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Gender Consciousness and Narrative Method in Zhai Yongming's Poem Series "Women"

  • The Journal of Chinese Cultural Studies
  • 2007, (11), pp.193-211
  • DOI : 10.18212/cccs.2007..11.011
  • Publisher : The Society For Chinese Cultural Studies
  • Research Area : Humanities > Chinese Language and Literature > Chinese Literature > Chinese Culture

Woo Kwang Jung 1

1숙명여자대학교

Candidate

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to illustrate the main characteristics of Zhai Yongming's 翟永明 poem series "Women" 女人 in terms of its literary and historical context. By dismantling the effect of Sylvia Plath(1932-1963), the poem series "Woman" reflects Chinese women's poetics of the middle 1980s, which is invoked from the shadow of post-Misty poetry. The careful and intentional grouping of the 20 poems creates her own feminist poetics in form, language, and theme. This new driving force is strengthened through the construction of her particular gender consciousness and narrative method in her 20 poems. Zhai Yongming's poems in "Women" display her perspectives on what womanhood is, with laying emphasis on gender difference and individuality. At the same time, her persistent metaphors and symbols of night consciousness for her gender awareness are visible throughout the poem series "Women." Therefore, this night consciousness, as apposed to day (male) consciousness, created by and for women is the only space that is able to achieve female self-identity. Narrative method shown in "Mother" 母親 from the said series is very experimental and unconventional, because the poem deals with the psychological complexity of motherhood and daughterhood, as well as the ambivalent mother-daughter relationship. This method may have served as another source of supporters for molding new Chinese women's poetics, specifically to emphasize the female self-representation.

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