Issue |
SHS Web Conf.
Volume 162, 2023
5th International Conference on Art, Design and Cultural Studies (ADCS 2023)
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Article Number | 01032 | |
Number of page(s) | 8 | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/202316201032 | |
Published online | 21 April 2023 |
Austenian Spirit in Chinese Comedy of Manners: Discovering a Neglected Female Influence on Qian Zhongshu
Moonshot Academy, Beijing, 100040, China
* Corresponding author: shuranwangcindy@gmail.com
As soon as the play Forging the Truth (Nongzhen chengjia, 1943) written by the Chinese scholar Yang Jiang (1911-2016) premiered during World War II, critics considered the work to be the second milestone of the Chinese comedy of manners. This comment is unsurprising since Yang had a longstanding scholarly interest in the British comedy of manners tradition, especially those by Jane Austen (1775-1817). Also an academic and writer, Yang’s husband, Qian Zhongshu (1910-1998), after watching the play, began writing his only published novel, Fortress Besieged (1947). Given Qian’s inseparable fellowship with Yang Jiang, his irrefutable grounding in Chinese and European arts and letters, and exploration of how marriage impacts the individual in the novel, one wonders why scholars have not recognised even one female author among his source influences. This article establishes a link between Austen and Qian by integrating biographical accounts, a scholarship work Yang had done, and close readings of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (1813), Yang Jiang’s Nongzhen chengjia, and Qian Zhongshu’s Fortress Besieged. By looking at their adaptations of the comedy of manners genre, this article expands on a common quality the three works all share: the duality of playful irony and intelligent compassion.
Key words: Comedy of manners / comedic spirit / Qian Zhongshu / Jane Austen / Yang Jiang / Pride and Prejudice / Fortress Besieged / Nongzhen chengjia
© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2023
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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