The Anti-Heroine in Zhang Ailing’s “A Love that Topples a City”
& Wang Anyi’s The Song of Everlasting Sorrow

Spanning nearly half a century in their respective emergence onto the literary scene of China, prominent Chinese women writers Zhang Ailing and Wang Anyi directly pushed the boundaries of literature, engaging in a discourse on gender, sexuality, and modernity within their text.  Such engagement is most evident in the canonical works of the novella “A Love that Topples a City” (1944), the most renowned of Zhang’s Hong Kong stories, and Wang’s The Song of Everlasting Sorrow (1995), recipient of the Mao Dun Prize—China’s highest literary award.  In this thesis, I will show how the main female protagonists, apolitical and driven by motives of self-interest, are anti-heroines who nonetheless exert profound political influences.

I intend to explore the writing styles of both texts as being itself a form of antiheroic writing, against the conventional literary epic form dominant within the period of their writing. I will draw upon Rey Chow’s theory of the feminine detail and Jie Lu’s theory of gossip to show how the texts’ focus on the everyday, the banal, feminine spaces, and interiority as support for my claim of an antiheroic writing.  This will be further argued through drawing evidence that the protagonists’ actions are motivated by self-interest and not by intents of nation-building. Unlike the traditional hero, Liusu and Wang Qiyao become admired not for their actual qualities, but for their existence of an idealized abstract, as a form of Oriental past.  They are romanticized as embodiments of the bygone Shanghai.

In order to demonstrate how the protagonists are antiheroines, I will discuss the role of antiheroines as defined by other critics.  Beckson argues that “the anti-hero[ine] finds commitment to ideals difficult or impossible because of his sense of helplessness in a world over which [s]he has no control.”    In “A Love that Topples a City,” Bai Liusu is a divorcee trapped within her own household, enduring the harsh antagonism of multiple members of the extended family.  Discontent with her helpless position, her attraction to playboy Fan Liuyuan, who recently returned from London, is the physical form of her individualistic desire to escape her boredom—to divorce her family.  Her apoliticalness is observed by her response to the societal disruption caused by the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong as a pure means of obtaining Liuyuan and escaping from her family altogether.  Conversely, this revolutionary atmosphere that is essentially beneficial for Liusu has the opposite effect for Wang Qiyao of The Song of Everlasting Sorrow.  Wang Qiyao is a figure unwilling to adapt to the modernizing ideals and norms set into motion by the Communist takeover.  This unwillingness is not caused by political ideology, but by the individualistic desire to escape boredom, desperately clinging onto the customs of a past.  She becomes a portrait of “Old Shanghai,” remaining static, ahistorical and apolitical as the architectural, cultural, and social landscape of Shanghai constantly transform and evolve around her.

Notwithstanding the apolitical motives of the anti-heroines, they exert influences within a political and social context.  This claims attempts to respond to traditional connotations of antiheroines as being failures and therefore unable to leave a certain impact or relate significantly with the greater world.  At the conclusion of “A Love that Topples a City,” Liusu’s impact is generalized to the collective actions of others just like her that disrupts social norms to the point that an entire city collapses.  Meanwhile, Wang Qiyao is presented as a distinct individual within society, a microcosm that is indicative of the macrocosm that is a transforming society. Wang Anyi calls attention to the fact that there are many other Shanghainese girls just like Wang Qiyao.  The ordinariness of both characters is yet another quality aligning them as anti-heroines.

Aside from analyzing the primary texts of both novels in English as well as the original Chinese, I will also be drawing upon a number of secondary texts, including peer-reviewed journal articles, literary criticism books, essays by both authors, and one New York Times Sunday Book Review on Anyi’s novel by Francine Prose.  I also intend on gathering articles written in Chinese.  In examining what factors allow both protagonists to constitute an anti-heroine, a key aim of my research is to focus on the relationship of women within a modernizing, revolutionary society and the implications on women identity and gender politics.

Hi Jesse,

I am not sure how interested you would be in this or how relevant it is to your topic (it seems as though it might help you with your research) but there is an event called The City’s End at the Graduate Center on November 24 at 6:30 pm. It addresses “fantasies, fears, and premonitions of New York’s Destruction.” Here’s the brief description I got from the grad center’s website. 

At each stage of New York’s development over the past century, visions of how the city would be demolished, blown up, swallowed by the sea, or toppled by monsters have proliferated in films and science fiction novels, photography, painting, graphic arts, television advertisements, postcards, cartoons, and computer software. In a project begun well before September 11, but given a new importance in its wake Max Page, Professor of Art History, University of Massachusetts – Amherst, seeks to offer a critical historical perspective to our understanding of the recent disaster.  Book signing to follow

In a refreshing and passionate manner, Naomi Klein, Hernando de Soto and Joseph Stiglitz engaged in an enthusiastic conversation regarding the current global economic crisis. The event was focused on capitalism, the market system and mostly on the recent bail out of the banks by the government.

