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Chinese Shock of the Anthropocene pp 109–129Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Magic Realism as a Critical Response to the Anthropocene

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Abstract

This chapter looks at the magic realist literature by Han and non-Han writers, including Han Shaogong, Mo Yan, and Tashi Dawa, to understand how China’s anthropogenic modernization, propagated as a national cause, has been contested by fantasy narratives, marvellous articulations and surreal elements in their fictions.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Dipesh Chakrabarty, “Whose Anthropocene? A Response,” in “Whose Anthropocene? Revisiting Dipesh Chakrabarty’s ‘Four Theses,’” eds., Robert Emmett and Thomas Lekan, special issue of RCC Perspectives: Transformations in Environment and Society, 2 (2016): 105, 111, accessed August 13, 2018, http://www.environmentandsociety.org/perspectives/2016/2/article/whose-anthropocene-response

  2. 2.

    Dipesh Chakrabarty, “Whose Anthropocene? A Response,” 113.

  3. 3.

    Joe Smith, “Why climate change is different: six elements that are shaping the new cultural politics,” in Culture and Climate Change: Recordings, eds., Robert Butler, Eleanor Margolies, Joe Smith and Renata Tyszczuk (Cambridge: Shed, 2011), 20–21; Renata Tyszczuk, “On constructing for the unforeseen,” in Culture and Climate Change: Recordings, eds., Robert Butler, Eleanor Margolies, Joe Smith and Renata Tyszczuk (Cambridge: Shed, 2011), 24, 26.

  4. 4.

    For a wide-ranging discussion of magic realism, see Maggie Ann Bowers, Magic(al) Realism (London and New York: Routledge, 2004).

  5. 5.

    Franz Roh, “Magic Realism: Post-Expressionism,” trans. Wendy B. Faris, in Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community, eds. Lois Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B Faris (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1995), 15–31.

  6. 6.

    Alejo Carpentier, “On the Marvellous Real in America,” trans. Tanya Huntington and Lois Parkinson Zamora, in Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community, eds. Lois Parkinson Zamora and Wendy Bl Faris (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1995), 75–88.

  7. 7.

    Angel Flores, “Magical Realism in Spanish American Fiction,” Hispania, 38 (1955): 187–192.

  8. 8.

    See, for example: Frederic Jameson, “On Magic Realism in Film,” Critical Inquiry, 12 (1986): 301–325; Stephan Slemon, “Magic Realism as Postcolonial Discourse,” Canadian Literature, 116 (1988): 9–24.

  9. 9.

    Roberto González Echevarría, Alejo Carpentier: The Pilgrim at Home (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1990), 107.

  10. 10.

    Flores, “Magical Realism in Spanish American Fiction,” 189.

  11. 11.

    Flores, “Magical Realism in Spanish American Fiction,” 190.

  12. 12.

    Rosemary Jackson, Fantasy: The Literature of Subversion (London: Methuen, 1981), 90.

  13. 13.

    Jameson, “On Magic Realism in Film,” 303, 311, 301, 319, 323.

  14. 14.

    Slemon, “Magic Realism as Postcolonial Discourse,” 10.

  15. 15.

    Slemon, “Magic Realism as Postcolonial Discourse,” 11.

  16. 16.

    Slemon, “Magic Realism as Postcolonial Discourse,” 12–13.

  17. 17.

    Slemon, “Magic Realism as Postcolonial Discourse,” 15.

  18. 18.

    For a selection of representative works of “root-searching” fiction, see Li Tuo, ed., Zhongguo xungen xiaoshuo xuan [A Selection of “Root-searching” Fiction] (Hong Kong: Joint Publishing, 1993).

  19. 19.

    Gabriel García Márquez was first introduced to Chinese readers in 1972 with a partial translation of One Hundred Years of Solitude in the Hong Kong literary journal Siji [Four Seasons]; but it was not until after 1984, when a full translation appeared, that the Colombian writer began to exert a huge influence on writers in mainland China.

  20. 20.

    See, for example: Chen Guangfu, Mohuan xianshi zhuyi [Magic Realism] (Guangzhou: Huacheng chubanshe, 1986), 159; Chen Zhongyi, Mohuan xianshi zhuyi dashi: Jiaxiya Maerkesi [Gabriel García Márquez: A Magic Realist Master] (Zhengzhou: Huanghe wenyi chubanshe, 1988), 2–3.

  21. 21.

    See, for example: Zhou Zhengbao, “Xiaoshuo chuangzuo de xin qushi—minzu wenhua yishi de qianghua,” [“A New Tendency in Fictional Writing: The Rise of Cultural Consciousness”], Wenyi Bao. August, 10, 1983; Li Zehou, “Liangdian zhuyuan,” [“Two Wishes”], Wenyi Bao. July, 27, 1985; Tang Tao, “Yisierxing—guanyu xungen,” [“Think Before You Jump: On ‘Root-searching’”], Renmin Ribao. April, 30, 1986.

  22. 22.

    Arif Dirlik, “Developmentalism,” Interventions, 16.1 (2014): 30–31, accessed August 16, 2018, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1369801X.2012.735807

  23. 23.

    Dirlik, “Developmentalism,” 30–31.

  24. 24.

