And the darkness comprehended it not: Epiphany in James Joyce and Fei Ming
Abstract
Fei Ming is one of the greatest innovators in the history of modern Chinese literature, but unfortunately, there has been little scholarship on his works. One major reason is his difficult style, which comes from his special aesthetic theory and literary practice. Fei Ming points out that a true artistic creation should be integral or complete from the beginning. This mysterious process does not only echo the popular concept of inspiration in Western literature, but is infused with the mysticism of dunwu, characteristic of Fei Ming's difficult aestheticism. Since Fei Ming does not bother himself to provide more detailed explanations on how dunwu affects the process of conceiving an artistic work, epiphany, a sudden spiritual manifestation as well as a western equivalent of dunwu, made famous by James Joyce, becomes a convenient tool to facilitate the understanding. Both Fei Ming and James Joyce illustrate three developing stages of consciousness in their writing. By comparing three pairs of the works of Joyce and Fei Ming–Joyce's Dubliners, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and Ulysses, with Fei Ming's short stories, Bridge, and The Life of Mr. Mo Xuyou–we can see that although Joyce and Fei Ming have two different patterns due to the different religious tenets of Catholicism and Buddhism, they employ epiphany as an operative, structural, and thematic device. The concept of epiphany allows us to find similarities in how these two authors construct their works, how their characters perceive the world and events around them, and how they want their readers to recognize these special moments.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Ross, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Comparative literature|Asian literature|British and Irish literature
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