Chinese 503 (OSU)

Yu Dafu (1896-1945)

Biography (1896-1945)
I. Early life

-born 1896 in Fuyang, Zhejiang [Fuyang is on the Fuchun river which flows into the Qiantang River which goes by Hangzhou]
-father dies when Yu is three [like Lu Xun, Ding Ling...]
-family lives a poverty-stricken existence; latter recalls experiencing hunger (which may have affected his health later in life)
-and yet the mother succeeded in getting all three of her sons to attend school

II.early study (-1913)

-started out at private schools
-then attended Fuyang County Gaodeng Xiaoxue tang (formed from the "Spring River Academy," shuyuan), graduated a top student in 1910
-from 1911-13 studied at home on his own
-showed an early interest in classical poetry and even published a few
-favorite works of this period are: poems of Wu Weiye (Meicun); a book by an anonymous author on the Boxers; a collection of essays, poetry and memorials written during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95 The righteous indignation of everyone under heaven. The nationalist tenor of all the above is clear

III. Japan (1913-22)

-went to Japan on scholarship, one year preparation in Tokyo (First Higher School of Tokyo), studies political economics at Imperial University (Tokyo)
-1914 meets Guo Moruo, with whom he later forms Creation Society
-1915 attends Sixth Higher School of Nagoya
-1916 attends Tokyo Imperial University
-1920 marries girl from native town during summer holiday
-1921 "Sinking" collection of three stories
-1921 formation of the Creation Society with Guo Moruo, Cheng Fangwu

IV. Association with Creation Society and literary career (1921-27)

-1922 returns to China; editor of Creation Quarterly
-first issue of Creation Quarterly (May, 1922); criticized by members of the Wenxue yanjiu hui for a)art for art's sake attitude b) eroticism.
-teaches English briefly at school of law and administration at Anqing in Anhui
-1923-25 leaves Shanghai for Peking where he lectures in statistics at Beida [which he hated]; continues editorial work for Creation Society pubs; was able to begin a relationship with Lu Xun at this time
-1925 teaches at Wuchang; contributes to Hongshui and Creation Monthly; left because of conflicts between the conservative Huang Kan and
-1926-27 teaches at Sun Yatsen University in Canton, hotbed of revolutionary activity, where many members of the Creation Society taught and Lu Xun eventually came
-affair with Wang Yingxia begins 1926, married 1927.
-criticizes the Guomindang, with which Guo Moruo and Cheng Fangwu were intimately connected in the years 1926-27 with the revolutionary Northern Expedition. Guo and Cheng criticize Yu for his impertinence. Aug. 1927 announces break with Creationists.
-his most important creative period

V. Political problems (1927-31)

-1927-31 becomes more closley associated with Lu Xun's Yusi group
-period of political conwservatism for Yu
-1928 with Lu Xun edits Benliu (Torrent)
-forms his own journal Dazhong wenyi (Mass literature)
-helps found the Human Rights League with Lu Xun, Cai Yuanpei and Song Qingling
-invited to join the League of Left-wing Writers
-1930 withdrew from the League for he felt as a petit-bourgeois writer he could not write proletarian literature

V. Retreat in Hangzhou (1932-36)

-becomes editor of Lin Yutang's Analects, dedicated to all subjects except politics (1936-37)
-travel diaries in a very traditional style
-1936 works for two months in the Fujian government

VI. War Period (1937-45)

-1937 does propaganda work in Wuhan
-1940 divorces Wang Yingxia; 1939 their estrangement becomes popular lore as letters between them are published in journals; she has an affair and moves in with her new lover
- moves to Southeast Asia during the war
-1945 shot by Japanese for anti-Japanese activities

Literary Works:
I. fiction

-most well-known for his early fiction, particularly the three stories collected in Sinking
-wrote almost exclusively in the short story form (like Lu Xun), though he did write some novellas [we suspect he lacked the patience to write longer fiction]
-continued to write fiction into the thirties, but most of his best work is associated with the period from 1922-27

II. essays

-wrote many autobiographical essays

III. literary criticism

-wrote much to introduce western Romantic writers (i.e. Rousseau...), but also the aesthetic views of Oscar Wilde
-in his later phase, like Lu Xun, was influenced by the determinist theories of the Russian Plekhanov
-"Class Struggle in Literature" (See Denton 1996, 263-68); views art as organically inseparable from life; laments battle of slogans "art for art's sake" and "art for life"

IV. Poetry

-his classical poetry is considered among the best written in the modern period
-wrote only a very few "modern" poems

"Sinking" by Yu Dafu

Introduction:

-Publishesd first in Chuangzao jikan (Creation Quarterly); later collected with two other stories ("Moving South" and "Silver-grey Death") and published as one of the first short story collections in 1921
-considered innovative in (a) psychological portrait of one protagonist (long passages of quoted monologue, psycho-narration); (b) achronological use of time; (c) sexual themes from a psychological viewpoint

Questions to ponder:

1. In what ways is the story representative of this May Fourth romanticism we have been talking about?

2.Identify the narrative mode. How is the story being told? From what perspective? Do we enter the mind of the protagonist? How?

3. Is the plot in chronological order? Is the order significant?

4.What is the protagonist's character and personality? What is your view of him?

5.What is the relationship between the author/narrator and protagonist? Is this story to be read ironically? Or is the protagonist sufficiently aware of his failings to render that reading wrong? Are his mental wanderings to be read seriously as the sincere search for self? Is the story mawkish or modern?

6.What about the theme of nationalism in this story? Is it merely appended or does it constitute an important element of the story? Is this a story primarily about the self or about the nation? In what ways is nationalism viewed as central to the story

7.How does the protagonist define himself? What is his identity? What literary and cultural texts does he refer to in defining himself? Is there a fundamental tension (contradiction?) in the story in terms of the texts he reads and alludes to?

8.Theme of the story is clear enough: self's relation to society and to self. The question is what is the attitude of the author to the alienated self? Is the protagonist heroic for his sincerity in searching for self, or is he tragic in the failure of this project?

9.How do you read the ending of story? Does the protagonist committ suicide or not?

10. Could you offer a feminist reading of this story?