. The anthology published in 1914 directly adopted the French "Des Imagists" as its title. However, unlike Flint, he always denied that "Imagism" is subordinate to French Symbolism. Flint and Hulme(especially Hulme) were passionate advocates of Bergson's theory, and Hulme's advocacy of "image" as a poetic principle originated from Bergson's philosophy. Although Bergson valued "image," "image" is only an intermediary for him, ultimately leading to emotions and intuition. Following Bergson, Hulme regarded "image" as a kind of intermediary, and it was not until Pound that the "image" was seen as a unity of subjective emotions and objective objects with independent value, and thus it truly developed into "imagisme," becoming the "object" itself(subjective object). For this, Pound invented the French word "imagisme." So we infer that on the basis of Bergson and Hulme, Pound developed the concept of "image," granting it an independent theoretical status, thus promoting the development of poetics. The reason why Pound was able to further his understanding of "image" is due to his increasing understanding of Eastern culture and active absorption of its nutrients.
[Abstract](94) [PDF 1790KB](17)
On the Imagery of Ancient Chinese Poetry in Wai-lim Yip's Comparative Poetics
LIU Yabin
2023, 6(2): 96-107. doi: 10.19857/j.cnki.ICL.20236206
Abstract:
Imagery is an important subject in the study of Chinese traditional poetics and aesthetics. Meanwhile,in the writing practice and poetic theory of modern Western poetry, symbolism, imagism etc. have also been influenced by ancient Chinese poetry, which has made imagery a hot topic in comparative poetics again. As a scholarpoet, Wai-lim Yip writes poetry under the influence of modern symbolism in both China and the West,and has a preference for ancient Chinese poetry,its imagery and its techniques. At the same time, Wai-lim Yip makes a profound study of the poems and poetic ideas of Ezra Pound,who was the leader of the Imagist movement. Imagery is situated in different language systems in China and the West,especially within the framework of grammatical comparison. The poetics of grammar and the cultural "model" advocated by Yip reveal the characteristics of structuralism. The differences between Chinese and Western grammar demonstrate the flexibility of Chinese language, and the spatial,static and visual effects of poetic imagery are known for their direct presentation of natural phenomena,which differs from Western translations in emphasizing time,logic,narrative and various artificial grammatical rules. In fact,the imagery of Chinese poetry has temporality,aiming to break through the limitations of spatiality and locality, transcend history and space, and express the universal emotional and spiritual demands of humanity in the unity of time and space. The content created by self-contained images includes the narrator, events and behaviors. In ancient Chinese poetry, the combination of dynamic and static, the coexistence of virtuality and reality, the unity of scene and action are integrated. Meanwhile events and actions are Ariadne's thread for readers to enter the aesthetic world and understand imagery and emotional expression in the poetic context. Although traditional poetics tries to convey feelings and meanings with imagery, it also uses finite conjunctions for creating scenes and presenting pictures. As a matter of fact, Wai-lim Yip's grammar poetics should move towards imagery poetics,clarify the characteristics and essence of Chinese poetry from the perspective of traditional culture, and present the global value of Chinese poetics.
[Abstract](119) [PDF 1583KB](15)
Adjustments in Ethnic Relations and Literary Writings' “Relevance to Reality”: Reflecting upon Recent Works for Television and Theater Related to Madame She Xiang
SHAO Wenyuan
2023, 6(2): 108-123. doi: 10.19857/j.cnki.ICL.20236207
Abstract:
The essence of the Chen Leguang and Ouyang Qiansen copyright dispute case revolves around the negotiation of public relations concerning ethnic identity and personal dignity. Some people suggest using the principle of "being faithful to history" to judge fairness. However,this principle is highly disadvantageous for ethnic groups that rely on oral narratives to remember the past,and it overlooks the reality that both sides of a war will write history in different ways. Another principle is the well-known "relevance to reality" principle,but ethnic literature's "relevance to reality" is a rather vague concept and is greatly influenced by political discourses such as "minority obeys the majority" and "upholding equality among ethnic groups." This article explores how these political slogans have influenced ethnic minority folk narratives, particularly those related to Madame She Xiang. Subsequently, by analyzing the underlying intentions of Chen Leguang's Romance of She Xiang,the article proposes that the presentation of hidden transcripts represents phenomenological truth rather than epistemological truth, and that the goal of revealing the truth can be achieved through direct questioning and dialogue. Finally,through the exploration of Su Xiaoxing's The Ming Emperor and a Heroic Yi Woman, Guo Yi's She Xiang's Childhood and Adolescence, and writings by ethnic minority authors both domestically and internationally, the article discusses how ethnic literature can move away from the "traces of the devil" and proposes a model for literary criticism that aims to evaluate and adjust ethnic relations,guiding writers towards a more balanced reconstruction of reality.
[Abstract](88) [PDF 1877KB](6)
Sincerity or Duplicity? Shakespeare's Ironic Rewriting of the Sonnet Tradition
XU Zixian
2023, 6(2): 124-136. doi: 10.19857/j.cnki.ICL.20236208