Both Klein and Stiglitz criticized the American bail out. While Stiglitz praised the British handling of the bail out because of their stipulations and clear guidelines on where the money will be allocated, he condemned the United States government for the failure to do so. Where or who exactly is the bail out money going to? This is an important flaw in our bail out, especially in the light of recent AIG spending on exotic hunting trips for their executives. Klein also raised an interesting point regarding the issue. The government is not establishing the rules for Wall Street and the financial sector in the crisis. Rather, it is Wall Street that is directing the actions of our government. It really demonstrates that the government does not act in the interest of all; instead it is controlled by the elites for the elites.

Klein and Stiglitz primarily discussed the crisis in terms of the American government, Wall Street, the upcoming elections and what it means for the next president in office and the actions they will have to take. Hernando De Soto, on the other hand, brought the perspective of the developing nations, the so-called “banana republics” to the conversation. He emphasized that the cause of the financial collapse in northern countries is due to the failure of reconciling the reality and records. He insisted that the foundation of our economic system was our legal system, in the form of property rights. The collapse of the system of property rights has subsequently led to the downfall of the financial sectors.

Although the event was enlightening, it was disappointing in one aspect. I was expecting a more wholesome discussion on capitalism as an economic system and how it changed due to the bail out. I was hoping they would address the future of capitalism. Was it a failure as a system or just needed additional tweaking? But overall, it was a very lively evening where the audience got to hear some of the most prominent people discuss the current economic conditions. 

Since India’s economic liberalization, media attention has been focused on its development. While its growth has been phenomenal economically, India continues to lag behind in other critical areas such as women’s rights, rural development, and child labor. Despite rapid modernization, India fails to meet some of the millennium goals proposed by the United Nations. In spite of the advancement, India has a long journey ahead. Socially, it has not progressed at the same rate as it has witnessed its economic growth. Women have secured great success in other parts of their lives, although their struggle continues in these areas also. Such achievements include an increasing number of women in the workforce, illegal pronouncement of the dowry system, acquiring political rights and attaining a valuable education.

My thesis addresses the issue of women’s health in India, specifically the subject of women’s sexuality and reproductive health. I will examine how Indian societal views on sexuality have affected its policies on reproductive health, particularly those on abortion rights, contraceptives (implied is safe and protected sex), and pregnancy and child- birth. Furthermore, I intend to compare the trends and access to reproductive health facilities between urban and rural areas. In order to fulfill my latter aim more effectively, I might limit my comparative research to certain key areas, on which I am undecided currently.

In regards with reproductive health, I would argue that it would be beneficial to women and the Indian society to modernize using the western countries as a model. This does not necessarily mean imitation of their struggles against a patriarchical society. It only means that women could use this model as a building block for their movement. It should be noted that even in western countries, women have not fully gained equal rights to those of men. While this is a shortcoming in looking towards the West for inspiration, it does offer Indian feminists a point of departure. As I will show, the western model will have to be tweaked and prodded to accommodate the Indian cultural, political, economic and social environment to achieve equal and complete rights for women. It is my hope that our Indian counterparts will aim to achieve even those goals not yet accomplished by the feminist movements in the West.

Historians normally utilize archives and secondary sources to support their arguments. Consequently, I plan to use both categories of sources, although one more than the other. The majority of my research will be secondary. But I also intend to look into the World Health Reports, other Indian government statistics regarding the health of its citizens, the Indian Constitution and the five year developmental plans, etc. 

By examining the current issues facing the progress of women’s reproductive and sexual health, I hope to learn the difficulties of their development. Acknowledging their difficulties and the problems they experience, better governmental policies could be formed. It would aid in establishing more effective and constructive programs for organizations and government to utilize in developing this critical health concern. 

NOTE: I have footnotes in the original proposal but in order to save space, I have deleted them on the blog. 

Hi everyone,

Jonathan Schoenwald, director of the Honors program at Hunter, introduced me to Zotero, an online citation tool that supposedly does wonders. I’m not exactly sure of all the details, but thought that maybe we could all try it out together.

It can be installed at Zotero.org

– Chris

For the upcoming Great Issues Forum on Economic Power, I’d like for each of you post a question here by Thursday at the latest.  The questions do not need to be elaborate.  In fact, short and  direct inquiries will be more likely to be used by the moderator.  Here is the website for the event–again, a most impressive line up: http://greatissuesforum.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=68&Itemid=76

Sorry to post my response to the “Great Issues Forum: Political Power” so late.

I found the event extremely insightful and educational touching on numerous topics ranging from the war in Iraq, to the Israeli- Palestinian issues, genocides around the world, climate change, the upcoming elections in the United States and the changing role of the United States in the global arena.

When asked about the role of the United States in the conflicts around the world, all three speakers stressed the importance of multilateral coalitions and open dialogue. I completely agreed with this assessment. In order for the United States to resume its role as a world leader, it is important for the country to engage in dialogues and discussion with other countries. It cannot act without any cooperation or approval from other countries. Mary Robinson made an important distinction between the war in Iraq and war in Afghanistan in terms of human rights violations. She said she supported the war in Afghanistan but the war in Iraq was a violation of human rights and it was necessary to be condemned as such. It raises the question of when invading another country is deemed okay and when military force is condemned by the international community.

