History and Fiction as Narrative: A Chinese Perspective

• published: 14 Apr 2010
• views: 2632

In the last few decades, the literary quality of historical narratives and the historical quality of literature have been considerably recognized and debated in both China and the West. The debate in China, however, actually evolves into an issue about the relationship between historical representation and new possibilities for the Chinese writer to write fiction in the Chinese language at the present time. A significant number of novelists, though in subtly different ways, have produced impressive works in an attempt to open up new ways of representing the past as well as the present. While much of the discussion in the West of why contemporary writers are writing historical novels "has been confined within the discussions of Empire or Women, or to the debate between 'escapism' and 'relevance'," to cite A. S. Byatt's observation, the debate and practice in China appear to complicate the Western paradigm a little. The Chinese writer tends to be more interested in exploring personal and local narrative modes through which history as well as literature can be articulated. Their exploration is not only about the relationship between history and literature as narrative forms, but also about reimagining China in response to the notion of modernity and the trends of globalization. This paper mainly takes Li Er's Coloratura (Hua Qiang ) as an example to illustrate the contemporary Chinese writer's efforts in regenerating historical imagination and thus expanding the aesthetic scope and structural capacity of historical narrative in fiction by way of Chinese experience and perception. Lecturer: Li Cao, English, and Deputy-director of Liberal Education, Tsinghua Respondent: Steven Lee, Assistant Professor, English Moderator: Samuel Otter, Professor and Chair, English Tsinghua Week at UC Berkeley (April 5-7, 2010) The University of California, Berkeley welcomes faculty, administrators, and students from Tsinghua University to campus for "Tsinghua Week at UC Berkeley 2010." Tsinghua University, a top-tier comprehensive research university in Beijing, China, has sent faculty members, administrators, staff, and students to Berkeley to participate in events and activities designed to promote research and learning at both universities. Areas of exchange range from science and engineering to architecture, philosophy, history, public policy, social welfare, and higher education. During the three-day event, departments, schools, and research units on the Berkeley campus will serve as sites of synergy and discussion designed to bridge research and learning across the Pacific and to strengthen ties between the two universities. Student events will highlight university life on both campuses and encourage cultural exchange. Tsinghua Week events are hosted by the Office of the Chancellor and organized and staffed by the Institute of East Asian Studies. Co-organizers include: Banatao Institute @ CITRIS Berkeley, Center for Studies in Higher Education (CSHE), College of Engineering, Department of Architecture, Department of Physics, Department of Psychology, Goldman School of Public Policy, Partners for Advanced Transit and Highways (PATH). The trade routes of Western China have been the portal for ideas, customs, languages, and especially religions entering the country. Tsinghua History Professor Zhang Guogang explores the complex religious and cultural landscape in pre-modern China, and the channels that facilitated introduction, and transmutation, of new philosophies. Co-sponsored by the Center for Chinese Studies. http://ieas.berkeley.edu/events/2010.04.05w.html For more Tsinghua Week videos go to http://www.youtube.com/user/citrisuc#g/c/816DFEE343B837A9