Abstract
The concepts of tragedy and the tragic reached the shores of China’s intellectual arena at the turn of the twentieth century within the context of the New Culture and the May Fourth Movements and as a result of a systematic study of Western literature and critical theory, where tragedy had generally been considered the most sublime of all literary genres and the tragic was viewed as integral to the human condition, especially from the nineteenth century. Tragedy captured the imagination of several Chinese intellectuals and playwrights who, from the 1920s onwards, attempted to create their own tragic works (beiju 悲剧) with a view of forging a modern Chinese tragic spirit. But what are the characteristics of this “tragic” spirit, and how does it compare to “Western” ideas of tragedy? Moreover, does it add something new to the ongoing debates on the relationship between tragedy and modernity? The Chinese intellectuals’ early conceptualisation(s) of this genre in terms of content, structure and social function will be appraised as part of a comprehensive, transnational discourse that seeks to incorporate beiju within the broader realm of tragic theory. Particularly, by scrutinising the links between beiju and Aristotelian tragedy, it will be argued that the idea of beiju may be said to reconcile the two apparently antagonistic categories of tragedy and modernity in a way that prefigures Brecht’s epic theatre. Additionally, through an analysis of the tragic conflict underlying three tragic texts written in the 1920s by three different Chinese authors (Tian Han 田汉, Ouyang Yuqian 欧阳予倩 and Bai Wei 白薇), it will be shown that the spirit of beiju (literally “sorrowful play”) is not based on the celebration of mourning, as suggested by term’s implicit reference to Trauerspiel (literally “mourning play”), but rather consists in actively opposing evil and adversity through acts of heroic resistance that wipe out the protagonist’s initial grief, thus providing the audience with valuable models to learn from.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
The first intellectuals to make us of the term beiju in a Chinese context were Jiang Guanyun 蒋观云 and Wang Guowei 王国维, in 1903 and 1904 respectively (See Fusini 2020: 16–17).
- 2.
Emphasis added.
- 3.
According to Maj, this moral freedom, which can have terrible consequences if misused, coincides with what the Greeks called deinón and the Latins called tremendum, i.e. “what terrifies and paralyzes” (Maj 2003: 60).
- 4.
One of the first Japanese writers to mention such a word (in 1892) was the leading Meiji poet, novelist and critic Kitamura Tokoku who was heavily influenced by European romanticism.
- 5.
- 6.
Yuan Shikai (1859–1916) was a prominent military commander who served as the first president of the Republic of China.
- 7.
Written in the eighteenth century, it is considered the greatest classic Chinese novel of all times.
References
Ahuja, C. (1997). The mystique of tragedy: exploring East and West. New Delhi: Prestige Books.
Aristotle. (c1991). From The Poetics. In A. B. Coffin (Ed.), The Questions of tragedy (pp. 1–20). EMText. (Reprinted from Aristotle’ Theory of Poetry and Fine Art, by S. H. Butcher, Ed. & Trans., 1955, Dover Publications)
Bai, W. (2010). Breaking Out of Ghost Pagoda (trans. P. B. Foster). In C. Xiaomei (Ed.). The Columbia Anthology of Modern Chinese Drama (pp. 95–155). Columbia University Press.
Benjamin, W. (1998). The Origins of German Tragic Drama (J. Osborne, Trans.). Verso. (Original work published 1928)
Bing, X. (1926, November 18). Zhong xi xiju zhi bijiao [Comparing Chinese and Western Drama]. Chenbao fukan, 42–43.
Brecht, B. (2015). Brecht on Theatre (M. Silberman, S. Giles, & T. Kuhn, Eds.). Bloomsbury Publishing.
Camus, A. (1970). On the Future of Tragedy. In P. Thody (Ed. & Trans.) Selected Essays and Notebooks. (pp. 192–203). Penguin Books.
Carney, S. (2005). Brecht and critical theory: dialectics and contemporary aesthetics. London: Routledge.
Corrigan, R. W. (Ed.). (c1981). Tragedy: vision and form. Harper & Row.
Falaschi, I. (2002). Beiju: la question de la “tragédie Chinoise” dans le théâtre des Yuan (1279–1368) [Beiju: the question of the “Chinese tragedy” in the theatre of the Yuan dynasty (1279–1368)]. [Doctoral dissertation, Institut National des Langues Orientales, INALCO].
Ferber, I. (c2013). Philosophy and melancholy: Benjamin’s early reflections on theatre and language. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.
Finkelde, D. (2009). The Presence of the Baroque: Benjamin’s Ursprung des deutschen Trauerspiels in Contemporary Contexts. In R. J. Gobel (Ed.), A companion to the works of Walter Benjamin (pp. 46-69). Camden House.