Abstract:
Shakespeare's Sonnets has been generally hailed as a monument to the English sonnet tradition, while the concluding poem A Lover's Complaint, which figures prominently in the collection's formal patterning, has been mostly in disfavour, if not disrepute, with critics of Shakespeare. A closer look at a group of sonnet collections from the 1590s, within what has been recently identified as the tradition of the "Delian structure," promises a typological division between three concluding patterns, namely the conformist, the conciliatory, and, most strikingly, the ironic. Shakespeare's collection, itself formally recognized with a quasi-Delian structure, might have addressed itself to the ironic concluding pattern, which warrants a reappraisal of the narrative piece as integral to a proper appreciation of the book. By examining a set of metatextual images that register in the Complaint, the collection can be shown to have developed the ironic pattern by fashioning suggestive intertextual allusions between the discourses employed in the 154 sonnets and the concluding piece, which, coupled with parodic references to the genre's clichéd rhetoric as well as a presumably unreliable narrator, informs the collection with conflicting voices, thereby rewriting the Petrarchan sonnet tradition in an implicitly ironic manner. Besides, such a structural investigation points to a new approach to the problem of sincerity and duplicity in Shakespeare's sonnets, giving an edge to the reading that the poetic persona in the sonnets is essentially invested with a sense of self-consciousness and self-reflexivity. It is well advisable, moreover, for the generic originality of the Sonnets to be subtly contextualized with a revisiting of the Elizabethan sonnet genre's cultural and political valences, including its amorous discourse as an allegorical articulation of politically-charged desires. In this light, the collection is arguably a masqueraded critique of the rigid social hierarchy the sonnet tradition is founded upon.
[Abstract](115) [PDF 1763KB](17)
Shakespeare's Use and Non-use of Plague: From Macro-context to Micro-narrative
WANG Chutong
2023, 6(2): 137-148. doi: 10.19857/j.cnki.ICL.20236209
Abstract:
This essay will discuss Shakespeare's use and non-use of plague with regard to several aspects. Firstly, I will refer to Pericles and Oedipus the King to discuss differences between a romance and a tragedy, and how these differences may result in writers' different focuses and narratives. In the second part, I will discuss why Romeo and Juliet die only partly because of plague, but do not truly die because of it with regard to Shakespeare's notions of causality and tragedy. In the third part, I will discuss how King Lear makes use of plague as a curse most furiously and vulnerably, which at once points to his living environment defined by "being" and "nothingness, " and also generates something new and profound, through which modern readers may achieve a spiritual growth. I conclude the essay by restating Shakespeare's great contributions to our modern ways of existence, and rethinking Shakespeare's use and non-use of plague in his works:plague is never really away from Shakespeare and his contemporaries, and it belongs to the realm of nature. Shakespeare uses his language as an art to transcend or redefine nature by preserving a sense of hope, which each individual consciously and continuously strives for.
[Abstract](77) [PDF 636KB](9)
“What Is Above The Sky?” Antelmo Severini, Chinese Classics, and His Answer to “Zhuzi Wentian”
Dario Famularo
2023, 6(2): 149-159. doi: 10.19857/j.cnki.ICL.20236210
Abstract:
Antelmo Severini(1828-1909) is widely recognized as the pioneer of Italian academic Sinology. He held the position of professor of Far Eastern languages and literatures at Regio Istituto di Studi Superiori di Firenze from 1864 to 1900, and made significant contributions to the field. His work "Il Dio dei Cinesi" (The God of the Chinese) was published in 1873 and is one of the first studies on Chinese religion by a Western secular scholar. In this work, Severini advocates for a departure from preconceived notions about Chinese religion prevalent among Europeans, stressing the importance of analyzing original Chinese texts. He criticizes missionary sinologists' readings of Chinese religion, arguing that they imposed the framework of Western theology on Chinese religion, and that their interpretation was biased because it was instrumental to their missionary activities, and not directed by a pure scientific interest.Severini focuses primarily on the Ruist religious tradition, and he devotes a great deal of attention to the concepts of Shangdi and Tian. He argues that these concepts are distinct from the Western concepts of God and Heaven, and that they need to be understood within the context of Chinese culture, not in reference to Western theological tradition. Severini describes Chinese religion as a religion of rites, which does not prescribe a dogma of faith or belief in a well-defined God. Since Chinese religion has no dogma, it also does not contain a system of theology. As a consequence, the concepts of Shangdi and Tian do not necessarily have to match and express a coherent and unitary concept of divinity. Chinese tradition does not provide any univocal answer to Zhuxi's question about the sky ("What's above the sky?"). In Severini's view, Chinese civilization provides an example of a tolerant society that grants its members complete freedom of religious conscience. I argue that Severini employs the authority of Chinese classics to support political claims relevant to the Italian political debate of his time. Severini's approach results in an idealized portrayal of ancient China, too abstract and lacking historical accuracy. Moreover, Severini did not engage with other prominent religious traditions such as Buddhism and Taoism.Despite these limitations, Severini's work remains an important contribution to the study of Chinese religion. His emphasis on the importance of analyzing original Chinese texts and his criticism of missionary sinologists' readings of Chinese religion paved the way for more accurate and nuanced understandings of Chinese religious beliefs.