    Dirlik, following David Noble, suggests that developmentalism can be glossed as “progress without people,” in the sense that it sacrifices “immediate social needs as well as long-term natural consequences.” Dirlik, “Developmentalism,” 33, 45. See David F. Noble, Progress Without People: New Technology, Unemployment, and the Message of Resistance (Toronto: Between The Lines, 1995).

  25. 25.

    Dirlik, “Developmentalism,” 41.

  26. 26.

    Dirlik, “Developmentalism,” 35.

  27. 27.

    Dirlik, “Developmentalism,” 35.

  28. 28.

    Dirlik, “Developmentalism,” 33.

  29. 29.

    “Excerpts from talks given in Wuchang, Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Shanghai,” en.people.cn, accessed August 27, 2018, http://en.people.cn/dengxp/vol3/text/d1200.html; “The Overriding Need is for Stability,” en.people.cn, accessed August 27, http://en.people.cn/dengxp/vol3/text/c1940.html. See also: Mark R. Thompson, “From Japan’s ‘Prussian Path’ to China’s ‘Singapore Model,’” in Asia after the Developmental State: Disembedding Autonomy, eds. Toby Carroll and Darryl S. L. Jarvis (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017), 148–173; Suisheng Zhao, “Chinese Intellectuals’ Quest for National Greatness and Nationalistic Writing in the 1990s,” The China Quarterly, 152 (1997): 725–745; Suisheng Zhao, “Xi’s Maoist Revival,” Journal of Democracy, 27.3 (2016): 83–97.

  30. 30.

    Zhao, “Chinese Intellectuals’ Quest for National Greatness and Nationalistic Writing in the 1990s,” 725.

  31. 31.

    Zhao, “Chinese Intellectuals’ Quest for National Greatness and Nationalistic Writing in the 1990s,” 732.

  32. 32.

    Elizabeth C. Economy, The River Runs Black: The Environmental Challenge to China’s Future (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2004), 264.

  33. 33.

    Han Shaogong, “Guiqulai” [“Homecoming”], in Han Shaogong, Youhuo [Lure] (Changsha: Hunan wenyi chubanshe, 1986), 1–18. Unless stated otherwise, quotations are taken from “The Homecoming,” trans. Jeanne Tai, in Spring Bamboo: A Collection of Contemporary Chinese Short Stories, ed. Jeanne Tai (New York: Random House, 1989), 22–40, and references are indicated in the text by page numbers in parentheses.

  34. 34.

    Jackson, Fantasy, 65.

  35. 35.

    Han Shaogong, “Guiqulai,” 11. My translation.

  36. 36.

    Mo Yan, Honggaoliang jiazu [The Red Sorghum Family] (Beijing: Jiefangjun wenyi chubanshe, 1987). Unless stated otherwise, quotations are taken from Red Sorghum, trans. Howard Goldblatt (London: Heinemann), and references are indicated in the text by page numbers in parentheses.

  37. 37.

    Gabriel García Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude, trans. Gregory Rabassa (London: Pan Books, 1978), 9.

  38. 38.

    Mo Yan, Honggaoliang jiazu [The Red Sorghum Family], 2. My translation.

  39. 39.

    Tashi Dawa, “Ji zai pishengkou shang de hun” [“Souls Tied to the Knots on a Leather Cord”], in Mohuanxianshizhuyi xiaoshuoxuan [A Selection of Magic Realist Fiction], eds. Wu Liang, Zhang Ping and Zong Renfa (Changchun: Shidai wenyi chubanshe, 1988), 199–222. Quotations are taken from “Souls Tied to the Knots on a Leather Cord,” trans. Jeanne Tai, in Spring Bamboo: A Collection of Contemporary Chinese Short Stories, ed. Jeanne Tai (New York: Random House, 1989), 137–169, and references are indicated in the text by page numbers in parentheses.

  40. 40.

    But Tibetan landscape, religion and tradition are treated in a very different way in Soul on a String (pisheng shang de hun), a 2016 film with Tibetan dialogue, co-scripted by Tashi Dawa with the Han Chinese director Zhang Yang (see conclusion below). For a discussion of Tashi Dawa’s ethnic background, see Patricia Schiaffini-Vedani, Tashi Dawa: Magical Realism and Contested Identity in Modern Tibet (2002), University of Pennsylvania, PhD dissertation, accessed August 25, 2018, https://repository.upenn.edu/dissertations/AAI3054992

  41. 41.

    Tashi Dawa, “Xizang, yinmide suiyue” [“Tibet, Days of Eclipse”], in Mohuanxianshizhuyi xiaoshuoxuan [A Selection of Magic Realist Fiction], eds. Wu Liang, Zhang Ping and Zong Renfa (Changchun: Shidai wenyi chubanshe, 1988), 152–198. References are indicated in the text by pages numbers in parenthesis. Translations are mine.

  42. 42.

    Soul on a String, dir. Zhang Yang. He Li Chen Guang International Culture Media, 2016.

  43. 43.

    I wish to dedicate this work to the memory of Prof. P. K. Leung, who taught me how to read, and much more.

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  1. Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong

    Wai-Ping Yau

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Correspondence to Wai-Ping Yau .

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  1. Department of Humanities and Creative Writing, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong

    Kwai-Cheung Lo

  2. Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong

    Jessica Yeung

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Yau, WP. (2019). Magic Realism as a Critical Response to the Anthropocene. In: Lo, KC., Yeung, J. (eds) Chinese Shock of the Anthropocene. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6685-7_6

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