Allegorizing the existential crisis in modern China. Qian Zhongshu’s philosophical novel “Fortress Besieged” Cover Image

Allegorizing the existential crisis in modern China. Qian Zhongshu’s philosophical novel “Fortress Besieged”
Allegorizing the existential crisis in modern China. Qian Zhongshu’s philosophical novel “Fortress Besieged”

Author(s): Yu (Heidi) Huang
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Studies of Literature, Existentialism, Theory of Literature
Published by: Ústav svetovej literatúry, Slovenská akadémia vied
Keywords: Philosophical novel; Qian Zhongshu; Fortress Besieged; Existential Crisis; Allegory; Modern China;

Summary/Abstract: Beginning with an overview of the interconnection between literature and philosophy in modern Chinese literature, this paper analyses the novel Fortress Besieged (1947) written by Qian Zhongshu, a polyglot Chinese scholar of East-West comparative literature and philosophy. It compares the novel’s overarching allegory, i. e. a fortress besieged, in juxtaposition with the philosophical allegories about the mutability and limitations of human life. It concludes with a reflection on the seminal influence of this novel in contemporary Chinese society where “fortress besieged” has become an everyday word referring to one’s existential crisis.

  • Issue Year: 10/2018
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 80-90
  • Page Count: 11
  • Language: English