The magic mirror: Representations of monsters in Chinese classical tales.

摘要

This dissertation is a systematic examination on the literary representations of monsters throughout the life span of Chinese classical tales, from the Six Dynasties period to the end of the Qing dynasty. Monsters are anomalous, spiritualized animals, plants or objects, alien to human kind, yet almost all monsters in China are human-like: some have acquired certain human qualities, while others can even assume human forms. At the center of the Chinese conception of monsters is their ambiguous relationship with humans: monsters are like humans, but not humans. The majority of Chinese accounts on monsters exist in the form of classical tales, stories written down in classical language by elite authors. These monster tales form a distinct body of texts where men of letters are allowed to address a complex set of cultural concerns about the boundaries around the human realm through constructing images of monsters in various ways.;Focusing on the intricate relationship between monsters and humans, I will delineate three distinct literary conventions of representing monsters in classical tales. (1), monsters are often portrayed as the "other" to humans, a strange existence outside of social structure and cultural norms. Yet in a sense, they are also a mirror that reflects human desires and human anxieties that have been repudiated, externalized and defeated. (2), monsters can be domesticated and humanized, turning into exact mirror images of human beings, even the epitome of human virtues. (3), monsters can also be demystified and internalized as the product of human mind and human behavior, making human beings mirror images of the otherness and monstrosity originally attributed to monsters. Each chapter explores one of the 3 traditions of representing monsters and its complex meanings. I will also trace the changes in the representations of monsters over time and in different social and cultural contexts within each literary tradition that I have identified, as well as the interplay of all three traditions during the late imperial period, which, as I argue, makes it possible for the monsters to straddle various culturally constructed borders.