The Authenticity of the Soul, Moral Rebellion, and “Serious Concern”: Rereading Ouyang Zi’s Autumn Leaves
Abstract
In the 1950s and 1960s, currents of Western modernist literature surged into Taiwan and soon came to dominate its literary scene. Following the modernist tide of those decades, however, modernist writing was subjected to fierce criticism as U.S. aid to Taiwan was withdrawn and Washington’s strategic posture shifted. Modernism was subsequently dismissed as a derivative strain of Western modernist literature. This paper argues that modernist works represented by Ouyang Zi’s Autumn Leaves are not a mere offshoot of Western modernism. Rather, they inaugurated a new aesthetic direction in Taiwanese literature. Ouyang Zi and other modernist writers employed a diverse range of modernist techniques to reveal the genuine spiritual predicaments of modern individuals, while simultaneously infusing their works with the Chinese philosophical ideal of min bao wu yu—a humanistic sympathy that embodies the transcendence of humanitarian literature.
References
- Bai, X. (2023). The historical context and spiritual character of the founding of Modern Literature—written before the reprint of Modern Literature. In Shu You Ru Ci [So Is the Tree] (p. 105). Sanlian Publishing House.
- Lü, Z. (2010). Modernism in Taiwan. In Postwar Taiwanese Literary Experience (p. 8). Sanlian Publishing House.
- Wu, C. (1994). Modernism and irrationalism. In Studies on Modernist Literature (p. 22). Wuhan University Press. [as cited in Lü, Z.]
- Chen, F. (2011). A history of Taiwanese new literature (p. 408). Linking Publishing Company.
- Lü, Z., & Zhao, X. (2002). Outline of the history of Taiwanese new literary trends (p. 215). Kunlun Press.
- Ouyang, Z. (1994). The Web. In The Witch. Renmin University of China Press. (p. 42)
- Fromm, E. (2015). Escape from freedom (Liu, L., Trans., p. 19). Shanghai Translation Publishing House.
- Ouyang, Z. (1985). About myself—answering Ms. Xia Zuli. In Conversations with Taiwanese Writers. Strait Literature and Art Publishing House. (p. 180)
- James, H. (2001). The art of the novel (Zhu, W., Qiao, Y., & Zhu, N., Trans.). Shanghai Translation Publishing House.
- Ouyang, Z. (2013). Half a smile. In Autumn Leaves—Short Stories (p. 24–26). Erya Press.
- Ouyang, Z. (2013). The Witch. In Autumn Leaves—Short Stories (p. 184). Erya Press.
- Maugham, W. S. (2012). The veil (Chongqing Press, p. 62).
- Ouyang, Z. (2013). Autumn Leaves. In Autumn Leaves—Short Stories (p. 244–247). Erya Press.
- Ouyang, Z. (2013). The Prodigal. In Autumn Leaves—Short Stories (p. 117). Erya Press.
- Ouyang, Z. (2013). The Last Lesson. In Autumn Leaves—Short Stories (p. 176). Erya Press.
- Bai, X. (2000). On the standards of novel criticism—reflections on Tang Jisong’s Ouyang Zhi’s Autumn Leaves. In The Sixth Finger (p.193–197). Huacheng Publishing House.
- Zhang, S. (2012). Modernism and the local confrontation. Chinese Literature, 6.
- Zhu, L. (2015). Life, literature, and faith—Interview with Taiwanese writer Wang Wenxing. Chinese Literature, 3.
- Bai, X. (2000). Retrospect and prospect of Modern Literature. In The Sixth Finger (p. 26–27). Huacheng Publishing House.