[Abstract](58) [PDF 1770KB](5)
The Image of China in the Prague School of Sinology's View
LIU Yun
2023, 6(2): 160-175. doi: 10.19857/j.cnki.ICL.20236211
Abstract:
Czech Oriental studies, as well as Chinese studies, show intrinsic qualities that differ from Said's Orientalism. China basically exists as an object of knowledge, not a space to be conquered. By the time of the development of the Prague School of Sinology, the cultural isomorphism between the Czech Republic and China became more prominent, causing the Prague School of Sinology to have a more similar ideological background to contemporary China. Under the combined effect of Czech history and reality, the Prague School's view of China retains some similarities with traditional European Orientalism, but dissolves its colonial expansion factors. The Prague School of Sinology broke through the negative tendencies of European Sinology in China since the 19th century, and at the same time integrated an identification with socialist China; therefore their studies show unique characteristics. First of all, the Prague School of Sinology broke the negative evaluation of traditional Chinese ethics and morality in European history since the mid-18th century and reshaped the positive image of a moralized China, including moralized politics, moralized ethics, moralized art, and moralized socialism. Secondly, the Prague School of Sinology has discussed in detail the characteristics of Chinese art and the Chinese artistic lifestyle, believing that Chinese art has inherent virtue and is an important factor in the Chinese tendency toward beauty and goodness. Finally, the Prague School of Sinology has been committed to finding the fundamental driving force of China's modernity within Chinese society, and has conducted a detailed and in-depth exposition of the relationship between modern and traditional Chinese society, thus affirming the image of a China that is always in the process of development and progress, not the image of a stagnant and backward China. This kind of "Sinocentric view" has critical significance for the construction of a Chinese Path to Modernization.
[Abstract](81) [PDF 1867KB](5)
Roman Jakobson's Interpretation of the Symmetries of the Chinese Tonal Pattern
LI Guohui
2023, 6(2): 176-190. doi: 10.19857/j.cnki.ICL.20236212
Abstract:
Russian linguist Roman Jakobson, in his 1966 "The Modular Design of Chinese Regulated Verse," interpreted the Chinese Tonal Patterns by means of his symmetry theory, and found the arrangements of lines which were not completely understood by Chinese prosodists. These are:symmetry reflexive, antisymmetry and reflexive antisymmetry. Reflexive antisymmetry was influenced by the conception of Mirror Reflection that was advocated by Chinese scientist Chen-Ning Yang, by which one can switch matter and antimatter. Yu-kung Kao, a successor of Jakobson, borrowed the notion "mirror image" from the latter in his essay "The Aesthetics of Regulated Verse." Soon afterwards, Ching-hsien Wang, in the entry for "Chinese poetry" in the Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, brought forward the idea of "mirror effect." Although these researches were scientific and accurate, they were not the real and historical interpretation. Ancient Chinese poets, unable to grasp the symmetry theory of quantum mechanics, could construct meter only with intuitive experiences. In respect to cultural origin, the dualism of Yin and Yang in Yijing corresponds to the dualism of Ping and Ze in Chinese prosody; the Contrast Eight Diagrams (对卦) and Reverse Eight Diagrams (覆卦) correspond with the symmetry of regular verse. Chinese poets could draw direct impressions of the Contrast and Reverse Eight Diagrams respectively from the change from Qian (乾) to Kun (坤), and from Zhun (屯) to Meng (蒙). The rule of Coalescence (粘连), in fact, is a combination of changes of the Contrast Eight Diagrams and Reverse Eight Diagrams. The Tonal Pattern is not merely an imitation of Sanskrit meter. On the contrary, richly assimilating ideas of change from the Eight Diagrams, it embodies native aesthetical principles. In contrast with Jakobson's abstract and remote answer, the Chinese native interpretation is more valuable, and more in line with historical fact.
[Abstract](100) [PDF 1850KB](15)
Book Reviews
Haun Saussy, The Making of Barbarians: Chinese Literature and Multilingual Asia
FAN Shengyu
2023, 6(2): 193-196. doi: 10.19857/j.cnki.ICL.20236213
Abstract:
[Abstract](103) [PDF 1329KB](7)
Stephen Owen. All Mine!: Happiness, Ownership, and Naming in Eleventh-Century China
CHEN Chi, ZHOU Rui
2023, 6(2): 197-199. doi: 10.19857/j.cnki.ICL.20236214
Abstract:
[Abstract](62) [PDF 1317KB](11)
Copyright

Copyright © Editorial Office of International Comparative Literature

沪ICP备05052062号-1

Supported by: Beijing Renhe Information Technology Co. Ltd  

Past Issues
Contact Information

Official Website & Online Submission：icl.shnu.edu.cn

Address：Room 202A，Building No. 10，Shanghai Normal University（Xuhui West Campus），
No. 100，Guilin Road，Shanghai，China

Phone：+86（21）6484 2932Postal Code：200234

Chinese：chinaicl@163.com ENGLISH：icl2018@163.com

WeChat Official Account