Appendix I. Interviews with Zhu Tianxin

388 Pages·2012·2.5 MB·English

by  Chanel Chen

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Crafting Lives: The Evolution of
Identity in the Works of Zhu Tianxin
and Kapka Kassabova

Jung-hsuan Chen

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy in Comparative Literature

The University of Auckland
2011
ii
Abstract
This thesis addresses the issue of how women writers conceptualise identity through their
writing, with specific reference to the literary careers of Zhu Tianxin and Kapka
Kassabova. A new approach to this issue is offered, which considers writing as located on
the continuum between auto/biography on the one hand and fiction on the other. Each
writer’s life and writing are considered as a whole, an intertwined and complex entity.
This responds to the extreme biographical tendency in the prevailing criticism of both
writers which tends to read their works through an understanding of their lives. This
emphasis on autobiographicality, both assumes that the writers present their lives through
writing and offers readings through fixed and over-simplified impressions of cultural and
political stereotypes. By contrast this thesis reveals the extent to which, in their writing,
both Zhu, a second-generation Chinese émigré in Taiwan and Kassabova, a Bulgarian
migrant in both New Zealand and the UK, actively and creatively exploit the political and
cultural environments in which they operate. It further reveals how the complexity of
narrative techniques deployed in each case, including polyvocality, intertextuality and
blurring of genres, reflects the complexity of each writer’s conceptualisation of identity. In
addition, through an original delineation of specific phases in each writer’s literary career,
the evolution of identity presented by each writer via the increasing complexity of her
narrative techniques is identified.
The radically new readings offered by this thesis are informed by its comparative
approach. The parallel study of two writers from contrasting backgrounds enables each to
illuminate the other in fresh and productive ways, particularly with regard to the way each
writer differently exploits history and geography. This thesis presents Zhu as an
alternative historian and Kassabova as an alternative geographer: through the exploitation
of history and geography in their narratives, the writers construct a self and an identity.
Their personalised and subjective de/constructions of history and geography also challenge
any collective sense of history and geography, questioning the existence of an objective
view of either discipline. Thus Zhu and Kassabova create multiple and inclusive views of
identity, advocating for its hybridity and multiplicity. By so doing their work resists and
problematises readings which are solely from a biographical perspective or from a single
political/cultural viewpoint.
iii
Dedication

For My Maternal Grandfather, Lin Jinse 林金色 and
My Paternal Grandmother, Chen Luo Muli 陳駱木莉
Neither of them had the chance to travel overseas when they were alive, but their
spirits have been watching over me, their granddaughter, who has been travelling
like a restless soul on the earth.

For My Beloved Aunt, Lin Lijiao 林麗嬌
In the last seventeen months of her life she lived with cancer, during which she
gave me the greatest encouragement to work on my thesis but passed away a month
before its completion.

Their love will always be remembered.
iv
Acknowledgements
This thesis could never have been completed without any of the following people, who
have provided me with their love and support during my long thesis journey.

I am greatly inspired by the two women writers, Zhu Tianxin and Kapka Kassabova, both
of whom generously helped me complete the interviews for this thesis and patiently
answered all the questioned I posed. I am especially impressed by their wisdom as well as
their lovely personalities. It has been a great honour for me to be able to have those
interesting conversations with the two amazing writers as well as receiving warm
encouragements from them.

I express my deepest gratitude to my PhD supervisors, Associate Professor Michael Hanne
and Dr. Hilary Chung, both of whom have taught me since I began my life as a Masters
student at the University of Auckland in 2000. Throughout the years of my thesis journey,
they have guided me with their love, patience, wisdom and sense of humour. I will always
remember Mike’s lovely metaphors and Hilary’s insightful opinions. From them I have
learned not merely how to be a capable researcher, but also how to be a good teacher. The
three of us have been working together as a wonderful team to ensure the success of this
thesis, and they have transformed me from a PhD student to a young scholar.

In addition to the guidance from my supervisors, I am also grateful for the help of three
people: my English language assistant, Margaret Stiles, my counsellor, Dr. Catherine Cook,
and Dr. Susan Carter at the Centre for Academic Development (aka. the Student Learning
Centre). Margaret went through most of the thesis with me as well as teaching me how to
express my ideas more precisely and beautifully in English. Catherine was a life-saver for
me during the low-tide period of my thesis production. Susan was the person who
brainstormed with me and helped me discover the structure of my thesis. All of them have
boosted my confidence enormously both in my self and in my thesis.

