Decadence in modern Chinese poetry: Problems and solutions.

摘要

This dissertation concerns the specific problems modern Chinese poets encounter in the process of creating a new poetics. The problems, I argue, stem from the pressure of creating in the highly self-conscious atmosphere generated by the abandonment of traditional forms of prosody and diction and by the increasing prominence of modern utilitarian views of literary practice. The poets' attempted and sometimes successful mitigation of this pressure results in the various forms of decadence I am identifying in this thesis.; Specifically, I examine decadence in three disparate contexts. The first is rooted in the promulgation of a new poetic that is straightforward and "non-classical." I view this formalism as one mode of retreat from issues facing the fledgling nation, thus implicating the poetic subject---identified as the "lyrical I" of any given poem---in its escape into a realm related to (in terms of 'modern' poetry) but also in conflict with the socio/political thrust of the modernization movement. The second type of decadence, misnamed in the progressive language of literary history, 'Symbolism', presents the clearest, because self-contained, case. The Symbolists were explicit in their promotion of a particular method, even if highly distinct in their individual interpretations of what precisely that method was. The commonality of the various Symbolist approaches was that they all abstained from participation in the goals of national progress, even as they presented their stylish "modern" style. I situate the third type of decadence in China's major international metropolis, Shanghai. This form emerges from the poets' engagement in the project of envisioning a new modern city, a preoccupation that allows them to foreground their relevance to the urban setting while sidestepping the lack of didactic effect of their poetry. In the final chapter I examine the degree to which this decadent predicament remains in the contemporary setting. In all cases I consider each poem as a potential resolution of the conflicts facing modern Chinese poets throughout the twentieth century.