Week Four:
Modern Chinese Literature
Fylde Building, Room 412
Wednesday, 1-1:50 pm
Instructor: Gang Sui
Shu Qingchun (simplified Chinese: 舒庆春; traditional
Chinese: 舒慶春; pinyin: Shū Qìngchūn, Manchu:
Sumuru, February 3, 1899 – August 24, 1966), better
known by his pen name Lao She (Chinese: 老舍; pinyin:
Lǎo Shĕ) was a notable Chinese writer. A novelist and
dramatist, he was one of the most significant figures of
20th century Chinese literature, and is perhaps best
known for his novel Rickshaw Boy and the play
Teahouse (茶館). He was of Manchu ethnicity. His
works are known especially for their vivid use of the
Beijing dialect.
He went on to serve as lecturer in the Chinese section
of the (then) School of Oriental Studies (now the
School of Oriental and African Studies) at the
University of London from 1924 to 1929. During his
time in London, he absorbed a great deal of English
literature (especially Dickens, whom he adored) and
began his own writing. His later novel 二马 (Ma and
Son) drew on these experiences.
Beijing dialect typically uses many words that are considered slang,
and therefore occur much less or not at all in Standard Chinese.
Speakers not native to Beijing may have trouble understanding many
or most of these. Many of such slang words employ the rhotic suffix r. Examples include:
倍儿 bèir – very, especially (referring to manner or attribute)
别价 biéjie – do not; usually followed by 呀 if used as an imperative
(Usually used when rejecting a favor or politeness from close friends)
搓火儿 cuōhuǒr – to be angry
颠儿了 diārle – to leave; to run away
二把刀 èrbǎdāo – a person with limited abilities, klutz
Several of his stories have been made into films,
including This Life of Mine (1950, dir. by Shi Hui),
Dragon Beard Ditch (1952, dir. by Xian Qun),
Rickshaw Boy (1982, dir. by Ling Zifeng), The
Teahouse (1982, dir. by Xie Tian), The Crescent
Moon (1986, dir. by Huo Zhuang), The Drum Singers
(1987, dir. by Tian Zhuangzhuang), and The Divorce.
The Lao She Literary Award (zh:老舍文学奖) has been
given every two to three years starting in the year
2000. It is sponsored by the Lao She Literature Fund
and can only be bestowed on Beijing writers.
An Old and Established Name
Lao She
For the purposes of comparison and/or contrast,
discuss “irony”, “rootlessness/homelessness”,
“credit”, “honesty”, “gentlemanliness”, “honour”,
“decency”, “dignity”, “grace under the pressure” and
“sense of loss” as manifested in Hemingway’s A
Clean and Well-lighted Place.
-- protagonist: Xin Dezhi (senior apprentice)
-- narrative point of view: third-person central/partial
omniscient
-- conflicts: Xin Dezhi vs. other characters (vs. society,
vs. himself, vs. his fate) Is the conflict between the old
and the new resolvable? Can he take the middle
ground (the Golden Mean)?
-- local colour (humour): Beijing dialect
-- setting (a microcosm of the competitive
modern business world ): the Fortune Silk Store,
the Village Silk Shop, and the Heaven Silk Store
-- “gentlemanly style” vs. dirty tricks/deceptions
-- social milieu: the 1930’s (boycotting Japanese
goods)
-- linear plot-development
rising actions, climax, denouement (falling
action), resolution
-- A tragic end (understatement and structural
irony): “Yet after a year, the Fortune Silk Store
was bought out by the Heaven.”
-- the general orientation of the modern society?
-- Plato: the World of Becoming vs. the World of
Being? Change vs. Changelessness?