The following scholarships and other funding have made the financing of my PhD research
life and conference trips possible: University of Auckland Doctoral Scholarship, Faculty
of Arts Doctoral Research Fund, the New Zealand Postgraduate Study Abroad Award, and
v
travel grants from the School of European Languages and Literature and the School of
Asian Studies.

My family have been a great support in my life and have motivated me through my thesis
journey. I am indebted to my parents, Joseph Chen 陳源裕 and Gloria Lin 林秋香, and
to my grandmother, Mudan Huang Lin林黃牡丹, with whom I have not been able to
spend much time during the past eleven years because of my decision to conduct my MA
and PhD studies in New Zealand. My brother, Ivan Chen, my sister-in-law, Bonnie Chou,
my uncles, aunts and my lovely cousins have always sent me their warmest regards
through emails and phone calls from China, U.S.A., Japan and Taiwan. Another family
member to be mentioned is our dog, BooBoo, who was born around the time I began my
PhD study and was always great company when he was with me in Auckland.

I have also received abundant support from my friends, among whom I am able to name
just a few here: Amy Huang, Emily Tu, Oona Jin, Kamal Shaikh, Mary Li (Mrs. Tsai) and
Robin Yang. Amy, Emily and Oona have been wonderful sisters in my life. Kamal has
been a great ‘buddy’ who patiently listened to me talk about the progress of my thesis
every day during the production of my initial drafts for all chapters. Mary generously
accommodated me in her house during the final four months of my thesis writing. Robin
was my computer guru, and made the last seven months of my thesis production a fluent
process. In their own ways they have accompanied me through the highs and lows of my
thesis journey as well as in my personal life. They are all indeed true friends who have
helped me when I was in need.

Lastly, I would like to offer this thesis as a tribute to God, Heaven and the Divine Beings,
who have guided me throughout my life and have shown me that I am never alone. They
have taught me to be confident in myself and to know that anything is possible as long as I
dare to dream.
vi
Table of Contents

Abstract ii
Dedication iii
Acknowledgements iv
Notes on Translation and Figures vii

Introduction 1

Part One Scrapbooking: Zhu Tianxin and the Evolution of Identity
through Historical Times
Chapter 1 Impossible Coherence (First Phase: Before 1980) 23
Chapter 2 Venturing into Transformation (Second Phase: 1980-1989) 53
Chapter 3 Manifesting Marginality (Third Phase: 1990-1995) 86
Chapter 4 Articulating Hybridity and Multiplicity (Fourth Phase: After 1995) 125

Part Two Weaving and Shuttling: Kapka Kassabova and the Evolution
of Identity through Geographical Places
Chapter 5 Extreme Contrasts (First Phase: From Bulgaria to New Zealand) 169
Chapter 6 Crossing Borders (Second Phase: From New Zealand to the U.K.) 197
Chapter 7 Global Roaming (Third Phase: From the U.K. to the World) 246

Conclusion 298

Appendix I Interviews with Zhu Tianxin 324
Appendix II Interview with Kapka Kassabova 335
Bibliography 343
vii
Notes on Translation and Figures
The English translations of passages from Zhu Tianxin’s work in Chapters One to
Four, Conclusion and Appendix I are by me unless otherwise indicated. Figures are
created by me unless otherwise indicated. Hanyu Pinyin Romanisation is used
throughout with the exception of proper names that are known in non-standard forms,
such as Sun Yat-sen and Chiang Kai-shek.
1
Introduction
An ancient metaphor: thought is a thread, and the raconteur is a spinner of yarns—but the
true storyteller, the poet, is a weaver. The scribes made this old and audible abstraction
into a new and visible fact. After long practice, their work took on such an even, flexible
texture that they called the written page a textus, which means cloth.
1
~ Robert Bringhurst, The Elements of Typographic Style

I refuse to be bound by any one literary tone, just as I refuse to be bound by any one
literary genre. Or I refuse to be bound because I don’t feel that one genre does
everything I want. And so my voices are wide and wild and sometimes varied. And in
the real world this makes it hard for me to be catalogued by publishers, critics, readers.
2
~ Michelene Wandor, “Voices Are Wild”

We should aim, in my view, for modes of comparison that work with the contradictions
inherent in comparison, that expand the voices put in play, that creatively open up
dialogue and new frameworks for reading and acting in the world.
3
~Susan Stanford Friedman, “Why Not Compare?”