Regarding the biggest issue that needed to be addressed in the near future, Brzezinski indicated the over-consumption and the general lack of responsibility that pervades the American society as a major problem. He discussed the irresponsibility in the government. Over-consumption has always been an American way of life, which Brzezinski believes has contributed to the current economic crisis.

Mary Robinson and Kristoff both pointedly said that humanity shines the brightest in the midst of abject violence, poverty, and conflict (Malushka also mentions this in her review). This humanity is what helps them both overcome and change the grim and often hopeless situations into something, which could be resolved with persistence, faith, and determination.

I really enjoyed this event. The speakers had clear, blunt, and precise if sometimes a differing view on the path America should follow, especially after the election of a new presidency.

Hi all,

I finished watching the movie, “Obsession”. I have to admit I did not watch the last ten minutes. The people in this film did not even have an accurate definition of the word jihad (which means struggle, not holy war). There were a number of sensationalist claims and the overall message was that terrorists are infiltrating our minds and we should hide our children.

The reason why I am sharing this is because I am having a difficult time reading some sources, which might hurt my research. We are all conveying certain messages with our research. Obviously, we all have an agenda. Our interest and desire to do research stems from a certain passion that we all have, whether only academic, personal or both. Mine goes beyond the academic scope. Having viewed Islam in a certain way and studying it has poisoned my mind into viewing it as all-positive entity. I cringe when I read something that goes against my view of it.

I spoke to my advisor regarding this yesterday and he made an insighful remark (using an example from Christian doctrine — Religious Studies geeky stuff) about how the I could never accurately understand a topic without truly viewing (or at least, attempting to) both sides of an argument. I think it would be a mistake to not look over the “enemy” sources. A lot could be learned from them. Therefore, I will make it a priority to review them and try to include them in my annotated bibliography. I think all of you should do the same.

With all of this said, I still think that the film left a lot to be desired. *sigh*

Have a great week off.

P. S. Roy: There was a scene regarding anti-Semitic propaganda (from a popular soap opera, I believe) where two Jews kidnapped a little boy and were going to drink his blood or cook him. Also, there was some Arabic rap which called George Bush and Israel’s leaders “Shaytan”. You would find it interesting. If Lee doesn’t mind, I could give you the DVD.

~Milushka

Nandini, this PBS report on the Barefoot College in India will be of interest to you.  It involves social entrepreneurship and a successful method to educating women who have no prior education to become solar technicians in their home villages.

Look at it here: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/indepth_coverage/social_issues/social_ent/

Hello all,

First off, I just wanted to mention that the Art Speigelman lecture was extremely enlightening and humorous (in a dark, sardonic way). He was engaging, personable and yet seemed to be a man who would suffer no fools. Conclusion: It was pretty neat and I definitely recommend going to see him speak if you’re at all interested in the comic creative process.

I think the feeling of Spiegelman’s lecture is best summed up in his own words.  In reference to Maus (his best selling Graphic Novel) Spiegelman mater-of-factly stated that he felt “like a blues musician with a crossover hit.” No where is this more true than in his early work, as detailed in his new book (and subject of the lecture) Breakdowns. As he spoke I realize if nothing else Spiegelman is an ADD genius; ideas flow freely from his head never lingering past the audience’s applause and laughter. Yet, it is only when this creative energy is channeled into ink that we are given the time necessarily to fully understand and appreciate his work.

To Spiegelman, “comics are diagrams” of human thought. He explains that we all think in small iconic images and in small phrases, thus the combination of thought bubble and frame is able to “pierce our critical defenses.” Comics speaks to us, directly to us, in a way no other form of media says Spiegelman. “Comics allow you to the projector of the film,” guiding the action and allowing the reader to move at his/her own pace. And so it comes as no surprise to Spiegelman that the Graphic Novel is one of the few remaining  areas of growth in the literature market (that and religion).

While Spiegelman did not directly address the subject of religion in comics, he did insist (and I paraphrase, I wish I had be able to quote) that the very first comics were the painted glass depictions of that superhero who turned water into wine. This is especially interesting in light of the fact that the first commercial cartoons were to come out in Newsprint on the Christian Sabbath, thus directly competing with God for readership (or so said turn of the 20th century fundamentalists). Thought I think the church can hardly be angry at an art form that borrows so heavily from their content and form. It stands to make sense that comics would be a good tool to use when depicting religious events, most notably the apocalypse.

Spiegelman explained that comics are by their nature ephemeral and thus “appropriate for the end of the world.” Paired with the ability of cartoons to reach their reader on their own terms makes Graphic novels immensely powerful cultural agents. And when there is humor, this only makes the comic more powerful. The root of all humor lays in hostility and violence asserts Spiegelman, what scares and bothers us is what makes us laugh the hardest and brings us together. He sited the propaganda of WW2 as an example, be it the racist depiction of Jews in Germany or of the Japanese in America. This theory could also be applied to End Times, I can think of few subjects of competing violence and destruction.

Those are the general points of Speigelman’s lecture and what I found most relevant. In closing, I just want to leave you with my favorite quote of the night.

“The great thing about comics is this: if you don’t get a painting, you assume your stupid. With a comic book, if you don’t get it, you assume the writer is stupid.”

– Jesse