Date of Award

2013

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Zhu, Aijun

Keywords

Gothic, Zhang Ailing, Domesticity, Chinese Literature

Area of Concentration

Chinese Language and Culture

Abstract

This project is focused on Gothic domesticity in Zhang Ailing's Chuanqi, a collection of immensely popular novellas and short stories of romance published during the Japanese occupation of Shanghai in the Sino-Japanese War. My primary focus is on the social and political contexts that shape Gothic narratives in general and how those contexts influence the Gothic elements in Zhang's fiction. Gothic narratives are social documents that respond to societal fears and anxieties about cultural shifts and dislocation, such as those caused by the May Fourth project of total Westernization. Using the model of 'home as nation' from Postcolonial Gothic theory, I argue that the domestic space of Zhang's romance narratives can be understood as allegorical for the national. The unhomeliness of the domestic space and intimate relationships in Chuanqi reveal the tensions within the underlying patriarchal structures of the time and place, such as colonialism, Orientalism, and sexism. In particular, the novella "Aloeswood Incense," the tragic story of a young woman's coming-of-age and corruption of innocence, is read as a Gothic national allegory for the failure of the May Fourth enlightenment project in the face of colonialism and Orientalism.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida Libraries, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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