ALLEGORIZING THE EXISTENTIAL CRISIS IN MODERN CHINA: QIAN ZHONGSHU’S PHILOSOPHICAL NOVEL “FORTRESS BESIEGE”

• Authors: Huang Yu Heidi
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Beginning with an overview of the interconnection between literature and philosophy in modern Chinese literature, this paper analyses the novel Fortress Besieged (1947) written by Qian Zhongshu, a polyglot Chinese scholar of East-West comparative literature and philosophy. It compares the novel’s overarching allegory, i. e. a fortress besieged, in juxtaposition with the philosophical allegories about the mutability and limitations of human life. It concludes with a reflection on the seminal influence of this novel in contemporary Chinese society where “fortress besieged” has become an everyday word referring to one’s existential crisis.

Keywords

EN

PHILOSOPHICAL NOVEL; QIAN ZHONGSHU; ALLEGORY; CHINA

• Publisher: Institute of World Literature, Slovak Academy of Sciences
• Journal: World Literature Studies
• Year: 2018
• Volume: 10
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 80 – 90

Contributors

author

Huang Yu Heidi

• Centre for European Studies, School of international Studies, Sun Yat-sen University, Tangjia Wan 519082, Zhuhai, The People’s Republic of China