This is a comparative study of works by two distinctly different women writers, Zhu
Tianxin (朱天心, also known as “Chu T’ien-Hsin”, 1958- , Taiwanese) and Kapka
Kassabova (1973- , Bulgarian-New Zealander). In age, these writers are about a
generation apart; the countries from which they come are geographically distant and
culturally disparate. Another major distinction between them is that while Kassabova
has travelled extensively and frequently from one country to another, Zhu has spent
most of her life in Taiwan. Whereas Zhu writes in her native language, Chinese;
Kassabova, who speaks several languages, mainly writes and publishes in English,
which is a language that she only started learning in her late teens. In addition,
neither writer is familiar with the work of the other, so there is no question that either
of them has influenced the work of other.
Despite the apparent differences between them, there are significant reasons
which make it worthwhile to study the works of these two women writers side by side;
Zhu and Kassabova share some commonalities. Firstly, both of them come from
countries which have been politically repressed, each having relatively authoritarian
regimes. Kassabova left her home country, Bulgaria, in 1989 to get away from the
aftermath of the East-European Communist regime, which collapsed a short time
before she left. Zhu stayed in Taiwan where the GMD regime4 commenced rule in

1 Robert Bringhurst, The Elements of Typographic Style (Point Roberts and Vancouver: Hartley &
Marks, 1999), 25. The word in italics is the emphasis of Bringhurst.
2 Michelene Wandor, “Voices Are Wild,” in Women’s Writing: A Challenge to Theory, ed. Moira
Monteith (Sussex: Harvester; New York: St. Martin’s, 1986), 86.
3 Susan Stanford Friedman, “Why Not Compare?,” PMLA 126, no. 3 (2011): 760.
4 GMD stands for Guomindang (國民黨), which is also known as “Kuomint’ang” or “KMT”.
2
1945 with a repressive totalitarian dictatorship. Having been challenged by the
increasing Taiwanese nativist movements, the GMD government and the political
environment in Taiwan have changed dramatically since the 1980s. The island was
later ruled by the Taiwanese nativists (1990-2008), moving Taiwan towards a more
democratic society. Secondly, both writers have an émigré background and thus, each
has a complex identity. Zhu is a second-generation Chinese émigré, whereas
Kassabova was a Bulgarian immigrant to New Zealand who now resides in the U.K.
They are émigrés in different senses. Zhu is the child of a Chinese émigré, while
Kassabova is much more a permanent on-going émigré. Therefore, issues which are
closely relevant to identity, such as memory and nostalgia, sense of self and sense of
place, are often themes in their writings.
Thirdly, both Zhu and Kassabova employ a considerable variety of genres in
their writings, and they are unusual in their flexibility in terms of moving between
genres. Fiction and the essay are the two areas they have in common. As well as
writing in these two forms, Kassabova, who travels extensively around the world,
does a considerable amount of travel writing; whereas Zhu, who remains in Taiwan,
writes political and social commentaries. Kassabova has also written many poems in
English and has so far published four poetry anthologies. Writing in a range of
literary forms, both authors also tend to blur the boundaries between genres. Such a
tendency makes it difficult for critics to categorise their work into any specific genre.
Fourthly, in terms of the content in their writing, both Zhu and Kassabova focus on
the issue of identity. In a sense, the writers’ flexibility in making use of literary
genres reflects the way in which identity is formed in their writing. Blurring the
boundary between genres, Zhu and Kassabova also blur the boundary between
identities. Finally, despite the variety of genres they adopt, in their writings each of
them shows a creative and sophisticated utilisation, not only of their personal lives,
but also of their collective experiences that have been gleaned from their political,
cultural and social communities. Therefore, the parallel study of the two writers and
their works will illuminate both cases. When we look at Zhu’s work in the light of
Kassabova’s work, or vice versa, we will see each in fresh and productive ways.
Existing scholarship has provided some valuable insights into the understanding
of the two writers’ works. In Taiwan a large number of studies have been conducted
on the life and writing of Zhu Tianxin, many of which show a tendency towards a
highly political reading of her life and writing. Although Zhu had already begun her