Fragmenting modernisms : Chinese wartime literature, art, and film, 1937-49

362 Pages·2013·7.66 MB·English

by  FitzGerald, Carolyn

Fragmenting Modernisms
China Studies
Edited by
Glen Dudbridge
Frank Pieke
VOLUME 24
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/CHS
Fragmenting Modernisms
Chinese Wartime Literature, Art, and Film, 1937–49
By
Carolyn FitzGerald
LEiDEn • bOStOn
2013
Cover illustration: Ye Qianyu, “Stage Set,” from the 1940 sketch-cartoon series Wartime Chongqing.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
FitzGerald, Carolyn.
 Fragmenting modernisms : Chinese wartime literature, art, and film, 1937-49 / by Carolyn
FitzGerald.
  pages cm. — (China studies ; v. 24)
 includes bibliographical references and index.
 iSbn 978-90-04-25098-7 (hardback : alk. paper) — iSbn 978-90-04-25099-4 (e-book) 
1. Chinese literature—20th century—History and criticism. 2. Sino-Japanese War,
1937–1945—Literature and the war. 3. Sino-Japanese War, 1937–1945—Art and the war. 
4. China—History—Civil War, 1945–1949—Literature and the war. 5. China—History—
Civil War, 1945–1949—Art and the war. 6. Motion pictures—China—History—20th century. 
7. Art, Chinese—20th century. 8.  Modernism (Literature)—China. 9. Modernism (Art)—
China. i. title.
 PL2302.F58 2013
 895.1’09005—dc23
2013003681
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iSSn 1570-1344
iSbn 978-90-04-25098-7 (hardback)
iSbn 978-90-04-25099-4 (e-book)
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COntEntS
List of illustrations  ....................................................................................... vii
Acknowledgments  ....................................................................................... xi
introduction Out of the Ashes: towards a Wartime Aesthetics
of Dissolution  ........................................................................................... 1
Chapter One A Sonnet in an Air-Raid Shelter: Mu Dan and the
new Lyricism  ............................................................................................ 31
Chapter two intersections between Cartoon and national Art:
Ye Qianyu’s Search for the Sinicized Cartoon  ............................... 79
Chapter three Wang Zengqi’s Collection of Chance Encounters:
the Shifting Essence of the Wartime Short Story  ........................ 125
Chapter Four between Forgetting and the Repetitions
of Memory: Fei Mu’s Aesthetics of Desolation in Spring
in a Small Town  ....................................................................................... 169
Chapter Five Fei Ming’s After Mr. Neverwas Rides a Plane:
Wartime Autobiography as History  .................................................. 217
Epilogue Searching for Roots: Modernist Echoes in the
Post-Mao Era  ............................................................................................ 265
bibliography  .................................................................................................. 299
index  ................................................................................................................ 313
Plate Section

