Organizer and Chair: Rania Huntington, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Discussant: Martin W. Huang, University of California, Irvine
The romance, in the broadest sense a literary work focused on one or more sympathetically portrayed love relationships, is often imagined to be a constant type. In the Qing, however, the romance exhibits variation over time and remarkable openness to influence from other fictional subgenres. The Qing witnessed the flourishing of two vigorous narrative traditions focusing on the romance: the caizi jiaren (talented scholar/beauty) novel and the classical tale. Both forms originated in the early Qing and continued to evolve throughout the dynasty. How are these two traditions related? We will examine how they evolved over the course of the Qing under the influence of social-historical change and the process of absorption and hybridization of elements from other genres.
Zhou Jian-yu will analyze the evolution of the male protagonist in caizi jiaren as martial talent increased in importance. Margaret Baptist Wan will explore the significance of the crossover and shared elements of plot and structure between popular genres: the caizi jiaren, the historical novel, and the emerging gongan (court case/detective) novel. Roland Altenburger will discuss the role of the romance in the evolution of the theme of the lady knight (nüxia) from the Tang classical tale to Ernü yingxiong zhuan. Rania Huntington will examine the differences between the romance in vernacular fiction and the classical tale, and ask whether the preeminence of supernatural women in the classical tale is central to those differences.
The Evolution of the Talented Man in Caizi-jiaren Romances
Jian-yu Zhou, National University of Singapore
During the mid-eighteenth century, a change occurred in the caizi-jiaren (talented scholar and beauty) novel. The image of the caizi went from a scholar with only literary talent to one who also had military talent. In novels published before the Qianlong period, the literary talent of a caizi brought him success in civil service examinations and marriage. Military prowess was not an asset when seeking a jiaren. Masculine characteristics were a handicap because the traditional physical image of the caizi was thin in stature with a feminine face.
In later novels, the caizi possessed literary talent, but his military talent was equally important, since it enabled him to suppress bandits or rebellion. Caizi were no longer restricted to success through civil examinations, but could excel militarily. This change of the caizi's image suggests a transformation of the scholars' self-perception.
To explain the shift of values associated with the ideal caizi, notice must be given to the social conditions of mid-eighteenth century China, the influence of the Qianlong Emperor's interest in military affairs, and the authors' efforts to improve this genre. As rebellions increased, military ventures were encouraged. Literary and military affairs were equally emphasized by the Qianlong Emperor. The government and society needed dual talented heroes to serve the country and solve its social problems. In the meantime, authors who tired of the old conventions attempted to improve this genre by providing new characteristics and thus transformed the caizi's image,
The Domestication of the Lady Knight in the Tangles of the Romance
Roland Altenburger, University of Zurich
The theme of the lady knight (nüxia) originates in some notable Tang tales, most prominently in the stories of Nic Yinniang and Hongxian. The posterior variations and elaborations of the lady knight theme are often intertextually related to these tales. This core narrative is about a young woman who received training in the martial arts in order to fulfill her filial duty to avenge her father by killing a powerful enemy. The most influential narrative treatment of this theme is found in the character Shisan Mei in the novel Ernü yingxiong zhuan (Heroic Sons and Daughters, 1878). In this extended version of the nüxia tale, it is worked into a romance along caizi-jiaren conventions. This synthetic merging has consequences for both sides, for the framing romance as well as for the lady knight narrative. By pairing up the masculinized nüxia as a strong and independent woman with a feminized wenren who is weak and dependent, the gender economy of conventional romance constellations is turned upside down. The nüxia type of woman seems to be incompatible with caizi-jiaren expectations. However, in Ernü yingxiong zhuan the "taming" of the lady knight and her conversion to a submissive wife are introduced to the lady knight narrative as important new elements. Is this final corrective "domestication" of the lady knight just following the inner logic of the romance genre which the nüxia tale is blended with? And what is its significance in terms of gender ideology?
Love Knows No Bounds: Genre Hybridization in Lü Mudan
Margaret Baptist Wan, Harvard University
The martial romances (1800-1850) are a group of novels in which an adventure plot is put into motion by the relationship between a hero and heroine. Should these novels be considered hybrids of popular genres of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the romance (caizi jiaren) and the historical novel, with the emerging gongan (court case/detective) novel? I will examine the significance of the crossovers from these subgenres and shared elements of plot and structure in one of the early martial romances, Lü Mudan (1800). How is the romance reconciled with the action that was previously the realm of the historical novel and military romance? I would suggest that the awkwardness resulting from the conflation of caizi jiaren and gongan is thematized by the pursuit of the unwilling official's son by the woman warrior in Lü Mudan.
By exposing the "seams" of the martial romances and the "cloth" from which they were cut, I hope to contribute to a better understanding of the process of popular fiction in the early nineteenth century.
The Supernatural Romance in the Context of Human Romances
Rania Huntington, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
The popularity of the various forms of romance in the vernacular novel discussed by my co-panelists coincided with the flourishing of the romance in the classical tale. The most beloved and widely imitated stories in Pu Songling's Liaozhai zhiyi are romances. What is the difference between the two romance traditions?
One obvious difference is the preponderance of supernatural heroines in the classical tale. Why was there such a large overlap in the Chinese literary tradition between the erotic/romantic and the supernatural? What does the large region of overlap reveal about both? Is it the presence of the supernatural heroine which determines the differences between the two romance traditions? I will treat one of the most common forms, the fox romance, as representative of the supernatural romance. Is the vixen lover a conventional jiaren (beauty) in a mask, or is she inherently different?
I will explore these questions by reading supernatural romances against tales involving only human participants by the same authors: Pu Songling and the late Qing author Wang Tao. The proportion of supernatural to human heroines has declined dramatically in Wang Tao; how has this affected the portrayal of both? I argue that the vixen's distinct identity has two sources: first, her power, which alters the patterns of the romance, and second, the narrative quality of the classical tale which keeps the vixen a figure viewed from the outside. The power and control which distinguishes vixen from human lovers grows more extreme later in the Qing.