Fusini, L. (2020). Innovative or Rather Traditional? Confucianising Tragedy in May Fourth China. In K. Henry (Ed.) Translating Wor(l)ds 4 – May Fourth and Translation. (pp. 13-32). Venice University Press.
Gu, T. (2017). Negotiation and instrumentalization – the reception of ‘the Tragic’ in modern Chinese literary discourse, 1917–1949. [Doctoral dissertation, The University of Edinburgh]. ERA Home. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/25839
Hake, S. (2021). Gestus in Context. In S. Brockmann (Ed.), Bertolt Brecht in Context (pp. 158–165). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108608800.021
Hegel, G. W. F. (c1991). From The Philosophy of Fine Art. In A. B. Coffin (Ed.), The Questions of tragedy (pp. 21–40). EMText. (Reprinted from The Philosophy of Fine Art, by F. P. B. Osmaston, Ed. & Trans., 1920, G. Bell & Sons, Ltd.)
Hong. S. (1932). Shuyu yi ge shidai de xiju [Drama that belongs to an era]. In Hong Shen xiqu ji [Hong Shen’s writing on Chinese theatre]. (pp. 1–11). Xiandai shuju.
Hoxby, B. (2018). Baroque Tragedy. In J. D. Lyons (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of the Baroque (pp. 516–539). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190678449.001.0001
Hu S. (1996). Wenxue jinhua guannian yu xiju gailiang [The Concept of Literary Evolution and Theatre Reform]. In Hushi wencun [Hu Shi’s Writings] (vol. 6., pp. 106–116). Xinhua shudian jingxiao.
Krutch, J.W. (1929). The Modern Temper. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World.
Lu, Y. (1985). Chuangzuo de wo jian [My view on Creation]. In (Eds.), Lu Yin xuanji [Lu Yin’s selected writings]. (pp. 60–61). Fujian renmin chubanshe.
Maj, B. (2003). Idea del Tragico e Coscienza Storica nelle Fratture del Moderno [The Idea of the Tragic and the Historic Consciousness in the Fractures of Modernity]. Macerata: Quodlibet.
Miller, A. (c1991). “Tragedy and the common man”. In A. B. Coffin (Ed.), The Questions of tragedy (pp. 85–90). EMText. (Reprinted from The Theater Essays of Arthur Miller, by Arthur Miller, 1978, Viking Penguin)
Ouyang, Y. (1983). Pan Jinlian (trans. C. Swatek). In E. M. Gunn (Ed.), Twentieth-Century Chinese Drama: An Anthology (pp.52–75). Indiana University Press.
Ouyang, Y. (1989). Xiju gaige zhi lilun yu shiji [Theory and Practice of Drama Reform]. In S. Guanxin (Ed.), Ouyang yuqian yanjiu xiliao [Research Materials on Ouyang Yuqian]. (pp. 189-235). Zhongguo xiju chubanshe.
Revermann, M. (2021). Brecht and Tragedy: Radicalism, Traditionalism, Eristics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Rosslyn, F. (2000). Tragic plots: a new reading from Aeschylus to Lorca. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Steiner G. (1980). The Death of Tragedy. New York: Oxford University Press. (Original work published 1961).
Taxidou, O. (c2004). Tragedy, modernity and mourning. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Tian, H. (2010). The Night the Tiger was caught (Trans. J. S. Noble). In C. Xiaomei (Ed.). The Columbia Anthology of Modern Chinese Drama (pp. 40–57). Columbia University Press.
Wallace, J. (2007). The Cambridge Introduction to Tragedy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Williams, R. (2006). Modern Tragedy. Peterborough: Ont. Broadview Press.
Xiong. F. (1926, October 21). Women xianzai de da beiju [The Great Tragedy of our Time]. Chenbao fukan, 41.
Xiong, F. (1985). Beiju [Tragedy]. In C. Duo (Ed.), Xiandai xijujia Xiongfoxi [Modern Playwright Xiong Foxi]. (pp. 260-269). Zhongguo xiju chubanshe.
Ye, Z, (2001). An Inquiry into ‘Sadness’ in Chinese. In J. Harkins, & A. Wierzbicka (Eds.), Cognitive Linguistic Research [CLR]: Emotions in Cross-linguistic Perspective. (pp. 359-405). Walter de Gruyter.
Zhu, G. (1987). The Psychology of Tragedy. Hong Kong: Joint Publishing Co.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2024 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Fusini, L. (2024). Mourning Does not Become Beiju: Forging a Tragic Spirit of Heroic Resistance in 1920s Chinese Intellectual Discourse and Dramaturgy. In: Garfield Lau, C.S., Chan, K.K.Y. (eds) The Poetics of Grief and Melancholy in East-West Conflicts and Reconciliations. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-9821-0_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-9821-0_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-99-9820-3
Online ISBN: 978-981-99-9821-0
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)