A Space of Her Own. Configurations of feminist imaginative spaces in five post-May Fourth Chinese women writers: Ding Ling, Xiao Hong, Yang Gang, Zhang Ailing, Fengzi

Abstract

MA THESIS ABSTRACT A Space of Her Own. Configurations of feminist imaginative spaces in five post-May Fourth Chinese women writers: Ding Ling, Xiao Hong, Yang Gang, Zhang Ailing, Fengzi Graduand: Alessandra Di Muzio, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice

The present dissertation aims at analyzing a female-centered spatial quest in five late modern Chinese women writers living under the Nationalist regime (1927-1945), the Japanese invasion (1937-1945) and the civil war (1945-1949) period, so as to find a possible answer to the following question: is there a place, real and imaginal, where woman can find her own self and exist despite patriarchy, war, and men's bias constantly trying to tear her specificity down? In particular, this thesis will focus on five different novellas written between 1928 and 1947 ̶ Ahmao guniang 阿毛姑娘 (The girl named Ahmao, 1928); Qi’er 弃儿 (Abandoned Child, 1933); Rouxing 肉刑 (Torture of the Flesh, 1936); Qing chang zhi lian 倾城 之恋 (Love in a Fallen City, 1943); Huaxiang 画像 (The Portrait, 1947) ̶ and on their women authors ̶ Ding Ling, Xiao Hong, Yang Gang, Zhang Ailing and Fengzi respectively. My analysis will revolve around the main spatial symbols used in each story, as well as on each author’s ambivalent strategy with respect to the nation’s space, in order to define their own self-conscious space as 女性, that is as women with a gender-specific and potentially feminist political standpoint. Last but not least, I will analyse how these post-May 4th women authors prove to be ‘revolutionary’ in their fight to go beyond boundaries by questioning the limits on space, politics and gender imposed on Chinese women by men and patriarchal society.