The Real World in Fiction: A Comparative Literary Perspective on the Portrayal of China in the Early Twentieth-Century in Midnight and on a Chinese Screen

Research Article
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The Real World in Fiction: A Comparative Literary Perspective on the Portrayal of China in the Early Twentieth-Century in Midnight and on a Chinese Screen

Chen Xing 1*
  • 1 Department of Comparative Literature, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong    
  • *corresponding author chenxing97@connect.hku.hk
CHR Vol.4
ISSN (Print): 2753-7072
ISSN (Online): 2753-7064
ISBN (Print): 978-1-915371-31-7
ISBN (Online): 978-1-915371-32-4

Abstract

Both Chinese and foreign writers cast their eyes on China during the early twentieth-century, when China was at an intersection of feudalism and modernism. They depicted and recorded this complex period from their own perspectives in different literary forms. Among them, Mao Dun and Maugham present the 1920s and 1930s China from different angles through their literary works Midnight and On a Chinese Screen, respectively. There are lots of research analyzing the two works from various perspectives, but few put them together by doing comparative studies of the early twentieth-century Chinese society and people. Therefore, this essay aims to analyze the two works together from a comparative perspective and offer a more comprehensive view through the analysis. Besides official historical records, literary and visual arts are also chroniclers of history. Fictional works might also provide the real world, even with detailed social contradictions, and even the inner world of people under specific writing purposes, like what Mao Dun and Maugham held. This comparative research focuses on the depiction of China from both domestic and foreign perspectives and analyzes the narrative of the two literary works from the fictional realism in characters as well as social and natural environments. Since the two writers held different viewpoints with diverse social backgrounds, their understanding of Chinese society and people varied accordingly. Through the comparative analysis, this research explores a great deal of the historical value of these two literary works that offer a more enlightened way to link the real historical events and the fictional characters, as well as a fuller picture of China at that time.

Keywords:

On a Chinese Screen, Early twentieth-century China, Comparative literary studies, Midnight

Xing,C. (2023). The Real World in Fiction: A Comparative Literary Perspective on the Portrayal of China in the Early Twentieth-Century in Midnight and on a Chinese Screen. Communications in Humanities Research,4,302-308.
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References

[1]. Mao, D. (2015) Midnight, Yilin Press.

[2]. Lehan, R. (1998) “The City and the Text,” in The City in Literature, University of California Press.

[3]. Qu, Q. (1986) “Midnight and the year of National Goods”. Qu Qiubai Collected works. People’s Literature Publishing House.

[4]. Liu Y. (2008) The Written Modernity: Shanghai in 20th Century Chinese Literature, China Social Sciences Press, 7.

[5]. Yin, P., Qi, G. (2017) The Chinese Image of Cultural “the Other” -- A Case Study of Maugham’s On A Chinese Screen. Journal of Zhongzhou University, 34, 14-15.

[6]. Said E. W. (1979) Orientalism. Vintage.

[7]. Wang, J. (2009) An Interpretation of the historical narrative of Maugham’s travels from On A Chinese Screen. Journal of Yancheng Teachers University (Humanities & Social Sciences), 29, 54-57.

[8]. Maugham, W. S. (2000) On A Chinese Screen, Vintage Books.

[9]. Des Forges A. (2007) Mediasphere Shanghai: The Aesthetics of Cultural Production, University of Hawai‘i Press, 134.

[10]. Mao, D. (1939) “How was Midnight written”.

Cite this article

Xing,C. (2023). The Real World in Fiction: A Comparative Literary Perspective on the Portrayal of China in the Early Twentieth-Century in Midnight and on a Chinese Screen. Communications in Humanities Research,4,302-308.

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About volume

Volume title: Proceedings of the International Conference on Interdisciplinary Humanities and Communication Studies (ICIHCS 2022), Part 2

ISBN：978-1-915371-31-7(Print) / 978-1-915371-32-4(Online)
Editor：Faraz Ali Bughio, David T. Mitchell
Conference website: https://www.icihcs.org/
Conference date: 18 December 2022
Series: Communications in Humanities Research
Volume number: Vol.4
ISSN：2753-7064(Print) / 2753-7072(Online)

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References

[1]. Mao, D. (2015) Midnight, Yilin Press.

[2]. Lehan, R. (1998) “The City and the Text,” in The City in Literature, University of California Press.

[3]. Qu, Q. (1986) “Midnight and the year of National Goods”. Qu Qiubai Collected works. People’s Literature Publishing House.

[4]. Liu Y. (2008) The Written Modernity: Shanghai in 20th Century Chinese Literature, China Social Sciences Press, 7.

[5]. Yin, P., Qi, G. (2017) The Chinese Image of Cultural “the Other” -- A Case Study of Maugham’s On A Chinese Screen. Journal of Zhongzhou University, 34, 14-15.

[6]. Said E. W. (1979) Orientalism. Vintage.

[7]. Wang, J. (2009) An Interpretation of the historical narrative of Maugham’s travels from On A Chinese Screen. Journal of Yancheng Teachers University (Humanities & Social Sciences), 29, 54-57.

[8]. Maugham, W. S. (2000) On A Chinese Screen, Vintage Books.

[9]. Des Forges A. (2007) Mediasphere Shanghai: The Aesthetics of Cultural Production, University of Hawai‘i Press, 134.

[10]. Mao, D. (1939) “How was Midnight written”.

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