Cultural production in Shanghai theatre during the Japanese occupation period: Yang Jiang's reception and transformation of Jane Austen's comedic art

摘要

In the wartime China of the 1940s, Yang Jiang 楊u104d1b wrote two very popularudcomedies: As You Desire 稱心u10292a意 (1943) and Swindle 弄真u1031b8假 (1943). The genre of theseudtwo comedies and their relation to Western literature is discussed, and the connectionudbetween the styles of Yang and Austen is noticed and established on the ground that theirudworks are regarded as belonging to the genre of the comedy of manners. This study focusesudon Yang's reception of Austen's comedic style in her own comedies and examines how sheudreceives and transforms the comedic elements of Austen's works onto the stage of the 1940sudwartime Shanghai theatre.udThis thesis is divided into three parts. Part I discusses the background and horizon ofudexpectations of Yang's reception of Austen's comedic art. Yang's direct reception of Austen'sudcomic style is observed in her critique of Austen, in which her interpretation of Austen's styleudis generically related to the comedy of manners. Yang's reading experience of the familiarudworks of the comedy of manners in classical Chinese literature, as well as the comedies ofudmanners written by Chinese playwrights in the China of the 1920s to 1940s, is the significantudkey to comprehending her horizon of expectations in the reception of Austen's style.udPart II examines Yang's reception of Austen's style of the comedy of manners. Theudsimilarities between the styles of these two writers are discovered in the contexts of theudCheung depiction of female laughter, the spatial settings and anti-romanticism.udPart III discusses Yang's transformation of Austen's comedic art in her own comedies.udLiving in a more turbulent environment than did Austen, Yang transforms Austen's comedicudart in accordance with wartime Shanghai's socio-historical and socio-literary context. Thisudtransformation is demonstrated in two aesthetic orders of Yang's comedies: disillusionmentudand detachment.