LiSt OF iLLUStRAtiOnS
Fig. 1.1 Photograph of Wen Yiduo listening to a student reciting
poetry during a February 1945 field trip to the town of Lunan.
Photograph from Lianda: A Chinese University in War and
Revolution, by John israel  ........................................................................... 33
Fig. 1.2 Photograph of Lianda students and teachers marching
to Kunming. Photograph from Lianda: A Chinese University in
War and Revolution, by John israel  ......................................................... 37
Fig. 1.3 national Changsha temporary University Hunan—
Guizhou-Sichuan traveling Corps arrives in the city of
Kunming  .......................................................................................................... 38
Fig. 2.1 national Cartoon Propaganda Corps member Zhang Leping
painting a wall mural of soldiers (1938)  ................................................ 80
Fig. 2.2 truck covered in cartoon propaganda, used to
accompany dramatic performances promoting the cause of
resistance (1938)  ............................................................................................ 80
Fig. 2.3 Photograph of Ye Qianyu (left) with Yue Yiqin (right)
in front of the propaganda poster, “Four Heroes of the
Air Force”  ......................................................................................................... 83
Fig. 2.4 Ye Qianyu, illustrated cover of first edition of
Resistance Cartoons, January 1938  ........................................................... 85
Fig. 2.5 Ye Qianyu, “Living for Hatred,” illustrated cover of
Resistance Cartoons, March 15, 1938  .................................. Plate Section
Fig. 2.6 George McManus, “bringing up Father,”
Feb. 10, 1935  ................................................................................................ 87
Fig. 2.7 Ye Qianyu, “Quitting Alcohol,” from his cartoon strip
Mr. Wang  ..................................................................................................... 88
Fig. 2.8 Ye Qianyu, “Abandon the Civilian Life, Join the Army,”
Xin dongxiang 2.10 (30 June 1939)  ...................................................... 90
Fig. 2.9 Ye Qianyu, “Stage Set,” from the 1940 sketch-cartoon
series Wartime Chongqing  ...................................................................... 94
Fig. 2.10 Ye Qianyu, “the Artery of transportation in the
Hinterland,” from Wartime Chongqing  ............................................... 96
Fig. 2.11 Ye Qianyu, “After Exhaustive bombing,” from Wartime
Chongqing  .................................................................................................... 97
viii list of illustrations
Fig. 2.12 Ye Qianyu, “new Appreciation for Antiques,” from
Wartime Chongqing  ................................................................................... 100
Fig. 2.13 Ye Qianyu, “Frontline at Shatian,” from his 1942
sketch-cartoon series Escape from Hong Kong  ................................. 103
Fig. 2.14 Ye Qianyu, “inspection,” from Escape from
Hong Kong  .................................................................................................... 104
Fig. 2.15 Ye Qianyu, “Leaving Kowloon,” from Escape from
Hong Kong  .................................................................................................... 105
Fig. 2.16 Ye Qianyu, “the Road to Free China,” from Escape from
Hong Kong  .................................................................................................... 106
Fig. 2.17 Ye Qianyu, Cockfight, 1942 painting produced using
watercolor painting and taijiang leather paper  ........... Plate Section
Fig. 2.18 Ye Qianyu, “in a Miao Village in Guizhou,”
sketch-cartoon produced during his visit to Guizhou
in 1942  ........................................................................................................... 110
Fig. 2.19 Zhang Daqian, 1942 copy of wall painting of buddha
image in the Mogao Caves  ................................................... Plate Section
Fig. 2.20 Zhang Daqian, 1942 copy of Dunhuang wall painting
of saint image of West Wei in the Mogao Caves  .......... Plate Section
Fig. 2.21 Ye Qianyu, “Drum of the Yao People,” 1944 sketch
of Dai Ailian performing a regional minority dance  ... Plate Section
Fig. 2.22 Ye Qianyu, Indian Dance, 1945 oil painting based
on his sketches of indian women performing the buddhist
“Dance of the Offering of Flowers.”  ................................... Plate Section
Fig. 2.23 Ye Qianyu, Indian Dance Pose, 1948
oil painting  ................................................................................ Plate Section
Fig. 2.24 Ye Qianyu, Dance of the Offering of Flowers, 1949
oil painting  ................................................................................ Plate Section
Fig. 2.25 Zhang Daqian, Dance of the Offering of Flowers,
1949 oil painting based on Ye Qianyu’s sketches of
indian dancers  ......................................................................... Plate Section
Fig. 2.26 Ye Qianyu, “Large Painting table,” from his 1945
sketch-cartoon series Six Portraits of Zhang Daqian ....................... 117
Fig. 2.27 Ye Qianyu, “Painting a beard with a beard,” from
Six Portraits of Zhang Daqian  ................................................................. 118
Fig. 2.28 Maurits Cornelis Escher, 1948 lithograph,
“Drawing Hands”  ........................................................................................ 119
Fig. 2.29 Ye Qianyu, “Comprehensive Scene within Four Meters,”
from Six Portraits of Zhang Daqian  ...................................................... 120
list of illustrations ix
Fig. 4.1 Yuwen walks daily along the ruins of the city wall in
Spring in a Small Town  ............................................................................. 172
Fig. 4.2 1948 advertisement for Spring in a
Small Town  ................................................................................ Plate Section
Fig. 4.3 Yuwen and Liyan watch Zhichen leave at the end of
Spring in a Small Town  ............................................................................. 179
Fig. 4.4 Advertisement for Fei Mu’s 1940 film
Confucius  .................................................................................... Plate Section
Fig. 4.5 Advertisement for China’s first color production,
Fei Mu’s 1948 film Regret that Surpasses Life and Death
(translated here as A Wedding in the Dream)  ................ Plate Section
Fig. 4.6-4.8 Fei Mu positions the camera behind
Liyan’s bed curtain to film Zhichen’s shadow as he enters
Liyan’s bedroom  ......................................................................................... 201
Fig. 4.9 Long take of Yuwen and Zhichen with a chicken walking
in the foreground  ....................................................................................... 205
Fig. 4.10 A sickly Liyan sits in the bombed ruins of his home in
Spring in a Small Town  ............................................................................. 209
Fig. 6.1 Ye Qianyu, “Jiang Qing Pulls out my tendons by imperial
Edict,” from his 1987 sketch-cartoon series Ten Years of an
Absurd Dream  ............................................................................................. 275
Fig. 6.2 Ye Qianyu, “the End of the Qing Dynasty, Leaving
behind Childhood,” from his 1993 sketch-cartoon series
An Old Brush Recalls Childhood  ............................................................. 275
Fig. 6.3 Ye Qianyu, “i am in You, You are in Me, May 1983,
Ye Qianyu, Mr. Wang together.”  ........................................................... 277
Fig. 6.4 Ye Qianyu, “He is in Me, i am in Him,” 1987  .... Plate Section
Fig. 6.5 Wang Zengqi on a return visit to his hometown of
Gaoyou during the late 1980s  ................................................................ 279