Imagining the Modern: the Discourse of Civilization in Late Qing Fictions
| Autor: | Hsin-Yi Yu, 余欣怡 |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2011 |
| Druh dokumentu: | 學位論文 ; thesis |
| Popis: | 99 The thesis titled "Imagining the Modern: the Discourse of Civilization in Late Qing Fictions," first focuses on the "civilization" to analyze its semantic change. Although the word, "civilization," can be traced back to Han Dynasty, it has a different concept in the modern society. The term combines the entry of foreign civilization and new ideas which contain the cultural discussions in material and spiritual aspects in the late Qing society. The exchange between Western and Eastern worlds is bound to have conflicts and contradictions. Bo-Yuan Li（李伯元）in "History of Civilization," first dealt with the subject in the late Qing period, depicting how Chinese people reacting to Western culture in epic styles. He also recorded the various attitudes when facing "civilization" in the process of modernization at that time, and how people raised questions and explored this topic. "The new story of the stone" written by Jian-Ren Wu（吳趼人）, has twenty articles responding what is "civilization" in the "Civilized State" chapter. Rendered by the elements of scientific fictions, he wrote with a variety of fantasies. Through Bao-Yu Jia's （賈寶玉） tour to show Eastern civilizations, ultimately, he concluded that the "Oriental/Eastern civilization" was the world leader. Linear concept of time was introduced to the late Qing Dynasty and turned into "next/future novel," and the 'time" here looks like looking forward, but actually bringing in historical reviews and reflections on the past. Secondly, to build the land of utopia, it derived from the "space" (emptiness of land) concept, but it also led to the displacement of space in terms of time moving forward. Due to the use of science and technology, the novels create all sorts of legends as well as dreams, expressing various attempts to catch up with time and to lay out for the future. Finally, through the dialogues and discussions, the scientific fictions demonstrate the great progress in technology and knowledge; however, people still can not help but come up with ethic doubts about whether morals can progress synchronously. This issue is an old one, and the core questions of civilization are still related to the cultural and spiritual nature in the long run. |
| Databáze: | Networked Digital Library of Theses & Dissertations |
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